What MPG are you getting on your 5MT?

 

CVT FTL.

Stop & go isn't fun, but abdicating the control to a computer and some rubber bands isn't driving. I live in the hills and I work in the stop & go, and I wouldn't swap transmisisons.


Resale of a CVT will be faster and higher, but how's that for a slogan? CVT: Easy and so rewarding to get rid of! I bought the car to drive, not sell. I've been driving this rig for just over 21k miles and average 45.2 mpg over the whole run. In warmer weather (and when other circumstances allow) I'll have entire tankfuls over 50 mpg. There is NO WAY I could get better MPG with a CVT. I just looked at the 2013 at Fuelly and had a laugh. The bulk of people there get 33-34 mpg and while I couldn't figure out how to filter for transmissions, the bulk of people also drive ATs. There isn't enough room in the Fit's price for any resale value to make up for the money I save on gas- if I were only getting 34 mpg I'd have already spent $360 more on gas and I haven't even owned it 11 months yet. That's a big premium for hoping to get a higher price when I sell it.

 

My overall average for the vehicle is 39 MPG.

Those are real world, calculated numbers; not the pipe dreams the car's computer gives.

 

Reminder - op is asking about 2015 model 6MT vs CVT (even though 6MT and 5MT are said to have the same final gear ratio).

So, let's hear from folks with 2015 model!

 

Meh, I drive in traffic all the time. Just use 2nd gear and crawl, it has enough power and low enough gear to pull from a stop if you absolutely wanted to, trick is to not stop if you can avoid it at all. I'd honestly rather do that than stand on the brake.

 

 

The 2015 6MT and 2009-13 5MT are identical when it comes to what RPM you'd sit at, at a given speed in top gear.

You can go look at Honda's spec sheets for each model to confirm this.

 

I hate to say it but I have to disagree with the whole manual transmission reliability argument. Honda manual transmissions are known for input shaft bearings that go bad. Mine did and my car only had 55k miles. Luckily, I had the cojones to open my transmission and change the bearing myself (30$ part) but it was a challenge and I did it with the shop manual. If you do 90% highway driving, then you will probably shift 5 times to get up to speed and then 3 times when you park so your clutch might last 300k miles. If you live in the city and have to shift 4 times per street corner, you might have to get your clutch changed every 60-90k miles. Some shops charge a pretty penny for a clutch job so that can be a considerable maintenance expense. Also, getting that pesky input shaft bearing replaced could cost near 1k if a tranny shop decides to do a full rebuilt so manuals aren't indestructible.

The main argument is that a manual transmission is a simple machine; a couple rods with gears and a clutch. The automatic transmission is a whole other beast containing multiple gear rings, plenty of complicated valves, a complex path of transferring the rotational energy and a torque converter with all the engineering that it entails. If ever anything important failed in an auto tranny, it is inconceivable that someone could even consider repairing one since the labor would far outweigh the price of a new or used transmission. Even with manual tranny's, you have to think twice about paying a shop to rebuild a tranny when low mileage trannys are so readily available.

The main reason why I like the Fit in MT is because the engine is puny. If I'm carrying a full car with 4 adults and heavy music equipment going up a hill, I like selecting the appropriate gear to get the job done. Automatics figure it out most of the time but I hate having to fiddle with the gas to try and get the car to down shift and then getting a jerky response when the auto tranny decides to go down a gear and send the RPMs up high. If I was driving a 8 cylinder Mercedes Benz, I would be ok with an auto but in a puny little go kart like the Fit, I want to be able to milk every pound of torque I can get from the little 4 cylinder engine.

Also, in winter conditions, manual transmission gives me ultimate confidence of having the right gearing for the specific situation. The streets in Montreal are all covered in ice (don't know why the city hasn't used salt) and being able to take off in second gear and using engine braking to slow down are really great safety and control features I wouldn't want to be without. It really helps when trying to get out from being stuck in snow! It's funny to see all the bosos spinning their wheels out at ridiculous rpms trying to get unstuck from snow when they are actually digging themselves deeper into the mess.

I don't think its really a matter of reliability. Any transmission will have problems over time, especially if you live in the city and shift all the time. Neither transmission is very economical to fix so usually replacement with a suitable low mileage transmission is the best solution. To me it's about having complete control over your cars gearing or not. It's kind of like a microwave dinner. You can buy a gourmet ready made dinner and pop it in the microwave and in 5 minutes you have a delicious meal OR you can select all your produce and spices and cook everything yourself. The bottom line is that preparing a microwave dinner doesn't make you a chef just like driving a CVT doesn't really make you a driver.

