Wow it's nice to drive. Even if you suck at manual shifting, its smooth. NO 1-->2 clunk. It shifts lke my 2006 tacoma. The radio is nicer than i thought. The radio dial was larger than i thought (a good thing cuz its cuter). It felt smooth too. I didn't drive too fast of course, but even w/ a slight pdal press, it moved faster than i expected. Ima drive my bro's DX hatchback for comparison another day.

Anyway my main disappintment was that there was less knee space for back passengers than I'd hped. But maybe taller folks will enjoy it more actually. I'm 5'4, so it felt smaller since the knee space. But i think taller folks who suffer knee-to-front seat and head-to-ceiling will actually enjoy it cuz the head space is higher and the foot place is lower. Also, i don't think i saw a dead pedal. The two lots i visited only had 1 car each. I drove the base manual black.

 

no. SF honda has them mid may! IOno why that's very late.

I tested in two places, serramonte honda and grace honda. Serr has base fit, black, just one. Grace has i forget which color, but it was sport auto. Both say they'll have more; grace will have 1 blue base manual and 1 silver sport manual later on.

 

btw i don't know how to buy cars, so iono what the deal w/ price is. But anyway in Serramonte one, the sticker in front of their only base MT fit is 14400 or something (this already inclues 550$ destination). They also have sirus radio option if you want. I didn't check the grace one cuz it was late and i coudn't see anything (i was the onlhy guy there).

edit: also berkeley honda, frome mail, they said 1 will be by end of the week and they have 5 coming.

 

i am in socal, but i have a red auto sport and 5 others coming. i'm glad that you liked the car for the most part. it's great fun to drive. did you like the steering?

 

Test drove a Black 5sp Sport tonight at Honda of Oakland. They also have a Storm Silver 5sp Sport and Vivid Blue Sport auto. Sweet ride, couldn't hear the engine at stop and then didn't pay attention during drive cuz I was just testing the speed and shifting. Seemed smooth enough. Cute, quick, but definitely not as cushy as my sister's 2006 Civic, now that's luxury. But back to the Fit...It was comfy and I was happy with it but I do have to say I wasn't totally blown away or so wowed by it that I would pay over MSRP. H of Oak didn't have time to do their thing so no dealer stuff was on it yet but they still tried to mark up $2k, then $1.5K, how about $1k, well what about $500. I vetoed all and left empty handed but I'm totally fine with that. I'll be patient and get the model for the price I want.

 

hahahaha. honda never suspected that one

 

Good call on the walk, Hatchgeek. It's amazing some dealers will slap extra $$$$ on a car just because they think they can, and then when you try to deal with them, they make it seem like you want to take their children.

Phillyb. I know this won't do you much good, but you seem to be one of unheralded honest few. Keep up the good work. I used to live in Valencia. Were I still there, you would have my business.

 

I checked one out yesterday, very nice. In two day they sold six of them.
Four on the lot and two coming in.

If i were you i would call Honda about that gouging, thats BS.

 

Steering felt nice. also like my tacoma, the power steering was so nice it was very light. however note that C&D said that there was some problem of speed independent power steering or something, meaning the powersteering doesn't adjust its convenience to the speed youre driving at. i didn't drive it so fast. but on local, the wheel was very light to steer

 

cool thanks. my dealer wants me to be honest, and none of our salespeople lie. we actually trained not to.
we do, however, put accessories on at the dealership, which raises up the retail price

 

I continue to love hearing good reviews on this car...

 

Now that I've had a night to think about it I have a few more reflections to make about the test drive. Now don't get me wrong, I've been all about the Fit from the time I stumbled upon the news in my XA research. I've had a 1985 wagovan and a 1992 civic hatchback so I'm a fan, but I'm now considering just leasing it.

I guess I expected much more from the car and from Honda. Maybe its because of my recent exposure to the 2006 Civic, but the Fit's interior is really nothing special besides the magic seat and the spaciousness. It's actually pretty generic feeling. Controls are all just fine and there are some pretty nifty little things like the 3rd seat belt in back (which I'll never use) but other than that it's just ok. Why couldn't Honda make it more cushy at least? The Ridgeline has similar magic seats and they have the regular kind of interior fabric and cushions. The drive in itself was just fine for my needs, maybe slow but I drive a CRV now so I'm used to it.

Oh and another thing that surprised me, on the sport model the "security system" is not an alarm. It's a special key that prevents the car from being stolen but doesn't sound alarms or anything like that. You have to purchase that separately and if you choose to add an aftermarket alarm that voids the warranty (that's what Honda of Oakland said anyway).

So needless to say I was looking at the sport model for it's AUX input, alarm, and spoiler but know that I know the alarm isn't included I'll just add the other stuff later to the base model.

Overall I wouldn't say I'm disappointed, but I was surprisingly a little underwhelmed.

 

Its easy to feel that way but its purpose is economy, and not to replace the civic. In economy, it delivers and drives far better than any economy car I've driven. It is solid, and smooth. It also feels light but thats because of how smooth it is.

The interior is what you said but that is clear from the pictures.
It is much smoother than Yaris, and if you drive both for an hour long commute the Honda will wear on you much less.

We wanted a cheaper Honda and I can't complain that they have delivered it. Civic feels more comfortable, because it is.

 

No dead pedal -- thought I'd miss it, but I don't. I'll have to add a cushion to the seat, both for height adjustment and softer padding. Same problem in my '95 Accord.

 

A dealer about 1 1/2-hrs away notified me that their FITS arrived & the Sport 5-sd I wanted was one of them But until I sell my '05' Nissian Frontier, I can not do a thing

 

trade it in!

 

They only offered me $11K on trade , $5K less than it's worth . Do not want a FIT that bad