I am considering buying a Honda Fit and have two questions.

1. The recall (for Vehicle Stability Assist) bothers me. Should I let this scare me off?

2. I was originally thinking of buying a used Fit (one with Vehicle Stability Assist). The price difference between used and 2013 seems to be only about 4 to 4 thousand dollars. Is it preferable to buy a new one?

3. I would appreciate any other Fit buying advice.

Thanks. Have a great day.

 

1. No
2. No
3. Its a great car


To expand, the VSA thing is just a reflash to the ECU to have in kick in a little sooner when traction is lost. Some testing has shown that in pre-recall state, it may kick in later than it should. Just drive like a sane person and it should never kick in. It's really a safety feature to save people who don't drive sensibly from themselves! Mine is still under recall and I've yet to bring it in as I am waiting for my next oil change to get it done. And yes, I confirmed this with a service advisor at the dealer who happens to be a long time friend.

And if you want to save a few bucks, a used Honda is always a good deal. Just like any used car, do your due diligence, and you should be fine. Speaking as someone who has owned 3 used Hondas bought with relative high mileage and gotten between 7-10 years use from the time I bought them.

 

1) Nope. unless you know what the pre-TSB was, then you probably won't care.

2) I suppose if you like the '12-13 styling, yes. There are other improvements on the car. like my '12 is quieter than the '09 and rides smoother.

3) If you can, just buy the car cash unless you can get 0% or some real low apr.

 

Thanks guys for both the replies.

I was thinking of 2009 and and above only for VSA. (Consumer Report calls this the best thing since airbags.)

This car is for a person who drives about 10 miles to work one way and doesn't do much driving. We may take it occasionally on trips. We do have an Elantra with VSA for taking on trips when the whether is bad. (I am assuming that the VSA will help in icy conditions.) Would you guys buy a Fit without the VSA?

Also, would a red be available in all years?

Also, would by the Base or the Sport? This car is for a person who just wants reliable transportation.

If a used Fit, under what mileage would you stay under? We are thinking of buying this from CarMax.

Thanks again. (Perhaps you can sense my excitement.)

 

The VSA thing for me is just a bonus. You're driving will determine if you lose traction or not. Safety features can only make up so much for poor driving skills, so yes, I wouldn't hesitate to buy one without VSA. Having said that, insurance rates on cars with it I would assume might be slightly lower.

And yes, red was available on all years.

 

I would disagree that VSA is only if you can't control the car. Nobody's a perfect driver. A few years ago someone came right at me from the side and I had to swerve to avoid being hit. When I straightened the wheels out I was still sliding sideways and had to steer back the other way, which caused a side in the other direction. It took me a couple of steers to get the car back under control.

I was damn lucky that the sliding wasn't a bit worse (or closer to a guardrail).

Not my fault at all and I did a pretty darn good job not crashing although I'd have preferred to not skid at all.

VSA might've made that a little safer.

That said, how often does this happen? I think it's not as significant as ABS or airbags. But it is a benefit.

 

Agreed, but again, it wouldn't dissuade me not having it if the price is right.

 

Around me, the price difference between a new and a used Fit is very little, making the used ones seem relatively poor deals. If you feel like doing a little math, figure out what the depreciation was on the used ones, and from that how many years before it should be valueless...and you may find that, depending on how old a car you're willing to keep, the new one is actually cheaper in the long term. That's not how things traditionally have been, but it's sometimes true these days.

For a driver who just wants dependable transportation, there's no reason to prefer the sport model unless there are some particular creature comforts associated with it for whatever year that they're interested in. The newer base models are pretty well equipped, actually; the list of things that you get with the sport model (aside from the wheels and appearance bits) is tending to shrink.

Milage is not always the best indicator of how "used up" a car is, though it's by far the easiest one to find out. Maintenance (or lack thereof), driving style and road conditions, etc. play a very large role in how worn a car gets. For that reason, it's hard to give specific advice. Somewhat counterintuitively, it's often a better deal to get a newer, high-milage used car than an older, low-milage one because the high-milage car probably has a lot of (easy) highway miles, and quite possibly was part of a fleet and so properly maintained.

VSA (and the associated ESC) is not essential, but it is a good, useful safety feature if decently implemented (as the Fit's seems to be). It can be particularly useful in wintertime, where it acts as a sort of limited-slip differential, sending more power to the side that has better traction. Of course, in slippery conditions, no amount of electronic wizardry can alter the basic fact that there's not much traction; physics will win every time if you push too hard.

