Dealer called me yesterday - they finally got 3 Fit's in.

A blue one, which I never saw,
Black MT, base
Silver MT, sport

A saleman, Grant, who is also a friend, needed to go run some errands, so he asked if I wanted to run him around in a Fit. So, we hopped in the black one and took off for about an hour.

My red AT, sport is a few weeks out yet...

I was playing around with the Magic Seats, and they work easy enough; however, I was having a tough time getting them to go in Refresh mode - I moved the driver's seat all the way forward, then laid it back - and it was too long. I had a CR-V which did this arrangement, so I'm familiar with it - it just wouldn't go on this particular model for some reason.

I'm 6'2", 215 pounds. No problem with head or leg room, front or rear.

Grant was kind of looking around and noticed that there was a mirror on the driver's side mirror, but not one on the passenger side. I asked him if he knew why and he said he didn't. I told him that in Japan, where these are made, the cars are right-hand drive, and so the mirror is for the passenger over there. He said, "Ahhh" I felt that it was kind of cheap, or an oversight, on Honda's part not to change that around for the US version.

Interior materials seemed up to Honda's usual quality, for the most part. The lighter/accessory socket didn't seem to well secured in the unit that we were in.

Stereo sounded better than I anticipated.

I was impressed with the various storage nooks in the door, center console, glove box and hatch area.

I'll need to search for the following items to complete mine:
- passenger side visor mirror
- center armrest
- map light overhead console with sunglasses holder.
- possibly body-side moldings to keep the door dings away.

Driving was really nice. I like the quick steering ratio. The clutch take-up was very smooth. Shifter was a little more notchy than I'm used to, but the S2000 is notchy to me, too. (I'm driving a '90 CRX Si as my daily driver right now.) I enjoyed the nice tight turning circle as I was playing around in a parking lot.

Power was about what I expected. I read someone else's post about 2nd gear being a bit "boring" and it seemed that way to me as well. This thing, at idle is SILENT - Grant said it sounded like we were in a Hybrid!

It was raining lightly. The wipers worked very nicely in the front. The rear one seems like it should be repositioned somewhat for better coverage.

I took some corners quite quickly and tightly, off-throttle, trying to get the back end to rotate and it didn't cooperate very well. The front end just plowed onward. I'm wondering how much of that is the fault of the tires and/or pressure in them.

Overall the car is pretty much what I expected. It will be good on gas, fun to toss around in a parking lot on occassion (I do a couple of autocrosses a year, just for fun,) and have the utility needed to haul a variety of stuff around when I need to.

Now - all I need is for them to assign a port to mine, assign the VIN, get it shipped to CA, then put on a train to Alabama, and then on a truck to me!!!

David - anxiously awaiting!!

 

I too am very concerned about the ease of door dent factor on this model - wonder if the JDM model moldings will work?

 

You didn't mention removing the front headrests though. Did you do that? Refresh mode calls for removing the front headrests.

This was the most glaring thing to me, was no armrest. If one drives "properly" (hands at 9 and 3 o'clock), you technically dont need it, but for lazy, left hand 12 o'clock, right hand on the armrest driving, that cant happen.

 

Nice review.

 

Yep, I popped the headrest out, just like I had to do on my CR-V. Seemed like it still needed another couple of inches to make it work...

 

Nice way of putting your driving expressions. I saw a Fit at a recent car show, got to sit in it and play around with the different features. I really like the solid feel of the doors opening and shutting, I am a bit disappointd at the quality of the interior materials. Not really like Honda to have that cheap feeling but I understand that its only a 14-15k car so I guess I would have to live with that.

 

In my Fit, which I bought in Venezuela, the front seats will not move forward enough for refresh mode, even if you remove the headrest

 

Good write-up...