2013 Honda Fit Sport 1.5 gas from North America

Summary:

Great little Grocery Getter

Faults:

Gas cover doesn't pop open like it should. Dealer said he would replace it.

General Comments:

Great little small compact. Bought it at a dealership in Valencia California. It is not perfect, but great for my needs around town and on my freeway runs.

Paid about $10,000 for it, which is way too much for what you get, but that's what I get for buying a economy car in the current pandemic inflation situation and with gas prices hovering around $4.50 a gallon in California right now. Dealers are having a hard time getting these smaller cheaper cars on that lot right now. The painful part is that these little cars only went for about $18,000 brand new from the Honda dealership in 2013.

Honda quit importing these little Honda Fits to America in 2021. Which is crazy because all the 2020 have sold out at the Honda dealership with no more coming. Not sure what Honda corporation was thinking.

Hits:

A lot of room inside this small car and I have already hauled a hope chest and a large jewelry box. It measures about 5 ft long and 4 ft wide with the 2nd row seats down, and you can also lower the front seats down for extra room all the way to the front dash.

The Honda 1.5 engine and the trans are very smooth. Very similar to a Honda motorcycle engine if you have ever driven one. And it loves to rev with the 5 speed transmission.

Gets about 31-35 mpg on regular fuel.

Powerful radio and cassette unit for such a cheap car.

Materials and fit and finish are very good on this car.

Has something called magic seats that allow you to do all types of crazy things with the seats. The second row seats fold perfectly flat which is rare in a car nowadays.

Honda cars have very good resale value right now. Maybe because gas is going up or the current pandemic issues or a little of both.

Nice freeway driving with the 5 speed close ratio transmission. If you do a lot of stop and go traffic in town or on the freeway, an automatic one should be your choice.

Small simple reliable car to own. Really not much to it.

Misses:

Suspension is almost non existence in this little car.

Very noisy car. And it's not the engine or transmission. They are smooth as silk. It's the suspension and road noise from the wrong tires put on it.

Get the wrong tires on this and it will punish you for next 30,000 miles. Must get the best smooth soft riding tires available for it. This used car had Sumitomo tires of them and they are terrible. You feel and hear every bump and road noise from them.

The clutch on this is terrible. Its release point is very high so if you are not young and in shape, forget it and get a slower automatic fit. Because the clutch release point is so high your knees get a zumba type workout especially in town driving. In freeway non-stop and go traffic this little 5 speed transmission shines. It's perfect for freeway driving.

A/C conditioning system is average at best.

Paint on this is very very thin. So have your spray and touch up paint ready to go.

Top speed on this little thing with the 5 speed close ratio transmission is about 80 mph. And at 80 mph it's at about 4000 rpm very similar to their motorcycle engines. But if you don't mind revving it, it can go faster. The engine is that smooth.

Changing the spark plugs on this is a nightmare. You have to take out a lot of the plastic near the engine bay to get to the plugs on it. Just a bad crazy design because they wanted to set the engine so far back in the engine bay to shorten the front of the car.

In conclusion it's a great little car that has a lot of hits and misses to it.

And I like the hits and will have to just get used to the misses. It only has a 10 gallon gas tank so I feeling less pain at the pump. Also there are a lot of other choices for the subcompact used car market out there right now.

Nissan Versa Note

Toyota Prius C

Toyota Yaris

Toyota Yaris iA

All good choices. My problem was that many of them just had too many miles on them to work for me.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 21st December, 2021

2013 Honda Fit Sport from North America

Summary:

Zippy, grocery gettin', family haulin', gas sippin', fun machine

Faults:

Tire pressure monitoring sensor when new.

Just got back from an 800 mile trip, and experienced air conditioned problems.

General Comments:

This car averages around 31 MPG. It is fun to drive with decent acceleration.

Visibility is good because there are windows everywhere. The car is easy to drive and park because of its size.

The port for the USB in the glove box is handy. Cup holders are abundant.

The road noise at highway speed is considerable unless you are driving on really smooth asphalt.

The interior and seats are somewhat small for my 6'4" height. The car is a perfect "fit" for my 5'0" tall wife.

We have enjoyed our Honda, and with an average of 32000 miles driven per year, its durability will be tested in a short period of time.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 22nd July, 2013

22nd Aug 2014, 07:07

We now have about 55,000 on our Fit and it is still running strong. The A/C problem was fixed with a recharge at the dealer. No other problems since.

27th Jul 2015, 17:50

Rolling on 75000 miles. Recently had to have the A/C checked again. It apparently has a slow refrigerant leak and the dealership hasn't committed to covering the repair, even though it has probably been leaking since new. It is still a fun car to drive and has been reliable. Average MPG is still around 27-30.