All of these are “first world problems.”

 

i agree!

 

They are "Honda problems."

I'm seeing Honda slipping in consumer ratings and they aren't making up for it with desirability.

 

I am glad you still find that old phrase so useful as if no one has ever heard of it before.

 

The armrest in my GE was so much better than the too-low console in the GK. I'd pay for an optional or after-market one but I'm not ready to just glue on a block of wood or foam pad and have it look horrible.

And a lighter color interior so the car isn't so blazingly hot in the summer.

Still, very happy with the car I got (2016) for what I paid. As I was with my 2010.

 

I'm going to go against the flow here and say get rid of the "oil life" information. It's a theoretical calculation and since Honda doesn't actually analyze the oil just go back to the old fashioned say a 1 year 12000 mile change, which ever comes first. That would have just as much validity as what Honda does now and would get rid of one more stupid indicator on the increasingly cluttered dash.

 

Given that some people's cars say to change the oil at 6000 and others at 12,000 I'm happy to have a computer make an estimate based on driving conditions.

 

I would agree with this except for a few things.
First of all with production runs of mass produced automobiles, Honda is buying in UBER bulk from their chosen suppliers.
I'm not asking for Taj Mahal level carpeting, just "good" carpeting. And I can't believe Honda couldn't obtain and provide this, at a rather minimal cost difference.
I also think when most of us buy an automobile, we are looking at the overall purchase price in terms of chunks of $500-$1000, and I think the difference in cost between "Spray Fuzz" carpet and Good Carpet would barely register with most buyers.
I'd say the same thing about a cargo cover...provide it at "wholesale" production prices, within the cost of the automobile and I'm barely going to notice the difference in what I'm actually paying.

Ask me to buy the Cargo Cover for $175, as a separate purchase after I've bought my Fit? And I'm going to feel I'm shelling out a lot of money for a product not worth the cost.

 

The 2018 has a higher center console armrest option. It's pricey and involves replacing the entire center part.

For a sub 20k car, the Fit fills my commuting needs. The civic 1.5T wasn't available when I was forced into buying a new car or I would have gone for that for a few $$ more. I didn't even bother looking at Golfs as I've heard too many bad stories from friends about German car repair costs.

I was able to make my own cargo cover for $30. Of that is the spray adhesive that I have 95% of a bottle left and a bunch of leftover felt. With economy of sale, Honda could really add something like that for another $5. They included it in the Civic and CRV for example.

 

Well, the cargo cover was standard equipment on my Canadian 2018 LX so I wouldn't call the decision not to include the cargo covers a Honda decision as such but rather strictly a Honda America marketing/sales decision. Thinking about it I suspect they were under a mandate to hold the overall price on the car and with pressure from other expenses - that mandatory TPMS thing for example - there was no chance of getting the cargo cover on US cars. It would have been low on their list anyways because the US dealers probably like selling it as an add-on with it's undoubtedly large profit margin.

 

Well, I agree with DeBoss in the link below. Although he's talking about cars and oil changes in general the specific example he gives happens to be a Honda:


Take a good look at the pictures. That's what following a computer gets you.

 

My understanding is that the onboard computer ONLY goes by total rotations per minute for the engine to determine oil change intervals. Things like air filtration, oil filtration, oil quality, engine load, operating temps, etc are not evaluated.

Everyone can do whatever they want for their own cars. I don't go beyond 5,000 miles and only use full synthetic, because I've had questionable/concerning oil analysis from Blackstone outside of those parameters and, in the scheme of vehicle ownership, oil is cheap.

 

Nothing sophisticated. My 2001 BMW (not with me anymore) monitors 268 gallons of gas passing through its flow sensor. That means, if I averaged 24mpg the I can go 15K miles before a change in synthetic oil, which was the recommendation. But, I always changed at 5K miles, then 10K miles when it was older and when I got lazy.

 

TPMS is probably using wheel speed sensors since it's a passive design. Since the car includes VSC, then it probably has speed sensors already. With that in mind, TPMS is probably a programming feature w/ an idiot light. There shouldn't be much of an add on cost.

I agree w/ you that the high accessories margin is nice for the dealer, that's why I built my own.

 

I want a button on the steering wheel that toggles through the info display

 

That's kind of a confusing video because he's talking about Kilometers..then refers to things done at 20,000K or 40,000K which can mean thousands of miles.

In either case, I'd say even with the maintenance minder you have to use some common sense.
28,000 kilometers is over 17,000 miles. I would never go that far or long without changing my oil.

It seems with my Fit, the oil change comes in anywhere between 6000 to 9000 miles. It's never come close to having me go 17,000 miles before a change.
If it did? I'd change it well before it got to that point.

I would also say, in the Owners Manual it does say, that regardless of what the Oil Life Indicator says, you should change the oil yearly.
I'm kind of wondering if these people going 17,000+ miles or more in between recommended changes aren't following that advice.

I also think, with todays cars, it's nearly imperative to use synthetic. If you are going to go long...6000 to 9000 miles between changes, I think you want a synthetic oil.

I feel like if I use a good quality synthetic oil and follow the maintenance minder advice...which usually has me change the oil somewhere between 6000 and 90000 miles, I'm fine.

I do however agree with the advice that changing the oil conservatively is good. Oil is a relatively cheap maintenance investment.
I have no problem with people picking a conservative, lower number and changing the Oil.