Looking at buying a new Fit and was wondering about auto vs manual. Pros? Cons?

 

IMO Its all about preference. I test drove both and found the manual was more exciting to drive, and still enjoy driving mine daily. do you do more city or hwy driving? That may sway your decision

 

It would be my commuter vehicle, 15 miles each way to work with 13 miles of that down a 4 lane internstate. Just wondering if there was any difference in gas mileage auto vs manual

 

Hey BK,

IMO, the manual is a no brainer. Much more fun to drive, and a lot more power and control. And even though it lists as having lower mileage numbers...I find the reverse to be true.

I keep a spreadsheet on gas consumption.....so these are all real numbers....not calculated by the auto computer. After 3.5 yrs of driving, we are still getting an average mpg of 41.3. And here in NM we actually burn 96 Octane....that is regular gas here.

We also run the tires at 40 psi...that makes a huge diff in mileage, and we feel no diff in ride. We also pull a small utility trailer...not sure I would do that with the auto.

 

If you're asking the question, given your commute just get the manual and enjoy the drive. Only reason to get the auto is if you're feeling lazy/can't manage a stick, or have a hell of a commute ie. tons of traffic. Had the auto - its really easy to drive slow!

Will admit I've gotten half lazy in all the years I've driven an auto though.

 

Other than being automatic, the only advantage to the auto is a lower gear ratio in 5th (and a slightly lower final drive) allowing for a lower engine speed on the highway. Less noise and better mpg.

Per honda:

Manual:
Gear Ratios: 1st: 3.308, 2nd: 1.870, 3rd: 1.303, 4th: 0.949, 5th: 0.727, Reverse: 3.308, Final Drive: 4.625

Auto:
Gear Ratios: 1st: 2.996, 2nd: 1.679, 3rd: 1.067, 4th: 0.761, 5th: 0.552, Reverse: 1.957, Final Drive: 4.563

The last MT car I owned was in the mid 90s (long time Atlanta resident). I didn't like the MT Fit's vague shift mechanism, vague clutch (delay valve), and the vague throttle hang (emissions control) when I drove it. But maybe this is typical of cars today. A lot of reviewers sing its praises.

Still living in Atlanta, I opted for the Base Auto. The "Sport" has paddle-shifters a lot of people like. I don't see the point in shifting an automatic manually.

Complaints about the auto other than longer 0-60 time: some people think it's too shifty (well it does have 5 gears plus the torque-converter lockout to play with). A little lurchy at low speeds (there's slight a bump coming to a stop when it shifts to 1st).

For a small, low-power car I think the auto does fine.

 

I have a manual and I would prefer an auto. I would have opted for the auto but I didn't like the color options and the 11's were already out (mine is 2010) so I took the manual. I would like to put it in one gear and just be able to drive.