I agree with your opinion that Nashville traffic jams are no fun, when driving the MT. Our 2008 Fit was a MT and my wife got to the point she could barely hold the clutch in for the rush hour commute home. She works on Charlotte avenue and home is kingston Springs, so the slow down is long and seems to last forever at night (not so bad early in the morning). And, if you know anything about Nashville rush hour, going west to Kingston Springs is still the fastest rush hour drive left, as the other directions are even worse! Because of this we purchased her the Mazda CX-5 with an automatic transmission, and she loves it.

She is a little jealous of our daughter who has the 2015 Fit EX. She does not like the fact her daughter has a moonroof and she doesn't, but she saved $5,000+ by not getting the trim level with the moonroof, and if she is anything, she is cheap!

 

Why would anyone "hold the clutch in" for long periods? I've seen that mentioned a few times here and I'm baffled. I've only ever done that when I'm at the light and it's about to turn green- I'll be in first and on the clutch. But aside from that I can't see doing it.

 

I'll also add that the clutch on the Fit is even lighter than the accelerator. I've been in stop and go traffic for hours and it was nothing. Somebody asked me how my "clutch calf" was developing and honestly, it's not.

To each his own. If I had to do it again, M/T all day.

 

Same. I drove it at 70-80 and just said nope. It stinks that we all have to make compromises because some people are too dumb to downshift and would lug the engine in top gear while whining about a lack of power if there was a higher final ratio.

Do I miss the manual in my VW? Sure do. While the engine was capable of acceleration on flat ground at 60-70mph in 6th it was very clear that the gear was intended for cruising only. If you needed any real acceleration for a pass or were pulling any sort of grade 5th was the place to be. But with the paddle shifters and sport mode allowing you to alleviate the "it doesnt know what I'm going to do and takes a second to kick down" problem which plagues most automatics the CVT suits my needs quite nicely.

 

I've caught note of that too! I just didn't comment previously.
seems to me alot of diehards who like their manual transmission don't know how to drive them.

Why on earth would you be needing to hold the clutch pedal in?

I've been in heavy traffic too. I think we all have. I let the vehicle creep in gear if I can. If I am continually stop and go. Then I'm in neutral waiting for the need to shift and proceed to move.

The only time I'm ever pressing the clutch pedal is when I'm in the process of making a gear change.

If your holding a clutch in for long periods, I'm willing to bet you've had to replace a throw out bearing. Holding the clutch pedal in causes extended wear on this item. It how a clutch system works.

Seems some need a lesson in driving a manual transmission.

 

I'm basically doing the opposite. I live in East Nashville and commute south to Spring Hill and Columbia for work. The majority of the time, I'm going the right direction at the right time (major traffic going into Nashville from the south in the AM and vice versa in the PM). But I still get the occasional jam from an accident or some sort of road work, usually on the 24 to 40 merge or the 40 to 65 merge. 65 to 40 in the evenings sometimes gets backed up to.


And then there's Titans game road closures on Sunday home games that bork all the arteries...



My guess is it's just something some people do in certain types of traffic backups. Particularly the ones where you creep --> stop --> creep --> stop. I was in such a circumstance yesterday morning for about 6-8 miles and the constant movement of the gearshift to and from 1st and neutral combined with the riding of the clutch to start a 10 foot or so creep (and keep from low RPM jerking) before stopping again is quite annoying. I can see how a lot of people would just keep it in first and work the clutch in and out--especially if unaware of the potential additional wear on the T/O bearing caused by keeping the clutch disengaged for extended periods.

 

I should have been clearer, my wife started finding it difficult using the clutch at all, for medical reasons. Rush hour just exasperated the problem, with all the traffic creep. The automatic solves her problem completely.

 

Not buying a manual for legitimate medical reasons is quite different than Joe Schmoe saying a manual is too much work in traffic. Joe would just be lazy, your wife has an excuse.

 

Try commuting in Los Angeles bumper-to-bumper traffic 3 hours a day everyday for about a month.

 

Why live 1.5 hours from work?

 

I've been wondering. Does Honda have a standardized gear width and mainshaft and countershaft thickness? If so, it would theoretically be possible to take a gear from another transmission and swap that 6th gear. Since 6th is probably near the far left of the transmission it would require only minimal dismantling of both shafts. Granted, a gear costs 300+ $ so it's not economical but hey, if you can get the RPMs down, I'd say it'd be worth 300$ for me. Oh and you can kiss your warranty good bye

 

If this was a possibility the new fit (or the 2nd gen which I'm also highly considering) would look much more tempting. I'm still sitting on the fence of trading in my golf tdi simply because it's so comfortable to drive at highway speeds and so quiet at that.

 

Let's see how many 6MT 2015 Fit owners would do that!

 

Because my company wouldn't move!

 

I thought you were going to say you only live 20 minutes from work, but traffic makes it a 1.5 hour drive.

 

This is my situation, but more like 30 minutes.

 

I'm not saying it's a good idea but taking apart a transmission is relatively simple. The hard part is getting the transmission out of the car if you are a shade tree mechanic and don't have a lift.

Then again the actual size of the connected gears would have to be identical to the others, i.e. It would have to respect exactly the distance between the input and counter shafts. I've looked at different honda and Acura transmissions and they all look pretty similar and it would make sense for honda to have standardized clearances so that they can cross use parts between different transmission models and thus lower production costs.

I bet the mod can be done for about 500$. It's not so bad considering it's such a deal breaker and it is the sole reason many here and jumping on a new 2015 MT. If Honda keeps releasing the same transmission which is what I suspect they will do, at least some folks might eventually be able to get the car instead of praying for a revised 6th gear in the 4th gen.

 

Of course, just loosen a few bolts, slip in a pry bar between two case halves and it's split open!

I do crank R&R for living and it's simpler than one might think!







Regardless how simple or complicated it might be, the question is how many '15 Fit owners would ACTUALLY do it to reduce the engine rpm on hwy?

 

This "drone" that people complain about is simply the different sound of the CVT doing its job as it keeps the engine at the optimum RPM for power and economy. It's a better way of handling power delivery. People aren't used to hearing engines stay at the same RPM while the car accelerates and to a lot of people this is perceived as a defect. It isn't!

I'm a manual guy, having only owned a couple of automatics in my life and not liking either of them. However, the CVT is quite different from conventional automatics and different in this case is actually superior. Since Honda kept the top ratio of the former 5-speed in the new 6-speed I don't see much point in it. Just another shift every time you accelerate to speed and back. While you're shifting you aren't accelerating so there is a practical limit on whether more gears make you go faster. What's next, 7-speed MTs because people will think 7>6?

 

The 911 & Corvette both already offer a 7 speed manual.

The CVT drone IS a negative because it sounds bad.

Never once have I felt my 5MT couldn't keep up with the flow of traffic, so why exactly is a CVT better (and a CVT GK IS slower than a 6MT GK)?