are the 2015s really that bad?
 

I've been hearing a lot of warnings to stay away from the 2015's. Is there really much validity to this? Who owns a '15 out there? I'm not afraid of Mexico build quality. I know they had problems there but it's still a Honda factory. Thoughts?

I own a very early 2015 EX. So far (28k miles), in four years it has been perfect. Look at a site like True Delta, and the statistics bear out my experience.

I feel the QC of the 2015s were lacking. This 2015 Fit (built 12/2014 according to the door jamb) is my first Honda. It's been in the dealership to get the CVT and rusty rear door handle recalls. I've also had the driver window and passenger rear wheel liner replaced under warranty. For a time I pursued them trying to fix my front bumper sag as well. After I fixed it myself, I found there was a styrofoam piece that was missing. I fabbed one up and it's helped, but at this point the clips that help hold the bumper must have bent enough since they still kind of poke out a bit. It looks better than before, but it's not like it should be after leaving the assembly line. You can click my signature picture and see some of this documented.

With that being said, mechanically it's been great. I commented on your other thread, but other than normal maintenance it's been trouble free. It's never left me stranded and no CELs. It routinely gets 42+ MPG per tank, the best was 47 MPG from a full tank. Only time will show if it can hit the 200k mark...

I have a (January build) '15 LX, we bought it CPO with around 40,000 miles on it....car is immaculate, has apparently had all recalls done, and runs flawlessly....could be a good build, could be that the previous owner had all of the early build "problems" fixed and decided to unload it. Who knows? Only thing "wrong" with it is that it was, when sold to us, (and still is) missing the so-called "splash guard" which, I have no intention of replacing. To make a long story short, I dunno….it's been perfectly reliable for us for almost a couple of years, now, I guess.

I have a 2015 EX (manual), with 102k miles on it. In that time, it's gone through two batteries (one was replaced under warranty, the other died just after the warranty expired), which is probably the result of the sustained triple digit temperatures in the SoCal summers. Interestingly, the current battery (Bosch) has already lasted a lot longer than the two OEM Honda ones that preceded it, so I suspect that the OEM Honda batteries are garbage. My wife's 2012 Civic did the same thing: the battery it came from the factory with lasted about a year, but the aftermarket one I replaced it with has been in since September 2015 and is still good.

The rubber strips along the side of the roof were replaced under warranty after one came off (no idea where, I just noticed that it was missing one morning): the dealership replaced the other one as well. The rusty door handle recall has been done. Other than that and two bodywork accident repairs, no problems so far - just planned maintenance per the schedule.

As a general rule, the first few months of production of any new complicated piece of machinery can have quality control issues, but they are usually related to consistency, rather than faults affecting all of them. QC processes on the line are refined as the factory gains knowledge and experience with the manufacturing process for that specific model. As someone who installs, services and repairs industrial machines costing $50k-400k a piece (projectors in movie theatres), I have seen issues affecting early production examples of a new or major revised model, too. But it doesn't mean that they're all bad, or even that most of them are bad. Most will give no more trouble than the final units of the predecessor model. There is a slightly increased chance of known issues emerging, that are then fixed by making tweaks to the design, manufacturing, and/or QC processes. In the case of 2015 Fits, the starter motor and other issues that some have experienced with them is certainly grounds for haggling the price down a bit. But I wouldn't regard them as a rule-out. The odds are probably in your favor that the used 2015 model you buy will give you no more trouble than a '16 with a similar mileage, usage and maintenance history.

Well, I guess it depends on what your frame of reference is. My '09 Fit was one of the most dependable and trouble free cars I ever owned (note-all my previous new cars were Mopars, so take that for what it's worth).

In comparison, the '15 Fit (for which I had similar expectations) was a bit of a disappointment. I had the door handle bracket recall done, and it took two additional visits to get the door panels put together properly. To be fair, that's on the dealer, not Honda per se. I also had a rear axle that couldn't be aligned, causing the right rear tire to wear out in 15,000 miles (replaced under warranty). I also had the starter motor fail at 21,000 miles (also replaced under warranty).

I have also had to deal with the sagging bumper and an alignment issue between the dashboard, the left side window pillar, and the quarter window trim that the dealer can't fix and Honda won't fix. The last is admittedly a minor issue, but it's right where I see it all the time I drive the car, so it continues to annoy me.

Other than that, the car has been trouble free for 56,000 miles so far. Given the complexity of modern vehicles, I guess it could be far worse.

Upthread I didn't report the coil and door recalls, but I wasn't experiencing any issues. Otherwise, just maintenance.

stay away from 2016’s too. aka mine

Mine is a 2016, assembled in Mexico (Nov. 2015 production date) and at 21,000 kms is as solid as any car I've ever owned before.
For now.
Having said that, the original in-service date was January 2017 so even though I bought it pre-owned last April, my bumper-to-bumper warranty is good until 01/2021.
Clearly, it was one of the reasons I bough this particular one.
Second only to the fact it is a 6MT.

Validity?
Yes and No.
I was casually looking at getting back into a Honda Fit in 2015, but the flood of complaints that initially seemed to manifest early with the 2015's kept me from making the move at that time.

