Looks like you've made your decision. Congrats!

Like most people said, the Fit is slow anyway. Manuals are faster, but you wouldn't be looking into a Fit if you wanted to go fast anyway. Hundreds of $$$'s in modding (intake, header, exhaust) on the stock engine and you just might be able to beat a stock Civic. Not worth it IMO.

For me, one thing about the manual that I didn't like was the butter soft clutch. The paddle shifters aren't perfect either, but I'd rather choose no clutch and the stock clutch.

 

I'm one of those guys.


but listen to my reason: for moddification purposes. There are just more parts!


aside from that? most people who look at my car are more impressed with the paddle shifters being available on such an economical car. hell, you can't even get a civic or an accord with a shiftable auto.


you did good on your choice gd3, but i don't regret my decision to the point where i'd seriously consider getting another fit just for the manual. granted, the mt is a very easy manual to drive and it has a great snickety feel like all hondas do.

but the auto is more convenient; i drive on the freeway A LOT and i really don't care to be revving at 4k all the time. (my rabbit i used to have would rev around 1800rpms at 85 miles an hour. it was nice.)


and guys, the manual fit is NOT that much quicker than an auto fit. were not comparing a civic auto to an si here.


(insert angry posts filled with numbers from edmunds and car and driver here. )

 

Get the MT, better mpg and loads more fun.. cheaper too.

 

Ehhhh I drive my sisters 08 Sport AT every once in a while and to me there is a noticeable difference. And I hate having to use the paddles while turning. I would have preferred the "slapstick" style if I had the AT.

 

no offense whatsoever!
but my mom's kia has sport shifting mode.
not paddle shifters, but the one you move forward and backwards.
its kind fun though

 

I have said it before I love my auto and I would not change it for the world but If you mod it like I am you get looked down on by the guys with Manuals.

 

which sucks. we should be a family, not bitching at the transmission we drive.

 

the numbers say otherwise. you get around having to turn the wheel while paddling. and if i don't want to paddle, i just slap her in 's'.

you seem to be biased towards the manual, so ofcourse it will feel slower when you jump to an a/t equipped car.

 

Take it for a testdrive. I'm 6'5" and have the same problems with sticks outside of extremely large vehicles (trucks, giant sedans, SUVs, etc). Before I bought my 07, I tried the MT and AT. I fit comfortably in both, but couldn't drive comfortably in the MT because of the leg movement. So, I'm in an AT. It all falls in your comfort zone though. I'd testdrive it before writing it off.

 

If it were an SMG type transmission like what is offered in Volkswagens and Audis etc where no torque converter lag is involved and shifts are instantaneous it might be different but I would never expect that at this price point (I'd still take a regular standard transmission anyway!) but AFAIK the paddle shifters are connected to a conventional slushbox are they not?

 

yes. this is not the F1 technology. just a regular, every day automatic transmission.

 

Car & Driver 2007 Fit 5MT 0-60: 8.7 seconds
Car & Driver 2007 Fit Auto 0-60: 10.4 seconds

That's a 20% difference which is pretty significant.

Not angry, just the facts.

 

in real world driving, its really not. i've clocked my auto fit faster than 10.4. and wether we like it or not, nitpicking on a 16k car's 1/4 mile and 0-60 times is silly. to echo what solbrothers said in another thread, the fit isn't that great of a straight ahead car...it was made to hug curves.

 

Well thats just it. Even if I had an auto I'd still want to control the gears myself. I can't see myself getting used to the paddles. I don't think I'm biased, the first Fit I drove was her a/t. And I thought it was peppy and was considering getting the a/t. But once I drove the m/t it was a done deal. I'm not trying to come off as biased, I love all Fits equally

 

don't worry i feel ya man. and yeah, the paddles are cool, but to a point. it feels more sprightly in s mode.

 

Thats my point. Its close enough for a car of this class. Were arent talking sports cars here. . .its an economy car. I bought it for MPG and the auto and manual are +or- 1 MPG. Why screw around shifting. Besides. . .if you are doing 0-60 in 8.5sec, you're not getting great MPG.
If you want a sports car. . .then YES. . .get the manual, but dont worry about it with the fit.

 

i want a manual because this is a fun to drive car, and MT just makes it that much better.

that's how i feel about it.
but it's totally alright if someone wants and gets AT, it is afterall just a honda fit.
not a ferrari, (not like i wouldn't take an AT ferrari! )
haha

 

I agree to an extent. For me I chose the manual because I like to DRIVE and I like the control and Honda makes some of the best manual transmissions out there. The shifter feel on this car is better than I've experienced on many cars twice the price, thats no exaggeration.

For me it had nothing to do with a +1 or -1 difference in MPG or 0-60 times. I can definitely see the argument for getting the automatic for some people though. Most of my driving is in town/traffic and I don't mind shifting at all but I can see how people would.

I just get bored with an automatic car. I could probably live with the paddle shifters but I just love manual transmissions, especially when they are good and I would never consider an automatic in a car unless it had a considerably higher power-to-weight ratio than the Fit does. Even then I really have no love for the power-sapping torque converter lag. If the Fit had an SMG or something that might be different. Even the CVT makes more sense to me than an old-school slushbox.

 

i love MT

 

Agree 100%. Either SMG or CVT would be fine with me. Why Honda didn't use the CVT it already had instead of putting in a traditional AT just for North America is beyond me.

I think even the Versa dropped the AT and now offers only MT or CVT options. I read that the AT option was a stopgap until they could ramp up production capacity for their CVT......