My thoughts on the FIT after a month of owning a VIVID BLUE PEARL SPORT AT. From 10/01/06 (mileage: 1200)

note: personal experiences may vary.
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Interior: Easy to read gauges and some quality pieces. Black dotted trim pieces are cheap feeling and leaves scratches. Seat covers are lint/dust magnet.

Exterior: Front is lengthened for NA; making car look somewhat awkward when viewed from side. Rear bumper lengthened, making rear hatch stay dirty. (same as XB; bumper lengthened; rear stays dirty.)

Paint: OK. but already have mystery white spots outside and inside. (behind front license plate holders, rear hatch , interior door frames)


Gas Cap: Very easy to terror it by putting in 'food/chemicals/waste/etc' at anytime b/c it's always open. (Just swing open, twist caps out, and put in whatever u wish)


Highway ride: 10x better than 05 XB. (sold XB a month after b/c of unstable and rough hwy ride)


Seat: EXTREAMLY uncomfortable. My back/Lowerback and thigh is in pain after 10minutes.

Cushioning is very soft and not supportive; so butt position goes further down; making leg/foot squashed and thighs not supported.

(6' / 160lbs; a typical normal person.)


Rear seat: It's OK when front seats are moved forward to normal position.


Paddle Shifters: have no use.

MPG: 80% city 20% HWY; 20 to 25 mpg. (XB 4AT got 30 to 35 in same condition)

Transmission: this 5AT Transmission is the worst for mid speed driving because it keeps changing in 3/4/5 range. (cannot keep in one position in city/suburban driving)

ex. Typical 30 to 40 mph gear pattern (30 secs) : 4 -> 3 -> 4 -> 5 -> 4 -> 3 -> 4 -> 5 -> 4

The power is there, but I think gear setting is wrong. (feels like it is set to HWY driving) (For next year, Honda should remove all MT and AT transmissions and replace them with CVT for base and CVT-7 for Sport; and increase pricing by $1,500)

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Overall: Good highway car, but not for city.

 

Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. Some find the glass half full and others see it half empty.

Hope you continue to enjoy your new car

 

Do you like the car? seems like you don't...

 

I've had mine for two months, same VBP sport auto.

I disagree about the comfort. I find it very comfortable. But then I'm a 5'7" woman. You're a typical normal man, not a typical normal person. And one of the things I like about it is that the seats feel right, where usually seats feel a bit large.

On the transmission stuff I couldn't agree more. I suspect from the gas mileage (I get 35) that our driving styles are very different. But it shifts all the time and the paddle shifters are something that I occasionally try to use, but get frustrated with. I'd rather just not have the temptation. The paddles have poor feedback and it shifts itself from 1-3 far too easily in S mode. And there seems to be some kind of electronic something because I can see the thing sitting in 5M, but it very clearly jumps the RPMs and feels absolutely like a downshift. I hit upshift and it doesn't, so I guess it's really in 5, just something else is going on. I don't know what it is, but it feels like a shift and feels like I'm not in control, which is sort of why you choose to shift yourself. Again, it's just kind of frustrating.

I love the car but knowing what I know, I'd probably get a manual base if I was doing it again. (Which you can't find so I guess it doesn't matter.)

 

teh sxeist!

about shifting. I drive a manual, but my experience w/ prior automatic transmission hondas, if you let go of the gas pedal, it upshifts to 5th to save gas. Is this happening to you when your foot is steady on the pedal? Cuz once you let go, it upshifts to 5th.

 

It's more that if you even push a bit on the gas pedal or you hit even a very mild incline it downshifts. I would actually prefer it sit in 5th!

 

I don't know why honda bothers making that sort of AI, whichis only for new cars. I mean all autos have (4,) 3, 2, 1, all meant to climb hills. They should teach drivers during driver's education to use this function. Automatic drivers aren't that lazy.

 

The seat thing concerns me... a few years ago, I had a Honda Insight, and found that on long trips, the seats were uncomfortable. There was NO lumbar support, which made my back ache a little. Hearing descriptions of the Fit's seat, it makes me wonder... because I'm planning on doing a couple road trips next year, and uncomfortable seats would... well... suck!

The fit I've ordered will be a MT, so I don't have to worry about the transmission acting schizo on me, and won't have to worry about the random poor mileage issue (seems to be only some AT owners are getting poor fuel efficiency.. have yet to read about someone with the MT getting poor efficiency)

 

Early driving impressions-

Fit Sport with AT (stock everything)

Overall- easy and fun to drive. Spacious, roomly legroom in the rear, versatile storage. Good stock radio. Very good for urban use, Good for highway driving. Needs a little more power but it's adequate with AT.

AT with paddle shifters- adds ability to control gears and improve performance a little but at the cost of mpg.

AT- regular mode- mostly likely easiest option, just drive it like an automatic and forget the hassle of shifting- best for heavy traffic.
Transmission searches a bit and doesn't handle fast acceleration that well.

