Any opinions?
Size, reliability, safety, cost, mpg are all factors for us.
Family of three (with baby) and maybe another in the near future.
Live in the city, moving to the northeast country.
These are our top three pics.
Thanks!

 

the subaru is all wheel drive which is a different class.
and the vw tdi is a turbo diesel direct injection which is also a different class. reviews said it got better than claimed mileage regardless of how you drive it and diesel engines tend to last, the range on a tank of fuel is pretty good, diesel used to be cheaper but now costs more than gasoline (and its not 10% ethanol). don't know bout the subaru but you got a lot more bells and whistles on the vw than the 2013 fit but the cost was substantially higher too.

I wanted minimal basic reliable transportation at low total cost of ownership.

so I got a 2013 fit base, with automatic instead of manual because the mileage was slightly higher (probably just a steeper highest gear) and then I could not screw up the gears or clutch by shifting badly.
if gas gets really expensive then might have done better with a higher mpg car. figured if i got an insight instead that it would taken a lot of years at current gas prices just to make up just the difference in purchase price.

all wheel drive is nice in the snow in the winter in New Hampshire but cost is higher and mileage worse. I did get snow tires for the winter and had no problems with the fit.

try driving them. I was looking for low cost. My base Fit is pretty spartan compared to a a vw sport wagon but I like it. It is mostly just me in the car so safety was not a big issue for me. physics does not change, in a crash the guy with more mass is going to do more of the crushing and less of the getting crushed.

 

i looked at all of those while i was looking to get my '12 sport MT.


for me, the fit sport was still the best package. this is my third one.

 

For the VW, you need to get a second car for when that one is broken. The Germans make weird design decisions like building the air box into the engine cover.

Honestly, I would suggest the FIT. It is a much more practical because you can choose how to use the inside space. And it is a much bigger car on the inside.

 

shots fired

 

All three will be fine all the way up to 100,000 miles or so and probably 6 or 7 years. How long do you plan on keeping it?

The fit is going to be the cheepest built, blandest and noisiest of the three. It is also the simplist mechanically. It should need almost nothing done to it for a long, long time. Fule economy is decent. Interior quality is not that great. Practicality and space are fantastic. In my 2011 Base 5mt I get 36.5 mpg average.

The subaru is next in line in terms of refinement. It will be quieter, handle better, ride better and feel better built overall. The AWD is nice, but gennerally unneeded unless you move way out into the middle of nowhere in the mountains. Fuel economy will be the worst of the three. Expect upper 20‘s to low 30's at best! Long term reliability is fine. Nothing major tends to break, but they get needy above 90,000 miles. You need to keep up with them. If you do, they will just last forever though.

The Sportwaggen will be the most refined and sturdiest built of them all. The TDi should return mid 40's to mid 50's for fuel economy. Interior fit and finish will be great, as will long term durrability of the interior surfaces. It will last a long time, but again, above 100k or so, it will likely be a bit more needy than the Fit, parts will also be the most expensive of the three. Ride, handling and noise will be the best out of the group though. It is also available in 4motion.

 

If I have young family and moving to country with real winters, it will be the Subie or anything reliable with AWD/4WD with winter tires. That gives my family the best chance to come home safely. Cost/mpg/comfort/fun to drive/etc. would be secondary.
The FIT is better car for city and occasional snow driving. It works with snow tires in bad conditions, but no contest compare to the Subie.
Both Honda and Subrie are reliable cars from first hand experience. Cannot speak for the VW, but the statistics are not in its favor.

 

I just traded in a Subaru and before that, I drove a 4x4 diesel pickup. Is the Fit bad in snow/ice?

 

Well, that depends on what kind of ice and snow you are dealing with. Some people will swear the FIT works fine for them with stock tires. And some will swear the FIT works fine for them with winter tires. Those are all true.
My wife loves her FIT, and it has good winter tires. But she takes the Subie when the roads are bad. The point is that the FIT works, but just not as well as AWD/4WD if the road is snowy and icy. It gets worse as the snow gets thick, like in the country when the roads are not plowed as often. The FIT’s low clearance does not help either.

 

From those picks I'm assuming you're looking for a spacious car, the Fit is in fact a spacious car for its size. It has less space than the Impreza wagon and the Sportwagen. So keep that in mind.

A diesel in colder weather takes quite a while to warm up. So keep that in mind, you really don't wanna drive a diesel when it's really cold. However, I'd take the Sportwagen w/ manual over the Fit or the Impreza.

