My 2015 EX manual now has 87k miles on it. In that time it has had two battery replacements (which I'm a bit surprised about, given that my driving is 90% freeway cruising), one new set of front brake pads and one new set of tires, in addition to the recommended planned maintenance. Apart from the batteries dying, there have been no mechanical or electronic failures.

Its major plus for me is fuel economy. The two big drawbacks are that it is pretty uncomfortable for drives of around 1h30 plus (which, to be fair, the car wasn't really designed for), and that the front jacking point is so far back as to make DIY oil and filter changes extremely difficult.

I'm aiming to run it to six years / 200k miles, assuming no unplanned reason for replacement (e.g. a major accident). When the time comes, I'll be looking seriously at the HR-V, and also seeing what the pricing is like for hybrid and electric offerings. Given the way the market is going, I don't think my next car will be a hybrid or pure electric, but the one after that may well be, especially if California gas prices continue to rise at their present rate.

 

Out of curiosity, when the battery replacements were done were the new batteries put in just the direct replacement size 151R or did you get the oversized size 51R with the higher capacity?

 

Both were 151Rs. The first replacement was by the dealership and under warranty. Even though the second happened less than a year later, the car itself was out of warranty by that time. It also happened while I was 300 miles away from home, so I had to buy whatever I could get my hands on - in this case, an aftermarket one from Autozone.

The guy at Autozone opined that battery failures at 1-2 years are becoming more common, because all the electronic stuff in a modern car drains enough current to prevent the alternator from having much left over to charge the battery, even during long freeway runs. Given that I use my cellphone as a GPS and have it hooked to the USB outlet almost all the time I'm in the car, that makes sense. After the second failure, I've taken to giving the battery a booster charge on the first weekend of every month, disconnecting it from the car completely and hooking it to a charger, trickling on 2a overnight. The charger usually says that the battery is around 80 to 85% charged when this process starts, so he's right in that the alternator is not capable of maintaining it at a full charge, even in a car that is used mainly for long haul freeway runs.

 

For those interested, I made my last video in the Fit talking about the problems I had. The link is in the original post. I posted it days ago but forgot to mention it here.

 

I've had more than one person, in casual conversation, when I mentioned I owned and drove a Honda Fit...look at me and ask "What's a Honda Fit?".

They literally didn't know Honda made something called a "Fit".

Even though, yes I see quite a few on the road.

I had one young kid, help me load a purchase into my Fit, who thought it was as Hybrid.

So, overall, I don't think there is much exposure "about" The Fit being promoted by Honda.

 

there are plenty of kias on the road that i don’t know it’s names nor care .. even if they do all sorts of ads.

 

I think if you say to somebody, I drive an Accord, Civic, or CRV they will automatically know you are driving a Honda.

Same with saying I drive a Camry, Corolla, Tacoma...Toyota.

The point isn't about your personal indifference to the KIA line-up,

We are talking about Honda, and their support of their entry level sub-compact.

I would agree to the point that all automakers, don't promote their least expensive and smallest vehicles.

I don't see a lot of ads for Kia Rios, Hyundai Accents, Toyota Yaris, Nissan Versa...

At least KIA does promote the KIA Soul.
They do it with singing and dancing Hamsters...but they do at least promote the vehicle.

 

I like the hamsters.

The Fit commercial with the "it can even off-road" commentary was one of the worst commercials I've ever seen.

To be fair, all Honda commercials are borderline terrible. I have a degree in marketing and I just cringe when I see them.

 

honda commercials suck in general indeed.

 

I kinda liked the "The Fit is go!!!" short ads years back ....sparked my interest in Fits, have always thought them to be interesting lil hatches....took quite a while for the stars to align and me actually buy one, though

 

I figure I'll update you guys that the dealer has sold my traded in Fit already for $14500 (listed price on their used car site) after only giving me $10500 when I traded it in for the 2018 Accord EX. I will be very happy when the new driver comes to them with the A/C problems that I directly blame Honda service for not wanting to fix after 4 times I came in to them for that problem. By the way, the Accord has been great the 3 weeks I had it. I am now over 1200 miles (just got to Mississauga Ontario last night from NJ) and the 1.5 turbo is plenty for me. It's good enough for sudden passing power that I may need on the highways. I am not looking for a race car, I want efficiency and reliability and this car does this well do far.

 

I think you're feelings are a little misplaced to the buyer instead of at the dealer.

But good to know that a 2015 can still fetch for $14500.

 

I agree with you that it is unfair to the next buyer but I wasted a lot of time trying to get this resolved. Honda as a corporation which is represented by their dealers failed me and I did not want to put in more of my time and frustration contacting them directly again as from my previous experience when I called them about the many problems I had when I first got the car they did not give a crap. Same thing happened when I called them after I got my car back from a recall service for the galvanized handle replacement that when I got the car back the key less entry did not work and the black crap from the inside of the door was all over the inside of the windows on both front doors. They do not care. No "We are sorry for all your troubles you are having with one of our new vehicles" kind of letter or follow up calls or anything that would make me thing that they actually care. They only send recall notices because they are required to do so by law. Otherwise they could care less. They are up to the point in their corporate success from previous great cars they made that many people go to Honda and buy cars based on reputation and previous excellent quality. Why would they give a crap when there will be plenty of other people that will come in and buy cars just like I did based on reputation and overall great products they make. The new owner will go into service and complain the the car is not getting cold A/C, they will look it up the vin and see that the car was in for that problem 4 previous times and then maybe they will get to work as they don't want the new owner to return the car. I don't know what will happen for sure but I'm sure I won't have to deal with it.

 

meh, used cars are buying someone else’s problem and people know this when they spend the money. hell with the GK, buying new is like buying a used car.

u did fine, enjoy ur accord.