The 09 Sport comes with a stock retractable arm rest that's built into the driver's seatback. I don't think the Base model has it. And thanks for the long term input.

 

According to Edmunds, incl. frt. the 09 base manual Matrix is $17,010, and the 09 base manual Fit is $15,220(manual Sport is $16,730).

 

Sticker means nothing...what they'll discount means everything! the Fit has a re-design and it'll be hot. Also, Honda dealers tend NOT discount as much as Toyota, in my experience in the upper midwest. This is partially due to the way the price structure is from the factory, options, etc...

Honda has limited option matches. Not just the Fit, but all their lines come with less package options than other makers.

Similarly equipped, the Fit's cost about 1K more than the Matrix. But that was in '07. I get the Sport w/AT.

Good to hear they are putting armrests in them. That kinda bugs me about our '07's.

 

You're exactly right about the discounts.
Went back to the Edmunds site, plugged in the zip codes for Pierre SD and Bismarck ND, and priced out the '09 Matrix base auto w/power, cruise, and alloy wheel options, and also for the 09 Honda Fit Sport auto, and the avg. prices for "What Others Are Paying" in those areas were Matrix - $18,800($19,500 list), Fit - $18,085($17,508 list).
Must underline that those are avg. prices for those areas. But if you can get a Toyota dealer in your area to knock off another $1715 from the above avg. WOAP Matrix price, then it will cost $1000 less than the avg. WOAP Honda price, and it will match your '07 Matrix deal.

 

We buy lots of vehicles at the corporate level for the 28 hospitals and various other entities in the system, which covers a 5 state region...the local Toyota dealer has representation on our board...

ANYWAY...I was able to buy three '09 Matrix's this past summer for even less than that.

 

Good for you!
We also looked at the Matrix, and liked it a lot. However, we were not able to beat the price of the Fit Sport, both vehicles similarly equipped, unless we ordered 10 or more of them.

 

UPDATE: Just sold one w/ 203,000 but still have two more '07 Fits with 207K & 210K on them. I'll take then to 250 or 270 K by next summer before they get sold.

One is consistently pulling 37-38 MPG's since we had the valves adjusted and put a new set of plugs in her. The valve adjustment and plugs should be done very 100K, at least that has been our experience with these cars. Other than tires, wipers, brakes, windshields and oil changes.

I will say the stupid fog lights aren't worth replacing. they are in a bad spot (so low)and we can't keep them from breaking (lenses crack from road debris). So we just leave them broken -ugly!

Believe it or not, even this little amount of maintenence means that these Honda's require more than the Toyota Matrix's we have! The valves never need adjustment and the Iridium plugs go to 200K! Brakes go longer on the Toyota's too - 200K rather than 100K on the Honda's. Still, both are incredible!

BTW - I did get $2500 for trade in on the Fit. It continue's its' life as a courier vehicle, it'll have way more than 203K on it before long and I work w/ the company that purchased it. I can keep following it's progress...

 

Wow, 200K+ miles with nothing but routine maintenance. That's good to know! I bought mine in May 2008 and it has 37K miles on it already, so although I don't quite match your miles I definitely rack 'em up. I bought the Fit with the expectation of driving it for at least 150K miles, so I'm thrilled to hear about your success.

As for it requiring more maintenance than the Matrix -- okay, but I'd rather spend all those miles driving the Fit. ;-P

Put me down as one person interested in hearing the continuing saga of the car you sold.

 

I'm also amazed to read this thread and the mileage accumulated on those Fits. How where they in the snow?

 

We actually run the next smaller optional tire size for better snow traction. Stock (wide) tire size is better for skiing adn looks, of course...Sorry I don't have that size in my head right now.

Ground clearance is also a problem. However...this part of the country certainly gets cold (sub-zero) but no where near the snow you might think. Having been raised back east...I've seen our yearly snowfall total here...fall in ONE DAY in Buffalo, NY.
A much bigger issue is WIND. It never quits & can actually blow you off the road! Given a choice my drivers would prefer a large SUV in extreme winter weather, we all would! On the worse days, we just don't run. I miss 1-5 days per winter...depending on the year.

 

My only concern here is that I don't consider valve adjustments "routine Maintenance". Furthermore, I wish the dealer would have told me about it when they sold us the cars. The salesman may not have known...I had to find out the hard way! I agree that it didn't cost much (200.00 per car) I would have been more annoyed if it was my personal car! Sure makes a difference on how the car runs and mileage. Once we figured it out, it was a relief to know the problem wasn't more severe.