Amazing.

That’s what I keep saying whenever I drive the Honda Fit. It’s not a “holy shit, this is the fastest car I have ever driven” or “this corners better than a Ferrari”, no, it’s more of a “I can’t believe you can get this much out of how little it costs!”

I keep expecting it to let me down in some way, maybe it won’t make it out of this snow bank…I always think “Oh it’s not going to have enough space for what I need” or “ OH MAN, it’s not gonna make it up this hill”. Even “I wonder if this will compensate for my other shortcomings as a man?” maybe I should have gotten a truck to make up for that.

Alas, a truck may have been in the cards but, I already have a vehicle for Truck things called “CLEO”

Let’s be honest, short of moving everything INCLUDING the kitchen sink, the FIT excels. It can get me to and from work quickly, get’s insane fuel mileage, and is actually pretty fun. Throw that bad biotch in sport mode and OH MAN, you’re going to have a blast. It’s slow on the highway, but accelerating up to 50mph it’s pretty much in line with most other cars.

It can even carry anything you want in a quarantine situation…screw your bugout rig, I’m taking the FIT and passing your F350 by, when you have to stop for gas, or when you let me.

I can carry way more groceries than I would ever buy in a non-emergency, and they all fit neatly in place in the back “magic Seats” Honda calls them. Sure, maybe I have to bend down pretty low to get at things at the way bottom, but you don’t over extend your shoulder when you reach back for some sick snacks while you’re driving.

I’ve actually been thinking about “Bugout” builds lately, and read this article on why smaller economy cars might actually be better in a “post-apocalyptic” scenario. [Link if you’re interested] Zach Bowman explores the possibility that there might be room for two on this road to Bugout prowess. Whereas on one side, you have the Ford Excursion, lifted on some 35’ tires and a 120 gallon fuel tank that can make it to any border on a full tank in any direction. But the author suggests that might not be the case in reality:

 When your vehicle is your everything, when it holds all of your worldly belongings and your family, the risk versus reward tables suddenly start looking very different. I’d spent thousands of dollars preparing the truck for anything. Burly 35-inch tires. An ARB locker. A Warn winch that could dangle the 12,000-lb truck from its nose if it needed to, all in hopes of taking us as far off the beaten path as possible. But when we found ourselves staring at a swollen river or a swampy two-track hours from anyone, we inevitably found a safer route.

That’s jut the thing, when you’ve spent more than you should (or really can afford to lose) on a vehicle to get you anywhere, do anything, you don’t really want to risk it and put those dollars on the line.

As one of my buddies said, “Any car is great off-road, it’s really just the driver that is holding the thing back in most cases.” Vido has a point, traction control, ABS, wizard differentials all make your normal economy car pretty good off-road, and I even tested that theory on summer tires with my FIT going up to shoot at the local archery range

Don’t get me wrong, I would have felt better in a Highlander or JEEP, but the Lil FIT still got up the gnarly ice dirt road with no problems. That trick differential upfront does a good job, and while I won’t be taking it on MOAB trails any time soon, do I really need to?

From my perspective, and I’m not a mechanic by any stretch, the FIT is pretty easy to work on. At least easy enough to change the oil, filter, and flush the transmission fluid all in an hour in the driveway. Coming from the Audi A4, which didn’t even have a dipstick, that’s pretty nice. As a matter of fact, it’s even easier to check the fluids on the FIT. Every other car I’ve worked with, driven, or owned has been somewhat ambiguous when it comes to checking the fluid levels. Maybe, it was just me, but the FIT oil and tranny fluid level is super easy to read.

It’s just a car, it’s just an easy-to-work-on mode of transportation that will get you to and from work in relative comfort. I wouldn’t look for it to do much else than that. Throw three guys and camping gear for a weekend in the back, and you’ll need to make sure you are choosing EXACTLY which gear you are in and when. This is because you’ll smell burning transmission synchros if you let the Honda choose when you shift. ( I can only imagine what it would smell like had I chosen the CVT)

All of this being said, its cruising strong right at 122000 miles (high enough to get a @highmileagereviews review?) and it does the job!

till next time,

Alex