We had been eyeballing the Fit for about a year and decided to wait for the 2009s because of all of the improvements over the 2008. At that time FitFreak was full of criticisms of the GE Fit from those who owned the original and "vastly superior" car. We wanted a stick shift and I wanted the navi because we did a lot of traveling on country roads and all over the eastern half of the country. Many dealers said they had one in stock but, in fact, there were none. We went to dealers in Springfield and Quincy, Illinois, but they were not really interested in our business. We drove up to Galesburg and placed an order for a silver Sport MT Navi.

There were a number of FitFreakers who ordered that car and we found out that Honda was going to build the whole batch of them over the US Thanksgiving weekend in 2008. Look back at the archives—we were excited. Ours arrived in Illinois ten years ago this week and we put it to work. I thought I would summarize a decade of experience with it. We still use it every day, but aren't driving as much since we now live in the city.

The best thing about the car is its versatility. The interior configuration choices and the cavernous space with the seats down never fails to impress. Seat comfort leaves a lot to be desired. I thought I would use the center arm rest but it was not in a good spot for us. Ditto the arm rest on the door. The passenger seat is too close to the dash. The upholstery and floor mats are strictly economy but they have lasted without undue wear. It goes without saying that the car is very noisy.

The Navi still works fine with the original data. I have never updated it. It runs like Windows 95, but is OK. The audio is OK but the system was versatile for its time. Voice input to the Navi works better than the one in my 2013 Accord (a truly inscrutable system).

The car has never broken down on the road. We have about 104,000 miles and were never stranded.

The car was out of service awaiting air conditioner parts for five weeks (at the Honda dealer). Some of the parts departed out the bottom of the car.
The blower fan (of course) burned up on a trip leaving us without moving air on a 104°F day in the midwest. Wife sick from heat and husband pissed off. It literally burned up (lots of smoke).
Otherwise we had it in for the airbag recalls and the recall on the engine (I don't remember what that was).
Original exhaust, second battery (Honda OEM replacement), original brakes, original clutch, water pump, spark plugs, timing belt, etc.
It is on its fourth set of tires. I have tried a different brand each time. I have had a lot of flats and the tires now seem to leak a bit. On our car, the back end always feels like it's ready to hop a little over small bumps.

We have done a lot of driving in horrendous snow. I only had to be towed once. If I knew I would only be on snowy roads I put on my chains, but they have to come off once you get to a plowed stretch. Now that I live in the city, I never put them on. They worked perfectly on snow. The new-for-GE stability control works well, we found. When stuck in the snow, we turn it off, of course. If you get snow in the wheels the car feels like it's going to shake itself to pieces. May as well bring something along to clean out the wheels.



Typical wintertime in Illinois. $125 for the pull. That was the only time, though. No cell reception so a farmer took me to a phone. Country living.


The hatch latch spring does not function.

When we first bought the car it was hard to find maintenance parts (like filters and wiper inserts, for example). When passing through larger cities I would stop at a dealer to see what they had. No longer a problem. My biggest fear was a tire failure since no one stocked the oddball tires. That never happened.

So—we think we'll hang on to the car for now. There is no reason to get rid of it and it is still very useful. My wife really enjoys tooling around in it. When the latest model came out I went to look at it and was impressed again by some of the careful thinking that went into what is essentially a very cheap car.

I would love to hear from any of the other 2009 Sport MT Navi people if they're still around. Best wishes to FitFreaks everywhere.
Cheers.
Jon

 

104k miles with original brakes? Wow!

 

That should be easy with a lot of highway driving or long stretches without stopping (like county roads, many of which are "highways").

I got 60k on mine and that's considering I do deliveries with a lot of stops.

 

I enjoyed reading this. I look forward to the twenty-year report!

 

Good report, Navi. Thanks.

 

nice report indeed

needing help in an area w/o cell phone reception .... that must have been a fun situation to be in. good thing the farmers were nearby!