Picked up my first car yesterday; an '09 Honda Fit Sport MT. I absolutely love it.

A couple questions!

1.) I've never owned a car, and thus never considered upgrading one... Is there any low hanging fruit; cheap upgrades that make a large difference?
2.) I didn't buy mats. I live in Rochester, NY (snow, salt, etc.). Is this something I should do ASAP? Will I need to clean the carpet before putting mats in? Should I go to a dealer?
3.) Any tips and tricks? For example, as a passenger, it gets annoying that my door never auto-unlocks on other cars, and I just realized that you can usually fix this, but that people are lazy

Thanks for any help! Now I'm actually excited to get to work, what with the drive there

 

Congrats!

1) Not really, the car is great in stock form. Most "mod" people do degrades the car.

2) Get all season floor mats! You can use amount cheezo mat temporarily but they won't fit right. Yes, vac the salt before you put in the new. Goto:

Genuine Honda Accessories at Discount Prices - Honda Product Information, Videos and News for details.

3) Hit the unlock fob twice. It will unlock all doors.

 

Here's a couple things that will help you take care of your Fit, and give you the chance to do some inexpensive upgrades. I've done all of these (and a couple of others).
1. OEM all season mats (you can find a great deal on them on Ebay) 07 08 HONDA FIT ALL SEASON RUBBER MATS NEW GENUINE OEM:eBay Motors (item 200411401914 end time Dec-27-09 14:12:26 PST)

2. Door sills are also great to add to the bare painted sills. I suggest the stainless steel from Zeta over the plastic ones you get from the dealership for $100, you can get them from www.zetaproducts.net
3. A Shark Fin antenna gives you a really cool option to the black stubby that comes standard, and they color match it to your Fit...check 'em out at www.visualgarage.com
Hope this gives you some ideas and good luck...there's some pics on my site..check 'em out.

 

WalMart has nice set of front mats for around $10. Just need to trim a bit off the front.

Also look up the Stickey thread on setting your doors to unlock when you put it in Park

Read all the stuff here to find out what you can mod

 

Heh, I.E. I saw that the various modes were described in the manual, and that other people (some who complain about it) never do anything about it.

These all season mats look like they will puddle water... is this not the case?

 

Haven't had any issues with water puddling on my all season mats.

 

Cool, all season mats install was a snap.

Is it bad for a tire pressure gauge to keep it in the car in cold weather?

 

One more question... I live in Rochester, NY. Cold. Wind. Snow.

This is my first new car... never really taken care of a car before... how would I go about washing it in the dead of winter?

 

They have these wonderful things called car washes. Myself I like the brushless ones with the topless girls or you can go to a do it yourself place and freeze your b**** off.

 

Bowkr, an alternative to consider is a waterless car washing method, there are quite a few different products that enable you to keep your car clean without using water. I'm not pushing any particular brand, but here is a pretty good explanation of the process.

YouTube - Meguiars Waterless Car Wash

 

Welcome and congrats! Take good care of her.

 

Is it typical to not allow car payments with a credit card? I'm a bit miffed that I am only being given the option of debit card. It's less safe to use (Information Security-wise) and there are no benefits (i.e. cashback).

Is this standard practice? This is through AHFC... I'm livid.

 

Why not just do a direct deposit (wire transfer) from your bank if you don't like paying every month?

And you can use credit card for your down payment. I do that often to accumulate UnitedAirlines milage on the credit card. Usually they will accept up to $5K, and I pay the rest cash.

 

I have no problem paying every month, I just prefer
1.) Not to use my debit card or financial account number (compromise of these is far, far worse than credit card compromise)
2.) Get $$$ back when possible

Already used $5k on the CC for a down payment I see no reason why they shouldn't accept a CC for monthly payments.

 

we just picked up an 08 fit sport, and live in philly. just got hit real hard with 23 inches of snow and the rubber floor mats are awesome!!

 

Its probably because there is a transaction fee, people change cc's all the time, and it's their money they decide how they want it paid back.

I suppose if you have that much mula that you are worried about getting stolen, just pay cash via bank issued certified check? . I know for sure there are many people out there that have more digits in their bank than me.

And if you had your loan setup at the dealer, guess who has access to it with your ss#? Pretty much anyone that has access to their accounting dept including their janitor if they really felt like it. And who's to know no one was looking over your shoulder while you were writing out all the info? Hahahahaha

It's one thing to be careful, another to be paranoid that it becomes your problem.

 

My buying experience was dif. I usually buy a Dodge at a small town dealer where I know everyone and can stand looking over mechanics shoulder if I want and ask questions.

When buying a car I would just write a cheque not ceritfied or anything and they would accept it. Well never thought when I bought the Fit. I managed to cram all the numbers on the cheque without using the margins . I hand it to salesman and he said should be a bank draft. Well screw you. So he went away and came back in a few minutes and said it was OK. I guess they figured the old guy ain't going to leave town and if he does won't get far.

 

hahaha, yah, i just use my personal check too. certified check should not be necessary but bowkr was concerned about giving bank info so i just posted certified check in my reply.

 

(summary at bottom)

Sooo, driving home from work.

Drive up to a red light, need to turn right onto a 55mph two lane road.

Stop, look left. Guy far away moves into left lane.

Pull out, start accelerating, and WHAM, nailed on the right, broken window, curtain bags deploy.

Someone turned left right in front of the guy I saw, nailed him, and he nailed me shortly thereafter.

Both of their cars took most of the force through crumpling. Mine was a direct hit to the side, so EMTs were a bit weary, but I felt and still feel fine (maybe a little different feeling in my left, but movement feels normal). Guy who was cut off seemed to have some injuries, hopefully nothing major. The perpetrators were okay.

Less than 3 months old Fortunately, the lady at Geico believes it was likely totaled. Sounds like they will pay off the loan, but what do I do? Get a new loan? Do I lose the promotional rate I got through Honda?



tldr: hit pretty hard, no liability on my part. I have Geico. If my car is totaled, how do I get a new Fit? Any tips on what to do would be greatly appreciated.

 

oh man, sorry to hear. definitely visit a chiro just to be sure your neck is okay. those start hurting after 3-4 days. if taken care right away the pain may be very minor and recover quickly.

hope you get your insurance check and all soon.