I picked up my 2018 a week ago. The cabin is fairly quiet - I'm very satisfied. Bit of tire noise though from the Dunlops. Steering is great. Overall I'm very pleased. Can't comment on suspension - I drive on long straight roads with very few potholes.

My car is the Canadian LX so it came with that rigid trunk cover which is nice. I don't believe that US cars get that although they get TPMS which is mandatory down there.

When I got it home I found that tires were about 6 lb under spec all way around so I had to pump them up a bit. Spare tire was 22 lb under and there was a small pool of water under the spare. No other issues although it is worth mentioning that I was concerned about the paint/fit/finish now that manufacture has returned to Mexico since that was a big problem before but everything was pretty much surprisingly perfect on my car.

Only real gripe would be the small battery - when I originally pointed that out to the salesman he quickly pointed to the alternator and said it was a good size. I'm guessing he's heard gripes about the battery size before. Oh yeah and that light in the trunk is absolutely dismal. I've seen birthday candles that gave off more light. Anyway I've got an LED replacement on order.

 

I cant wait to pay off this car and try a 2018/maybe 2019 and see how it compares to my girlfriends 2017. Not sure if Ill go base LX or spring for the Sport model. Nothing on the Sport is "must have" for me but I like the lip kit. The wheels dont matter since Id replace them anyway (and then the LX would be better as I could use the steelies for cheap snow tires).

 

Hootie, your first post was spot on IMO.

Sadly, if you want a Fit that is more refined, quieter, faster, etc, you can buy a Golf. More importantly, VW lets you have the options you want with choice of color and transmission for the most part. We are, and will continue to be, a Honda/Ford family. Those are our two car brands first and foremost, but Honda needs to get their act together with the features and options. Their marketing department is ignoring those of us that want a car to be both nice and sporty. Every German car company gets it and even Ford and GM are better.

That being said, everything about our Golf except overall interior volume is better than the GK. Our GD will smoke the Golf on a mountain run, but not as bad as it would smoke the GK. For those with short term memories, remember the GD was a slalom master and was a benchmark for many brands. Guessing that's why there's a 200 mile test mule still around.

I'm just hoping that the new "sport" model will lead to them creating a "sport premium" or something along those lines. Maybe if fuel prices go up we'll see Honda move in that direction.

 

GD will smoke a GK? really? i want to see this. i had a GD at one point and it was like driving in slomo..
my GE was barely able to keep up with a MK6 Golf..

 

Maybe your Golf needs to go to the shop for some warranty work. Something must be wrong.

 

yah wat he mean is it needs a new driver.

 

I actually came to the Fit from an 02 Jetta wagon, and despite good vehicle dynamics, I hope to never own another VW product. Too many little things were always going wrong with it. At one point I had to take all four doors apart because the power locks were failing- dealer wanted over $2k for the job.

Somehow though, my dad never had any serious problems with his 05 Jetta. Sample size of two doesn't say much, but it says enough for me to be done with them.

 

On a road course, yes I think it would.

Look at any autocross event and you'll find GD's rocking all other generation of Fit's as well as Golfs.

Edit...I tried to find any proof, but didn't see anything. Maybe I'm on crack. What I do see is that you either have a Mini Cooper or your not competitive anyway.

 

Mine is a sample size of one, so even less scientific, but my '99 Jetta tdi was not a good car either. Between window, door lock, fuel pump, injector, and interior peeling issues, it was not a good car.

Our Fit has been perfect.

We are giving VW another chance. If it plays out like the last one, we won't buy another.

 

i mean if yours is modded and going downhill in the canyon roads it probably will beat a stock GK. my GE MT was quite a bit faster than my GD MT, and people say the GK is even faster than the GE MT even with the CVT, so going uphill will be a challenge.

 

See if you can do a 24 hour test drive and bring it to autocross... I'm curious myself and would like a "controlled environment" to verify this. I'll snag my cousin's '17 EX CVT and met you there. haha

*ding ding ding* Valid variable there!

Oh how it still cracks me up that the GD did the lane change test faster than the C6 Z06.

Sadly it seems so... The trend I've been seeing recently is that manufactures across the range are doing more and more trading card games. They build what they want (seldomly what the customer wants), dispatch/ship them to where ever they want region wise and often put things in packages to were if you want one item then you have to get three other bits in this "package" for it. Honda is really stuck on doing that from what I've been seeing... Manufactures like BMW and MINI as well.