The Impreza is a solid choice too, I'd stay away from the CVT (but that's just me). If fuel economy is a major factor then the Sportwagen is a better choice.

The Fit is a great car, but it's not in the same class as the two other vehicles. Those are clearly better vehicles. But if it's a cheap, reliable, spacious, fun to drive, and wallet friendly car that you're looking for then the Fit is the car for you.

The Impreza will naturally be superior in the snow due to its AWD system, and it can go many places the Sportwagen and the Fit can't go. That doesn't mean the the VW or the Fit don't perform well in the snow, cause they do with the proper equipment (snow tires). I drove my Fit around in Indianapolis when there were blizzards and all that, it managed it, with the ABS kicking in quite a bit, but it was totally manageable. I was on (and still on) all season Goodyear Eagle GTs which are a more sportier tire so it's not exactly a grippy tire when it comes to snow. I mean, all it needed were proper snow tires and all would be golden. Also considering the 2008 Fit which I drive has no traction control, just the basic ABS. The newer Fit's (2011-current) are all available with some sort of traction aid.

 

The fit is very stable driving on both snow and ice. AWD helps keep you moving and get started, it does not help much at all with breaking or turning (a bit with turning since you can fling the car sideways, but that is not reccomended on public roads). The subaru has an advantage in deep snow due to ground clearnace and weight. It does't get stuck floating on top. We currently own both, and with a good set of snow tires, the fit is more than capable in the snow until it gets too deep. The Outback will just plow through anything though.

January of 2012, I drove from NJ to Toronto in a snow storm with the fit. There was almost a constant 2 to 3“ of snow on the road the whole way. I did 75mph down I90 from syracuse to buffalo, with crosswinds gusting up to 40mph or so. I had General Altimax Arctics on and did not have a single bit of trouble the entier way.

 

If you are a tall person you would be more comfortable in the VW than the Fit or Subie.. European cars just feel better than the Japanese cars.. Japanese cars have less problems. My 2007 Fit and 2009 Forester have never been back to the dealer for a repair, though my wife takes the Forester in for servicing.. The Fit has been completely trouble free and never in a dealership since purchased on July 14 2006.

 

I'm glad to see this thread because I was considering the new Impreza as well as the new Fit. I know they are in a different class, but I was still comparing them.

There were a lot of issues that had me going back and forth.

With the back seat up, the Impreza has more space, but with it down, they both have around the same storage space, while the Fit's is a bit more flexible.

The Impreza is a longer car. I live in NYC and am constantly parallel parking, so the smaller size of the Fit (and back-up camera) are definite pros.

I felt like the Impreza seemed like a more expensive feeling car on the inside, which was nice and I was worried that the Fit would feel lightweight or sluggish on the highway and assumed the Impreza would be a more comfortable ride for long drives.

However, all the reviews I've seen online of the Impreza say it seems sluggish and slow and not fun to drive. This is usually in comparison to the Mazda3 or Ford Focus. What I don't know from reviews is if it's just sluggish in that class while still better than the Fit, or if generally the Fit is preferred.

As far as AWD is concerned, in NYC there are always a few weeks where it's a pain to get in and out of plowed in parking spots where I'm sure the Subaru would be great, and the now more common than before torrential downpours, but it's not enough to want to spend more money on a larger car.

I test drove the Subaru and was only able to take it around the block, not really enough to get a sense. Am probably about to get a Fit for the reasons mentioned above. I just wonder if the Fit would feel so much more terrible than the Impreza going 60+ on a highway.

 

I have a 2007 model with 109 horsepower.. When it was new and completely stock it would easily do 80 and 90 mph while averaging over 35 mpg the road noise was rough and the quick handling made it hard for me to keep it going in a straight line because I had been driving a van before getting it.. I got used to it though.. The new ones are more powerful, get about the same mileage and have much better sound deadening material. Our 2009 Forester is a great car but is affected more by high cross winds than the Fit.. It's not as fun to drive but with 4WD it holds the road well on 50 MPH curves at 85 MPH, has a firm but comfortable ride and gets about 26 mpg on rural rural roads and at 70 mph on the highway. It is harder to load and unload than the Fit and won't hold any more than it either.

 

I love Subarus but still am going to get a Fit when the LX comes in, in my area. No need to 'keep up' with my Outback sport though. Just basic maintenance and it's fine. I purchased my Outback sport brand new in November of 1996. That was 18yrs ago. I still own it and was racing it before the WRX even hit the states, with 5psi of turbo and a 60hp shot of nitrous. Did this for years and it's still turbocharged. The car is a work horse. All I do is change the fluids and that's it.