And the fit and finish complaints were real and valid. People posted pictures of hanging wheel well liners and body panels with questionable gaps.

That being said, you only hear the complaints. So yes, there are a lot of owners of 2015's that have had little problem and are very happy.

I'm not afraid of Mexico Plant build quality either. Auto building has become an international operation, from vendors of parts to assembly. I think Honda can maintain standards in Mexico just as in Japan or anywhere. BUT....

The initial complaints, were much as one might expect from a plant not yet up to speed in terms of quality control. I think they were real, from those that got a Honda Fit from those early builds.

Today? I don't think I would hesitate to buy a Honda....built in Mexico or elsewhere. I think they ironed out the start up problems they had with the Mexico plant.
For me it was always more a start up issue, than an overall Honda Quality issue.

But if I'm looking at a used Honda Fit? It does give me more of a critical pause and eye towards a 2015,
I would definitely evaluate it closely with an eye towards fit and finish issues. But if it passed? Yeah...you're buying a Honda Fit.

Well said fitchet!

My take is that, if shopping used, might as well hunt for one with a Japanese vin. Is it going to be better...who knows, but I seriously doubt it will be worse and they are out there in '16 and '17 model years.

Would I buy a Mexican built one used? Yes, with a warranty and after a good inspection. However, I would first see if I could find one built in Japan. Why not?

My son has a 2015 that has been very reliable for him. As far as I know it was built in Mexico. He has a warranty that runs out to 100,000 miles so I'm really not worried.

Mexico vs Japan?
For starters, I am pretty positive all 3rd gen Fits sold in Canada are (and always were) built in Mexico. So we are out of luck here.
But are we really?
I was one of the early adopters who bought a brand new 2004 Mazda3 Sport, a car generally acclaimed to be the segment leader at the time.
It was built in Hiroshima Japan and the quality of paint, plastics, upholstery fabric as well as things like visible (and hidden) welds were quite frankly terrible.
I had no major mechanical issues with it, but it was full of rattles since day one and was generally cheaply built and quite frankly - disappointing.

In early 2009 I traded it in for a 2010 Kia SOUL (one of the first that landed on canadian soil) and this was in all respects a vehicle far, far superior to the Mazda in terms of fit, finish, materials and built quality.
We kept it for ten years and had absolutely ZERO issues with it and when we did finally let go of it it was still tight and solid as the day we bought it.
It was built in Korea and this was the very first car that changed the perception of KIA as a brand for me.
All at the time when majority of people would not touch a KIA even if it was free,

Just my 2 cents, for what it's worth...

mazda is japanese hyundai. dey dont count. deyre like suzuki. remember dose garbage?

actually honestly i think hyundai makes better cars dan mazda sadly.

i rented a CX5 (?) was it? the suv several weeks ago. people said the interiors on recent mazdas are SO NICE i was like WTF are dey talking about wen i got in.. thing was just as crappy as dey were 15-20yrs ago with deir protoge's or watever dey were called just a tad modernized.

Yeah, I want to like Mazda because of their corporate dedication to "sporty," but the quality is pretty poor.

Kia and Hyundai are darn good. I'd pick a US built Kia over a Mexican Honda, but that's just me. Trust me...it saddens me to say that.

Not true. Most of the 2017 North American Fits were built in Japan and then production moved back to Mexico for 2018, 2019 models. The Fit was moved to Japan to squeeze the HR-V start up production into the Mexico plant - it lacked the capacity to build both Fits and HR-V at that time and the HR-V won out. Capacity has obviously since been increased since Mexico now makes both cars.

In fairness to Mazda I think the quality has suffered because they have been so financially tight for such a long time that they have been forced to cut so many corners and can't seem to get out of that rut.

Korean makers Kia and Hyundai have become quite noted for their quality and value of their vehicles over the last while.

If you can find one where it had all the recalls done and plus the other associated problems that were not involved in the recall ( VTC acutator; drive train warranty covers this) I think its an "Ok" car if you're single. My son would bake in the back due to the Fit's poor AC performance. I even had the dealer vacuum the lines. Only time it would get cold was after 15 min of highway driving at 70MPH. The car is frugal when it comes to gas, but we traded in the Fit via carmax and bought a 2017 Mazda CX5 GS. Definitely not even in the same category as the Fit, but we are definitely enjoying it. (we also don't have to deal with the Fit's humongous A pillar blocking our vision while driving) On a side note, the clips for the plastic undercarriage sheild are poorly deisgned. I can't even count the number of times dealer had to replace the clips, because they would loosen up and fall out.

Original owner of January 2015 build EX 6MT here, a bit over 36K on the odometer. Had the door recall. Car has been great for 3+ years now. My only nagging concern is the grind I hear in about one in 20 starts. Been pretty good otherwise. Lately I've been obsessed with trying for 50+ mpg road trips. It's not that hard to do in favorable weather if you keep it at 50-55 mph, but you'll feel the hate from everyone that passes you ... and EVERYONE will pass you.

Got a used 2015 about a year ago with 60k miles. No mechanical problems at all, only complaint is that the AC is weak.