Visibility- fairly good in the front. Slight blindspot on rear pillar. Overall decent.

Driver's position- OK for people about 5'6" medium build. Not fantastic but not bad. Anything under 30 minutes is fine. Longer than 1 hour might get uncomfortable. Controls and dash gauges easy to reach and find.

Storage- rear trunk is nice and big. Cargo cover needed to hide stuff.
Plenty of space in the rear seat for 2 or 3 people.

Ride quality- good for urban use, not bad on highways, not as smooth as some small sedans- like the civic, felt about the same as a Yaris sedan.
Overall acceptible, not overly firm or rough/loud.

In the rain- did fine. Front and rear wipers handled moderatel heavy rain, could still see OK. Traction was OK, tires did well. No excessive noise from the wipers noted.

Radio- stock Fit sport unit and speakers worked fine. Controls were adequate and easy to use. Would suit most owners looking for basic music of better than average quality. Used MP3 IPOD and commercial CDs and all worked fine.

Pretty good car for general use.

 

What you are feeling is the torque convert unlocking and locking back.

You are still in 5th gear, but when it unlocks the torque converter, it can rev higher, generating more horsepower. When it gets back to needing less power the torque converter locks back at a lower rpm.

 

maybe these spots are water spots from you not drying your car all the way after you wash it

 

Poor MT MPG here!!! I average about 28-29 although my last tank got me a whopping 31! I do have to say I love the MT though. I like feeling like I'm actually involved in my driving but it's not the smoothest clutch I've ever driven. Seats could be more comfortable and I'm small 5'3", but I've gotten used to it. Otherwise it's a fine car, it's maybe not my soul car (that would probably be my late 92 Honda Civic VX hatch), but I'm generally happy.

 

..............edited by joe fit,
with some practise, using the paddle shifters, the transmission complaint dissapears, try them you might like it? (what they are there for)

 

That's what I'd do. YOu should be happy you have paddles! It's there if you ever want to use them. With paddles, smart driving will result higher performance and/or higher mileage. Fact of the matter is, you can decide how the car runs now, not the computer.

 

He is dead on...don't know why people are complaining about this, it is actually an advantage! At least to me...it effectively turns the car into a 8-spd, as pretty much every gear except first allows locked and unlocked converter operation. You can control this by the way you modulate the throttle...if you sense the engine is getting loaded and MPH begins to decrease, a slight bit of pressure will increase RPM (unlock convertor) by about 700-900 RPM....if you still need more power to maintain MPH, a bit more pressure and it will shift down. As soon as you settle into cruise, convertor engages and you can enjoy that 'wonderful' gas mileage.

 

Is that locking/unlocking thing why the gear ratios are geared so for a given speed, it has lower rpms than its manual counterparts? 65mph is ~2500rpm for AT but 3500 for MT. So if its too stressful at 5th gear, it "launches" at 5th gear to get the speed boost?

btw...to make sure I understand this. is the locking/unlocking torque converter ****ogous to launching a manual transmission car?

 

A torque converter is a fluid coupling. My knowledge is limited, and mostly applies with the older trannys, but certain principles remain even for modern transmissions. It used to be that the trans fluid acted in several roles...first as a lubricant, as a coolant (somewhat a function of lube), as a pressure source for the gears, and as a hydro-controller (valve bodies). I'm guessing that valve bodies have been reduced or eliminated in place of electronic seloniods which are computer controlled...the hydraulic function of the fluid is to transmit motion from the converter housing (the big round thing) to the stator inside the housing, which would be the equivalent of the clutch. The big housing rotates with the engine...the stator is what slips up to a certain point (stall speed). The converter generates lots of heat, which is removed by fluid flow within the converter.

All the lockup device is doing is acting as a clutch, instead of pure fluid coupling, the convertor locks and becomes a mechanical coupling. This usually is designed to happen under cruise conditions, to conserve engery loss.

Ok, that's my best recollection...now go here and see if it makes sense

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/automa...ansmission.htm

and

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/torque-converter.htm

 

Whats up with the poor 20-25 mpg??

 

I drive 200 km a day mostly on the hiway at first i drove in "d" every time
i needed to speed up or the cruise needed to increase speed it would drop down to 3rd gear on a steep incline. I then tried "s" mode on the hiway and noticed a huge improvement when you need to pass you drop it down to 4th gear .I only drive in "s" mode on the hiway now.

 

I think the people that are getting very poor mileage like that are either driving very poorly, or operate in VERY VERY extreme city stop-and-go driving - literally driving a block then stopping, then driving a block, then stopping, then driving a block, ad infinitum. That kind of driving condition would rate very crappy fuel economy in any car.

I am surprised to see one person with the MT getting poor economy above. I'm wondering (betting) it's either the conditions he's driving in, or it's the nut behind the wheel causing it!