As for Fit vs Golf... I'm sure that once you get to a Sport or EX with sensing and up then they'll be in a competitive price bracket with similar featured. With the VW having the advantage in pretty much everything but price, cost of maintenance and like you mentioned interior space. But also the manufactures priories are typically different as well.

It's goes back to that old pyramid formula. Reliable, cheap, or fast (or driving experience in this case)... pick two.

Most recent European vehicle's that I've seen focus a lot of driver's experience in terms of fit/finish, how the vehicle performs, and more then either sway towards costs per unit (typically with entry models) or hone in on long term use if its a higher performance model. Look at the R56 and F56 MINI Cooper between going from the "Just-a-Cooper", the "S", and the "JCW" models or with the MK7 VW Golf the Golf, GTi/TDi and the R models as examples.

If memory serves me right, Honda's priority before it's President and Chief Exec change in 2015 was to keep costs low and stay reliable since let's face it Honda is a brand hinges engineering and innovation. This is why the S2000 hasn't seen a replacement, this is why the CR-Z was so bleh and didn't see anything good until HPD for 1st quarter of 2014, also why the Civic started to get so bland that at the introduction of the 9th gen for the 2012 model year the Civic actually lost its streak for being in Car & Driver's 10 best.

Since then, Honda now has shaken up that priority list to better compete with European models (compare interior with the GD, GE, and GK... its a milestone jump not including the tech improvements) but still staying traditional to its older routes. So still focusing on costs and reliability... but not holding back as much on performance anymore. Hence the broad range of L15B7 equipped turbo Hondas and of course the return of the NSX and (Civic) Type R...

... I feel that I might have rambled a bit on those last two paragraphs. Its been a really long day. haha

 

The GD is, without question, SLOOOW!

The key is maintaining speed. I'm able to get it through the Tail of the Dragon chasing sport bikes at a very high rate of speed, but I have to keep it WOT at EVERY time possible and only brake enough to barely stay on the road.

Even a 2mph drop too much and it's slow into the next turn.

Many find that the fun type of car to drive since it rewards really good driving/planning. I'm a liter sport bike rider, so I clearly do not adhere to that as the most fun. LOL

 

hootie- yah, too bad honda's reliability went to hell the last decade.. well at least the ones made outside of j-land.
to the point being a honda made no difference vs buying say a VW..

 

i believe it.. the GD is light and very agile with the right suspension and tires.

 

Here's my take between the Golf and Fit. Most see them as really different, but...

Both are made in Mexico using globally sourced parts by basically the same workers. With Honda you get a history of quality. With VW you get an established plant and German engineering.

I have it from very good sources that the opening of the new plant in Mexico did not go as planned and there were some pretty major issues.

Sadly, Kia is catching both brands rapidly by hiring the best professionals in the industry and building cars in the US.

 

I'm just going to say this regarding Fit's across the range against each other. Stock, 3 pedals, in Sport or EX trims...

Straight line, I think the GK5 will have the advantage. All day, everyday thanks to that DOHC L15B1... the goofy gearing from 4th and up may not help it much but I'm wouldn't be surprised if it would best older gens even with a slight weight disadvantage to the GD and almost on par with the GE.

Autocross or a downhill run on TOTD, I think it would be a close call between the GD and GK. The entire range have about the same size brakes front and rear, the GD is the lightest with the slightly wider 195 but the GK has the most power. Though, the GE has better mid-range due to the i-VTEC of the L15A7... I wouldn't quite know how it would do in autocross or the downhill.

Maybe Best Motoring should look into this or someone contact Clarkson, Hammond and May to do some witty challenges. I'm really curious now

[/end off topic]

 

I've done it and do agree... Scared the crap outta me tailing people on motards. The GD is a legitimate driver's car in that aspect.

I want to do it again since boosting!

 

So, now the question is, can I swap the GK motor into my GD?

 

ive had my share of issues on the GK with warranty repairs.. actually, all the hondas ive bought in the past that were made in canada and marysville had some sort of warranty problems, one was catastrophic as the car just died WHILE DRIVING .. and these are cars all purchased new.

mexican VW imo is good. unlike honda, the fit and finish is actually pretty good too, no warranty repairs either. honestly their mexico facility builds better Golfs than their Germany plant.

 

yah, you the GD-Pro. you have like the longest modding experience with GD's so i believe wat you posted about the GD/GE/GK.