from Temple of VTEC Rumors and News - TOV First Drive: 2009 Fit is Win!

"and to further offset the '09 Fit's weight gain, the effective gear ratios of the 5-speed manual transmission are shorter by anywhere from 3 to nearly 8 percent."

What is the RPM on the freeway at 70mph for the manual now???

 

Wow, this seems to be a very expensive car. This car now competes with the Matrix in price. I think I'll be going with a Yaris if I want an economy car.

 

Folks, I'm out. With tax and destination, the 2009 Fit Sport Auto with NAVI/VSA is at $20500. I can't justify spending over 20K for a car in this class.

So I'm going to be buying a Hyundai Elantra SE with stability, heated seats, and sunroof. With their $1500 off sale, it comes to ~$18500 (including tax and destination). It's not the Fit, but it'll be a worthy replacement for my 1998 Civic EX. The Fit is simply too expensive.

 

THE 2009 FIT IS NOW AVAILABLE!!!



Trying to get my brother to buy that, or the 2009 5 Door Yaris

 

If you are looking for a 5 door, there is supposedly a wagon version of the Elantra coming out this Fall. I cannot wait to see/test drive that car. It's called the Hyundai Elantra Touring.

 

...But its a Hyundai lol?
Whatever floats your boat i guess.

 

Hyundai's are ok. Good for the rental car lot. Bad resale value. Exterior design that features a lil bit of Honda and a lil bit of Toyota.

 

Pricing for Canadians:

$14,980 - DX (5-speed manual transmission)
$16,180 - DX (5-speed automatic transmission)
$16,280 - DX-A (5-speed manual transmission)
$17,480 - DX-A (5-speed automatic transmission)
$17,380 - LX (5-speed manual transmission)
$18,580 - LX (5-speed automatic transmission)
$19,280 - Sport (5-speed manual transmission)
$20,480 - Sport (5-speed automatic transmission)

Note that the DX and LX pricing did not change at all from 2008. This despite the LX now having heated mirrrors, 15" wheels, keyless entry, and a rear spoiler. Attribute it to Honda finally lowering vehicle prices for Canadians to better reflect the strength of our dollar. I think that the prices for the Sport are slightly lower than last year's model.

Our release date is Monday September 15th, which is 3 weeks after the USA release of August 26 (next week!) Tried to get some info. out of some Honda dealers but no go. Not really sure what Honda is waiting for but the dealerships around here are still under some kind of embargo. All I want to know is if Tidewater Blue comes to Canada! Geez....

 

I'm 99% certain I'm out too. I've been following this car since August 2005, and was planning on getting a 2009. If I could get VSA in a base or even a Sport without Navi, I would still be strongly considering this car.

I think Honda is making a huge mistake limiting VSA to the Sport with Navi.

Here's something to consider. The Insurance Insitute for Highway Safety says that Electronic Stability Control is the greatest advance in safety since the safety belt. They go on to say that up to 10,000 lives could be saved each year if all cars had ESC. In 2012 all new cars sold in the U.S. will be required to have ESC as standard equipment. It's very possible in the future that used cars without ESC or (VSA for Honda) will be harder to sell than cars with ESC.

A lot of new fuel efficient cars will be arriving in showrooms in the next year or two. Cars that will have ESC either standard, or as a standalone option. A lot of competition for Honda.


BTW Hyundai's reputation is rising as fast as it's reliability. And Hyundai's have become very reliable.

 

 

If you are that concerned with resale value, you might want to reconsider the Hyundai.
Vehix.com

Also, the federal mandate is for model year 2012, which means that by September 2011 all cars will have electronic stability control.

 

Yeah, but the Matrix isn't as good inside as the Fit, and the visibility sucks. The drive is OK, but it's essentially a Corolla, remember that. There is no other model that's a Fit on the inside. Yaris sucks.

Maybe a Scion xD if you don't care about seeing out of a 12" window in the back. The interior of the xD is cool. And it looks good in burnt orange. But it's probably more expensive too.

 

I'm in for the '09 Sport MT. As soon as CarCostCanada.com provides all of the invoice pricing I'll make my move. Probably won't have the car in my possession until sometime in November though.

 

I sat in the 2009 MatrixS today, while getting my moms xD its "complimentry" 5000 mile inspection.

The outside of the MatrixS looks weird, but the inside makes sense. The seats are super comfy, steering wheel and shifter feel perfect and the guages are cool. I liked the inside. It may be some competition to the 09Fit. The rather loaded MatrixS MT i was sitting in MSRP'd at 20,000$.

 

What's with all these negatives!? I'm excited about my new FIT! The 2009 Fit Sport AT is less than $900 (5%) more than the 2008 and is substantially more car! The mpg is the same as the 2008. The base is less than $700 (3%) more. We had a good idea of the pricing of the vsa and nav for weeks. The reviews have been fantastic! In 5-6 weeks I should have great new car.

 

My BK sports AT was schedule to be built today.

 

For the same demographic, I think the Matrix is competition. They even look more alike than the '08 Fit and the '08 Matrix. I just can't stand this trend toward smaller windows. I definitely liked the Matrix MUCH better than the Corolla, which is a cheap piece of crap, IMO. The sales guy thought he was going to write me up for a black Matrix on the spot...but I still had my heart set on a Fit. Thank God I found one to save me from another Toyota!

How does your mom like the xD? What color did she get? Is it still around 20K too?

 

I saw that car at the NY Auto Show -- it looked nice. But no, I can't wait, so I bought the Elantra tonight. Here's what I got:

Elantra SE (which has VSA!) Automatic
Heated seats
Sun roof
Bluetooth

All for $17,300, including everything (taxes, doc fees, etc.). That's $3200 less than what the loaded Fit would've cost me.

 

What brand of navigation does the Hyundai come with?

 

She loves the thing. She couldnt be happier with it.
I also like it belive it or not, it feels alot more solid then my 2007 Fit, although it is a heavier, larger, car. Less road noise, doors are heavier and less cheap feeling, of course the power diffrence is noticable, and she averages 33mpg CITY! She has a very light foot though. When me or my ded hop in it, itll go down to about 28mpg city.
Overall the xD is a great little car for the 16,500$ MSRP we pay'd.

I have to mention though, the Fit feels more of a performance car over the Scion. It has a lower seat height, light and nimble, and where you point it is where it goes, not so much with the Scion. You can feel the xDs weight in the canyons thats forsure.