Hi, I am a new member here, planning to buy a 2015 CVT LX Fit in a couple of days. For last couple of days I have been reading this forum and picked up some issues some of you have faced. Is there a compiled checklist of issues to inspect on the new car before signing the paperwork at the Dealer?

Also is there a certain VIN range after which initial issues from the new plant have been resolved \reduced?

Thank you.

 

1. Check the spare tire well for water leak(ask the dealer to run water over the hatch)
2.Doors alignment
3.Hatch alignment
4.Paint imperfections (flashlight recommended)
5.loose weather stripes and wind noise at high speed.

 

You forgot the hood alignment.

This should do:

Consumer Reports New Car Delivery Checklist

 

Thank you for the responses.

"Check the spare tire well for water leak(ask the dealer to run water over the hatch)" What is the reason for this test? Never heard of it, hence curious.

 

Appears a couple of people here have found water in their spare tire well. Given the dealer almost certainly washed it, you might just pull up the spare to take a look.

 

Thank you.

 

Along with those things already mentioned for the car itself, also check for mark ups that the dealer might try to charge you. My car dealer had a great price for the basic price of the car, but then tried to add on a couple of accessories, a security sticker (some kind of tracking number to track parts if the car is ever stolen), and nitrogen in the tires. These things brought up the overall price of the car. AND the dealer wasn't very up-front about it all. The total cost of the car just got much higher at one point on the contract and I had to ask them why. Only then did they tell me about all the stuff (which was on the contract, but not very specifically spelled out if that makes sense). So only pay for what you want.

Also, if you happen to change your mind to an EX instead of an LX, then check the rear tires wells for the sagging linier issue. You shouldn't see the fabric/felt liner from the outside of the car.

Best of luck! I'm really enjoying my Fit, and I hope you do too.

 

Really? Extra charge for Nitrogen in tires? :-) In my last car I changed tires at a Sams club and they filled it with Nitrogen for no charge.

Thank you for the inputs. Only concern standing between me and a Fit is driveability in winter in the Midwest. Any thoughts on that? Are they driveable with the stock Firestone tires?

I am set on the LX, but thank you for warning on the Liners coming loose.

 

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/3rd-...-fit-snow.html

The Fit does just fine on ice and snow. The Econ mode makes the throttle less sensitive and the CVT prefer higher gearing, and that helps. I've always used just All Season tires in the winter and these Firestones on the Fit are some of the best I've ever used.

 

I'm surprised that some dealer hasn't tried to charge for "78% nitrogen blend"!



Whenever they try to charge me for that sort of snake oil I ask them if they have purged the air from the tire with nitrogen before inflating it. Of course they haven't and since one third of the inflating gas is in the tire even before inflation using pure nitrogen will still leave 7% oxygen and other trace gases in the tire!

The only way to get pure nitrogen in the tire is to have two valves on opposite sides of the rim and purge the tire with a lot of nitrogen before pressurizing.

 

Yes, I told them Costco puts nitrogen in new tires for free AND pointed out that Honda ships the cars with air in the tires, so unless they removed all the existing air, then there's still oxygen, etc. in the tires. So, yeah, basically they try to charge for air. (Is it okay to write, "weenies," here?) There are pretty green-topped caps on the air stems of the tires.

I actually wanted other accessories (and purchased some of them online for a lot less) but the nitrogen thing really got to me.

Glad to have my all-season floor mats with the snow! No problems driving in snow so far.

 

Thank you all for inputs. I was able to make a checklist out of this and visited the dealer for a test ride. I may not have caught some of the alignment issues if I did not have your inputs. I have to say I was disappointed as someone who was used to "Honda quality" in previous vehicles.

The hood was not aligned and surprisingly most of the Fits in the lot had same issue.

The passenger and driver side had different gaps between the front and rear doors.

The passenger front door was not flush with the body of the car.

The worst issue was abnormal engine chatter at idle. Knew it was not normal right away. Salesman would not believe a Fit could have that issue. Ok so off we go to the lot and start two Fits side by side. One sounded normal and the Fit we test drove had the engine chatter. Service guy is planning to look into the issue now. This was a shocker for me coming from multiple Honda vehicles in the past.

On the road Wind noise was more than I expected but I was ok with it, being a light car with less insulation.

I feel moving Production out of Japan to a new plant has had its impact on the Fit. Hope the future model years restore quality of the car.

 

What you're hearing from the engine is Direct Injection--like a diesel. Something's wrong with the one that doesn't do that, LOL.

 

To clarify, what I wrote is not about engine noise. It is about a clear chatter on top of engine noise. Now if that was the normal noise, the second Fit engine was running without using Direct Injection :-)) And the Salesman would not have got Service manager on the phone to work on the car if it was normal engine noise. I will not push this point more as it could have been a one off case, but I can tell a weird engine noise when I hear one.