Have a 2015 CRZ manual that is grounded for about 6 months due to airbag defect. No parts available till September. I was looking around at all the local dealers in three states around me and no manuals for EX Fit or LX. Hundreds of CVT's. Are the manuals being phased out or do they have airbag issues and Honda is not selling them because of this. Traded my 2014 Fit Sport manual for the CRZ, kind of regretting this. Anybody live where dealerships have manual? Please list state.

Thanks

 

Here's the one MT Fit locally: 2015 Honda Fit EX For Sale in Lihue HI. Probably too far for you. Its safety sticker indicates it's been on the lot for over a year already. That's the largest single reason for the MT "shortage". Limited demand.

Is your CR-Z grounded on Honda recommendation or out of your concern over the airbag risk? There have been something like 12 deaths associated with the Takata airbags. Over 19 million cars have been recalled over the issue. Many of these cars are over 10 years old. Let's assume 8 years is the average age. And let's assume these cars are getting driven 10k miles per year. That puts the odd of dying around 1 in 12 million per year or 1 in 120 billion miles.

We continue to drive our "recalled" '07 CR-V in a "high risk" high temperature/high absolute humidity location. And will until late summer when the part is supposed to be available.

 

Grounded on Honda recommendation. Sent letter saying to park it, they would provide rental and sign waiver transferring responsibility from them to me. Crazy nobody has manuals. One dealership has 145 fits not one manual. There has to be a few people who still like the stick.

 

Found one in New Jersey:

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/d...8089/overview/

...but it's a 2015. Keep in mind that others here have reported all sorts of problems with the 2015s assembled at the Celaya, Mexico plant. Search this subforum for details.

 

Pretty short list here:

https://www.cars.com/for-sale/search...ting-662998148

You will have to verify yourself that any of them are actually available.

 

Feel free to review the link below regarding a previous thread addressing limited production of the manual transmission.

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/3rd-...de-2016-a.html

 

I just did a search of all of SoCal on Cars.com. One manual transmission showed up, a leftover 2015 in yellow. There are only 56 listed in the entire US, the vast majority of those are 2015s and none are J-serials.

Honda just isn't building sticks for the US market. For that matter, they are only supplying Fits as an afterthought.

 

You can review my whine list in the thread I started about the lack of manuals up here in the Pacific NW. I have queried a local dealer about taking a deposit and ordering a manual. Let's see what happens.

 

Good reads. Oh well, looks like I will be keeping my CRZ manual, decision made for me. Unless mysteriously a silver Fit manual turns up locally. Won't hold my breath.

 

Wow! They sure didn't offer that on our Takata recall. (Though I understand if we go try to get it we can.) Good luck on the MT Fit. May be in the Too Hard bag.

 

This whole issue begs the question; does Honda not make manual transmissions because people don't buy them, or do people not buy them because Honda won't make them?

 

The dealerships are part of the equation too. They are loathe to order sticks because they can only be sold to stick buyers. From their point of view, a salesman can talk a stick customer into an automatic, but they can't talk an automatic customer into a stick.

Of course, it would help if Honda would produce a stick with reasonable ratios, not just one that "goes to 6" with the same ratios.

 

I do most of my driving at 75+ mph, and despite really wanting a manual the weird ratios were what made me think that the transmission was the best place for me to compromise in order to actually get a car. The cvt is super comfortable to drive on the interstate.

 

I was in the same category. Most of my vehicles have been stick, the last being a 4Runner and the only option was the auto. I would have bought a stick in the Honda, but the gear ratios and gas mileage difference was enough to push m to the CVT. The fit is strictly a commuter car so the priority was getting the best gas mileage.

 

So just how much better gas mileage are you ACTUALLY getting with the rubber band drive? I ask because I hear this line over and over, but I'm curious if it pans out in the real world or is it just EPA numbers?

 

Well, salesmen have been trying to talk me into an automatic since 1979, thus far, without success. Cars are an expensive purchase for me, and it's too much money for me to buy something I don't want.

 

On a 600 mile roadtrip to Salt Lake a month ago, I got 43 mpg. This was going over mountain passes, state highways, city driving, and interstate. On a normal tank I've been getting about 39. I don't drive conservatively or anything like that to eke out gas. I will be very curious to see what happens when summer gets here.

 

I'm getting anywhere from 40mpg on the low end to over 50mpg on longer trips. I drive my CVT very conservatively compared to my old GD3 5MT.

My CVT is doing ~2300rpm at 70mph. I believe 6th gear on the MT is around 3500rpm for the same speed.

 

Best I've done is 44.827 calculated mpg, went 422.9 miles and filled up 9.434 gallons.

 

Well, with my manual, my mileage in all around driving ranges from 38.5 in the winter (shorter trips, mostly the five mile commute to work), to 41.5 in milder weather. I'm sure I could get better mileage if I were really trying or taking a long trip. Then again, I tend to drive in a pretty "spirited" manner for an old man.


This tends to confirm my suspicions that there's more difference in weather and individual driving style than manual versus automatic with this car.