It depends how much you enjoy cooking or not all the friends (many girls) that I convinced to get a manual ended up very happy and discovered a renewed enjoyment in driving. However, if you are elderly or have considerable physical ailments, then manual is a no no.

I figure one day I'll be 85 years old driving a Buick at about half the speed limit. Until that day, I'm gonna get my manual transmission fun in while I can

 

Totally agree with this! My parents Matrix Type R seems to have too much power for the brake and I find myself mashing the stupid brake pedal to prevent the car from inching forward. Coasting in first or in second does it just find for the major gridlock. I find myself flicking auto trannys in neutral so I don't tire of holding the brake. Then you get the annoying little jerk when putting the car back in drive.

 

I just traded in my 2007 Fit Sport automatic transmission with those flipper paddle shifter thingys? I never used them. This was the first automatic I ever owned and I hated it (not the car but the automatic transmission). I learned to drivein Boston and lived in SF for years and just loved having a manual transmission. And driving an automatic in traffic was a pain in the backside. I found myself dropping the car into neutral in stop and go traffic and at red lights just so the car wouldn’t creep forward.

I purchased the 2015 EX 6MT and love it! I will never go back to automatic transmission. I don’t know any of technical aspects of the automatic or manual transmission but man driving the manual is just so much more comfortable and fun and the car seems to handle better. I know that is in my mind but being able to down shift in a corner it just feels like the car grips the road better. And also for merging on a highway I feel likeI have more control of the car with the manual. Of course I live in Portland Oregon where people are too friendly to merge but that is a different story.

The one thing I am getting use to is dropping the car into 6th gear. I am afraid I could accidently popit into reverse even though the owners manual says doing that would be impossible, but it is still a fear of mine. Plus the manual transmission is a grand cheaper! Trade in value will be lower but that wasn’t a factor I considered buying the car since I plan on keeping it for many a long year.

Oh, and the shifting is smooth like butter. Of course this is coming from a guy who ownedVW’s prior to the 2007 Fit.

 

MANY of my car friends own Hondas.

I don't know a single person who has had issues with input shaft bearings. I've also seen little reference to that on this site or Honda-Tech.

 

Our '90 Civic was growling pretty bad (input shaft) by 120K miles… Granted, that was 20+ years ago…

es

 

Every DD I've owned since getting my drivers license in the mid 1970s has been a manual, and I was not even considering cars without m/t when I was deciding what to buy. As mentioned previously, I chose the CVT at the last moment after learning (on this site) that the final drive ratios resulted in a 1000 RPM difference (higher for the m/t) at highway speeds. I'm old enough now that I'm more interested in a quiet ride on long road trips (compare with my old '64 VW Beetle, which turned close to 4K at 70!).

With 9,000 miles on my Fit at this point and three 10-16 hour (one-way) road trips under my belt, I can say I'm generally happy with the CVT. It does well through the mountains in NC/TN, and I don't notice engine noise unless I floor it to pass someone on a two-lane, etc.

That said, I still catch myself grabbing the shifter to "manually" change gears simply out of a lifetime of habit. (c: I rarely use the paddle shifters (mainly as a means of engine braking going down a hill) – they simply are not a substitute for rowing your own.

So with several months experience in a wide variety of driving situations, I would say the CVT is acceptable and even desirable on long road trips, but I also do really miss having a manual for the times I'm doing two-lane country / twisty driving, and even inner-city driving.

At the end of the day, had the m/t come with a taller final drive ratio, I never would have even considered the CVT…

es

 

Then why even buy the CVT Fit? There are much quieter, more comfortable cars in the segment. Hyundai Elantra GT > 2015 Fit

 

An Elantra GT is $3,500 more when compared to a similarly equipped EX-L with Navi.

 

Elantra is a compact car while Fit is a subcompact. Fit should be compared with Accent, Rio, Versa, Yaris etc.

 

I wrote up my selection process here.

I'm very happy with my choice so far.

YMMV, of course.

es

 

The 6MT is fun, but the gears are quite shorter than I'm used to with a manual. Took a little adjusting for me. Still yet, the fuel economy I'm getting is far better than the advertised EPA estimated--even that of the CVT.


It's not the funnest thing ever in Nashville traffic jams, but the fun in normal driving more than makes up for it!

 

They are lucky! Just search google for "input shaft bearing". In my browser, the first page of hits is all about Civics. Some people also refer to the input shaft as the "mainshaft".

Funny thing is that there are 4 bearings, two for each shaft, yet it always seems to be the same one that fails: the one closest to the pilot bearing.

 

Similar thought here.
Just can't imagine driving the 6MT engine spinning 3200+ rpm at hwy speeds on long road trips.
That was one of the main deal breakers for me.