I'd say reliability is on par if not better than the Fit per Consumer Reports. My experience with them has been exceptional.

Truly yours....Fit owner soon.

 

I'd recommend against the Jettawagon. I had one, the oil changes cost a bomb, actually everything costs a bomb, fluids, wheel bearings, but worse than that the Tiptronic gearbox crapped out before it even hit 150K miles. I spent $3K to replace the internals, and that didn't fix it, they wanted a further $8K to replace the whole box. I kicked it to the kerb and bought something else.

That was my tenth or so VW, but my first one bought new, I'll never buy another.

My Fit actually seems to hold more, I'm a musician, and I can fit two speaker cabs widthways in my Fit, which I could not do in the Jetta, and it has more height, so I can slide instruments on top of them easily.

I had never even heard of it, until I went into the Honda showroom, I was thinking about a Civic, but really wanted a hatch, this little car is the tardis, and despite using synthetic oil, like the Jettawagon, it's about half the price for an oil change.

I like the Base model better than the Sport, the gearbox in the Sport shifts too late and is noisier, in my experience of driving one of each.

I like the looks of the Subaru, but the permanent AWD will use more gas.

 

Yeah, those old 1.8's and 2.2s will just run forever. The newer ones will too, but they have their troubles. I owned a 99 outback (note: the 2.5L DOHC from that model was notorious for problems). With excellent maintenance, it still went through two engines in 167,000 miles. First one died 13,000 miles after the headgaskets were changed, at 118,000 mile. It had a cam shaft seize, second, a pro rebuilt, spun a bearing at 167,000 miles. In that time it also had a host of electrical gremlins, sensors going bad, gauges failing, the sway bar broke (rusted right through and snapped!). My dad's 07 outback, at just over 100,000 miles, has had the airbag light on (turned out to be some bad solder joints in the overhead warning lights...), both CV boots split now, the headgaskets have been leaking since 80,000 miles, it had trouble starting on humid days until he finally tracked it down to a bad coil pack at 90,000 miles. The head unit died at 70,000 miles. Nothing major, they are solid cars, but they act like anything european. Sturdy, nice to drive, but will nickle and dime you when they get older.

He is soon going to be doing timing belt and shocks as well. Though those are standard maintenance.

 

Wow….I'd stay far away from Subarus with this experience. That's horrible! Looks like the Fit it is then.

 

I'm also another Fit/Subaru owner. Both nice cars, although the Subaru is fairly new with only 20k (trouble-free) miles. The Sub is great for snow driving and long road trips, as it rides much better than the Fit (not as FUN to drive, though). I've got the CVT and really, I kind of like it. There is no hunting for gears and the no shift feel is pretty cool. I just hope it turns out to be reliable. Mileage has been slightly better than stated at 33mpg highway.

Fit has been great. Gobs of room, dead reliable and cheap maintenance. Love the slick 5-sp transmission. I have snow tires and it does do well in the winter (snows quite a bit here). Only exception is starting on a steep hill, if you happen to come to a stop. This happens maybe once a year, if that, so not a big concern for me. Just throw in a set of tire cables/chains if it's a big worry. Mileage has been 36-37mpg highway, but I do have a roof rack.

Both cars have been great, but for my next car, I would really look hard at the Jetta Sportwagen TDI 6-sp manual. Great ride, long range, and I think VW has nice Diesel engines. May cost a bit more both in purchase and maintenance, but I think it'll be worth it.

In the meantime, I am happy with the current combo.

 

Looked at the 2015 Subarus outback several weeks ago..test drove the 6 cylinder model possibly replacing our 04 Accord with it. I asked the sales manager how reasonable the services were? He said the biggie is at 160,000 miles you need to have the head gaskets replaced and without blinking said it's a 3000.00 job....they have to drop the motor...really? Subaru did not leave enough room to remove the heads to replace the gaskets? Doh!

Wife and I test drove the 14 Accord V6 EXL and bought it, love it. It's her commuter. Our new 15 FIT is my commuter, love it! The AEV Jeep is for fun in the Blue Ridge Mts. So a Honda garage here! Not to mention the dealer will shuttle us home when we have a service done. Any major service they give us a loaner. Happy.

Volkswagon- nope never ever ever...google- Volkswagon Struggling if this does not send warning flag, log onto any of the VW forums. Huge quality control issues and on and on... FWIW....