With that many miles driven, are you sure the lack of cruise in the base will be worth it? Just a consideration. Especially with the pedals being as close to the steering wheel as they are, longer trips can be tiring on your ankle.

I will also +1 on the gearbox. It's really smooth, and the clutch is so light you don't even notice if you are sitting in traffic.

 

One thing you didn't say in your original post was how many kids you have. If you have 2, the Fit will be fine. If more than that, I don't see how you'd ever put in 3 car seats in the back, the Fit is just a bit too narrow.

 

greg- i know you love modding cars. so for you, base would do just
fine. as you mentioned, the only downside on the Fit is probably
just the fugly wheel covers and the bodykit less styling which can
EASILY be replaced with something far better than the FitS's stock
bits. the fog lamps work pretty well but not really needed. plus
everyone and their dog painted them black and put some yellow
cover on them. not very unique.

i went with the FitSport cause i wanted to have something that was
to me 90% finished. and then just do the simple bolt-on things here
and there to get it to my liking. and with everything included,
im still a little shy of $18k. at this price you can get 2 or 3 of these
cars in different colors to match your wife's outfit. lol

as far as getting decent mpg on the Fit, go easy on the gas. the
map is set quite aggressively and vtec opens up real quick to
your throttle angle.

 

I would not buy this car for the family. it is a great car for driving to work and saving on gas. I would recommend the CRV from Honda.

 

huh... interesting cause i never thought the CRV was that much
better in utility... as someone mentioned if you have 3 kids you'd be
better off with a midsized SUV (larger than CRV) or a minivan.

but between CRV and Fit... it's not much of a gain. what aspects of
the CRV do you perfer as a family mobile?

 

no kids, but was able to fit the xmas tree (6.5 feet), a trip to the grocery store for a weeks worth of stuff, and a trip to target with a 3x3x4 box with myself and the mrs. in the car. long mode is practical and you can still fit another person in the car.

on another occasion, did grocery shopping for myself and the mrs and two of her friends. so that's 4 adults and a week's worth of groceries for 4 adults in the hatch. i'm gonna be honest, i didn't think it would work. but it did.

the fit does a lot of things well.

 

Kids aren't a problem. I've only got two and I can fit them in the MINI, the Fit isn't going to be a problem. We've got the Accord for when we need the extra room though.

 

I've got two kids One 2 and a half and another is 2 months. I've done some pretty amazing things cargo wise with with my Si. I'm all up for a little engineering feat when it comes to space.

I can't really afford a new CR-V but a used one would be in my price range. I really want a brand new Fit as opposed to a used car.

 

i have 2 little kids myself. never had a problem with my FitSport.
plus your kids will like your Fit vs a CR-V. i promise. lol my older son
who is 3yrs old always asks, 'daddy are we taking your Fit?'

 

I never understood this obsession with "I have kids, so I need a big car!". One of my girlfriends (a single mom) bought a huge SUV, and she has one son. Claims she needs the room for baseball and other sports. Unless you're transporting half the team, I see no reason for something bigger than a Fit.

 

I completely agree! I have two kids, ages 4 and 7 and they love the Fit. There is more than enough room for the whole family. We've taken it on weekend trips and there is PLENTY of room in the hatch for luggage for all 4 of us. We're actually planning on taking the Fit to the Smoky Mtns this summer from Michigan for a week. I may end up getting a roof rack to accommodate the extra gear, but it's not worth having a bigger car that gets worse mileage for one or two weeks out of the year. To be honest, you could even consider renting a van for occasions like that! I love my Fit and wouldn't trade it for any other car...it's practical, looks cool (and unique), and gets incredible gas mileage. I've got the manual trans. and I average 38 mpg. There are only two cars in the US that can top that...the Prius and the HCH, but neither of them would be as much fun to drive as the Fit!

 

Thanks for all your useful posts!

+1

 

Thanks for the concern Rich, but we are talking Los Angeles freeway driving. Almost no oportunity to use cruise control. Now that I think about it, I don't think I've even ever turned it on in the Accord since we bought it two years ago.

 

hahaha, i use to live in Torrance about 10yrs ago so know exactly
what you mean. lol! i rarely use cruise on my MT cars...

 

hahaha, yah, plus if you have in-laws living near by, you dont want
too much convenience cause they will want to tag along all the time.

 

Not the dreaded soccer mom driver! *shivers in fear* Nothing like seeing a small woman and her son is an EXT Denali or whatever. Big ol' SUVs may have the space, but so do minivans. I don't get it. I'm a guy and I'd much prefer an Odyssey or Town&Country over any SUV, unless hauling the entire softball/soccer/whatever team is involved.

 

+1 i almost opted for the auto.... no no i didnt lol ive only always had manual cars and i learned on a manual its just more fun plus in the fit the mpg is drastically different. As for gas milage my best tank was 36 mpg so far. but i filled up today and it was 29.5.... thats 50/50 driving and the reason its so bad is cuz i LOVE TO DRIVE THIS CAR. and i rev high if i wanted to drive like a granny id get better mpg but i can live with 30 mpg if it means having a blast. today i might go pick up my red emblems and my skunk2 shift knob just for kicks.. we shall see. JHP IS ONLY A HOP SKIP AND A JUMP AWAY

 

Its becasue the Fit has a smaller Tank then the Civic.

Tyler

 

Sorry if I missed some info but I didn't read the whole thread after this post.

I myself have to kids of pretty much the exact same age and I can say that over the holidays I was able to fit both car seats, gifts, strollers and our luggage in the car well.

The only thing is if you have a big retractable stroller for the baby it does take up a lot of room in the hatch. With that said we all had enough room to move around and my wife's legs weren't against the dash with the baby seat and base behind her. I mention this because when our first daughter was that age we used to have a 98 tercel which is about the same size as the fit and we had much less interior room.

The Fit really is built very well and optimizes all of the space available, I highly recommend it and my Wife loves it as well!

 

9 liters smaller to be exact which is huge! Also keep in mind that unless the civic was an si it only had 6 more HP and probably more weight to carry so the Fit's little 1.5L isn't doing so bad.

Keep in mind you are not even past the engine break in period yet so mileage will get better!