 

Couldn't have put it better lol

 

I bought my fit 3 weeks ago. You're right that the price difference new and used isn't very much. I was looking for a couple of months for a used one, and for what I wanted (newer than 2009/low milage) they wanted very close to new. And there were very few available.
The dealers near me are all having pretty good sales right now to get rid of the 2013 stock. So that really finalised my choice.
So far I'm very happy with my choice. Maybe that's partly because I was driving a 12 year old civic before that. But for a small car it handles pretty nicely. And I do like the way the fit looks.
In canada at least, stability control comes standard on all new cars.
Seems like a good idea to me. More like insuarance. You might think it's waste of money right up until you need it. Then you'll be really glad it's there. Or maybe you won't even realize it just saved you. But if it was an option, I'd get it anyways.
Hope that long winded reply helps.

 

Agree with the others that there is little reason to buy a 1-3 year old Fit -- between super low finance rates for new compared to used and dealer interest in getting '13 models out the door -- it was a no brainer to go new (I was looking at a '12 with 30K miles at 2.9% interest and monthly cost was same as '13 with 50 miles and .9% financing). Lots of markup on used, very little margin in new (but I'm guessing 100-200 off MSRP and deals on accessories are possible).

 

I had this done on my 2012 Fit Sport. They plugged my Fit into the computer and update something. I have not noticed any difference in handling at all.

 

You guys are great.

I just ordered a 2013 Honda Fit.

[They didn't have the color I wanted so they are getting it from another dealership. Another local dealership has one in the color I wanted. I had also been talking to them. I wonder whether they would just get it from this other dealership.]

 

Congrats.
To pordy...I think mark up is 800 over invoice. So I offered 400 over and said I'd pay full retail for the cargo cover. They accepted no problem.
Although now I see I can get the cover for WAY less, so lost a bit there.
Still happy with the deal though.

 

I got no VSA on my 2007 Fit. If its anything like the VSA in the Matrix, I'm glad I don't have it. In the Matrix, as soon as you lose traction you get an annoying beeping sound sooooo basically your car beeps constantly in the winter (an annoying seatbelt warning type beep).

In the winter you must a) get the best winter/snow tires possible and b) hand brake turns baby!!!!!!!

 

VSA recall is simply an update. Do not be alarmed. I have NOT done the recall update yet. My dealership said it was a minor update, but they called it a recall to get people to come and update.

My Fit was bought in Dec 2012, has over 15500 miles with absolutely not a care in the world, and it is running exactly how it was brand new. all Ive done to it so far is new tires (personal preference), my own air intake I made, and lowering springs that are stiffer to help stability at high highway speeds and winds.


Rear sway bar is next on my list for HUGE boost in car stability. Remember this is a 2500-2600 pound car. The wind WILL effect it!!

EDIT vsa does NOT beep when engaged. it is run through the ABS pump and simply brakes all 4 wheels SEPARATELY as it sees fit to maintain vehicle control. it DOES work very well, the big advantage being the Fit is lightweight and responsive to inputs

 

One of the drivers on my Fit needs windows tinted for medical reasons.

The dealer says that The Fit does not have tinted windows and is quoting a price of $329 for this.

What do you guys recommend? Would you get it done by a third party? I recall reading somewhere that the Fit has tinted windows but obviously I am wrong.

 

The tint Honda refers to is against UV, not actually darkening of the windows. And third party is fine. All my cars have been tinted third party. From a dealer $329 is actually not bad but you may want to to call around to tint shops yourself and see what they charge you instead of going through dealer(and their markup). You'll probably do better price-wise but you'll have to take the car in yourself. So it's either pay a little more at the dealer for the convenience of having done and ready when you pick up the car or save some $ and go and get done yourself.

 

Thanks for all the replies. You guys are great.

Some more questions, all related to the tint.

> The tint Honda refers to is against UV

Can you point me to where Honda talks about this? This is just for my info. My wife needs protection only against UV. This being the case, I am wondering whether I should even get it now. I can always get it later, if necessary.

> darkening of the windows
> All my cars have been tinted third party

moniz: Why do people get window darkening if the UV problem has already been "handled"?

I heard that one can get 35% darkening or 20% darkening. The dealer told me that it is illegal to get the 20% in Indiana and that they won't do it. A third party guy offered to do it. He also said that it is a shade [shade, get it? ;-)] on the wrong side of legal? He also said that you can get a film put on, additionally.

Thanks, guys.

 

As far as where Honda states this. it's just understood as far as I know that pretty much all automotive glass these days has some form of UV protection to help minimize fading of interior, dash, seats, etc.

And as far as why darker? I hate driving with so much light coming in. All my tints have been legal (35% on front side windows and 20% all the rest excluding windshield. Illegal to ever tint windshield). Doesn't reduce night visibility all that much, make the car look nicer in my opinion and just more comfortable to drive. When ever I drive another car without any aftermarket tint, I just feel like I'm driving a greenhouse!