Any Honda Fit/Civic owners?

My Fit is a little over a year old and it is awesome and it is good for two bikes in the back. I take the front wheels off and put my large bike on the side with the shortest person in front. I have traveled many miles with one other person two bikes and bags. My sister bought a Civic at about the time I bought my Fit and she gets pretty good gas milage on the freeway. I think she would buy a Fit if she could re-think her choices. The Fit holds so much more than a Civic. I used to have an Element and it worked great I wanted better gas milage. Either way all three will last a long time.

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Originally Posted by Triskeliongirl

hmmmm, ours isn't noisy at all. go take a test drive. i think its a great value.

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When we test drove the fit, my hubby and I had to raise our voices significantly to have a conversation in the front seat, sitting right next to each other, on the freeway, As in , practically shouting at each other.
This was a real disappointment to us. It pretty much killed the sale. The available trim levels were just not what we were looking for.

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Originally Posted by CA_in_NC

The bungee trick works for 2 bikes - more than that, and it gets a little...challenging:)

CA

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Oh, with two bikes I use fork mounts on a piece of plywood. Just because if I'm putting in two bikes with the seat down, we're doing some serious traveling, and I need them to be fixed in place for all the other crap we have with us!

Karen

A Fit is definitely what you call "basic transportation".

I never ever drove one, because when I was looking for one, they were new and hard to find. The only one I even saw in person was sold to someone else and waiting to be delivered. I didn't even get to sit in it.

Karen

I have a Yaris hatchback which I love:

-will never take another road trip in it--fwy noise is crazy obnoxious over long distance.

neut: two doors not four, but not a problem for us
haven't kept track of mileage, but this means it isn't bugging me, so it must be ok.

+ lots of room to carry stuff inside
+ Hollywood Rack is great for the tandem on the back
+ Very high cute factor
+ Easy to park!
+ Fits into small condo garage with bikes, and mountains of other carp in there.

I just heard on the radio that the "vintage" (excuse moi a vintage?? what does that make me??) civic cvcc and other 4 cylinder engine cars are going up in prices from $1,000 to two, three, four and even six thousand dollars.

Oh my

My mother drove a '90 Civic hatchback for a long time, and then we bought it from her for my middle son, who rolled the odometer over 300,000 miles. It was a good little car. Wish we still had it. Every time I see one for sale on the side of the road, I think about buying it. It was so roomy!

Mid-son upgraded to the '96, which is right now getting its timing belt changed, and then hubby is going to fold himself into it and drive it the 25 miles to work as much as possible.

Karen

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Originally Posted by Tuckervill

It was a good little car. Wish we still had it. Every time I see one for sale on the side of the road, I think about buying it. It was so roomy!

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No kidding! I miss mine too! I got more speeding tickets with mine. :o I had an '89 hatchback and I used to carry my gsd in the back with the seats folded down. It was my first nice car that my new husband bought me. We were living in Bella Vista and I drove to UA every day in that zippy car. I got 43 mph at that time. :cool: Later, when I went back to school, I bought me another Civic hatchback. Those suckers are so darn handy as a commuter car. I think about getting a grocery store car every now and then with these gas prices. I like my toaster on wheels, but I'd like to tool around in a Mini Cooper. :)

My honda civic is great (the 1991) it has just over 100,000 miles on it.

I think it will be easy to sell. I'm afraid to try (because then i won't have it anymore) :o

Mimi, is it a hatchback? One of our friends is in a racing club and Honda Civic Hatchbacks are a fav to race. :D

My total beater of an '89 CRX is still getting ~42 mpg. That was the best $700 I ever spent on a car--I bought it as a stopgap when my Miata was stolen. And it had the added bonus of enough space to fit my bike inside of it after taking the front wheel off...because I *definitely* can't fit my bike in the Miata. :D

Now that I have the Miata back, and I don't have to drive much for work, I just let my ex use it for daily commuting.

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Originally Posted by sundial

Mimi, is it a hatchback? One of our friends is in a racing club and Honda Civic Hatchbacks are a fav to race. :D

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yes. I know they are very popular.

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Originally Posted by sundial
Mimi, is it a hatchback? One of our friends is in a racing club and Honda Civic Hatchbacks are a fav to race.

yes. I know they are very popular.
__________________
Mimi Team TE BIANCHISTA
Work to eat. Eat to live. Live to bike. Bike to work.



:mad:Not with me; not after the same make/model mowed me down in the crosswalk...killed my bike and GF's too...am grateful that there aren't 2 manslaughter charges also applicable:mad:

Bought the Civic this afternoon. Very nice car, and a really super value. Thanks for all your input.

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Originally Posted by sundial

No kidding! I miss mine too! I got more speeding tickets with mine. :o I had an '89 hatchback and I used to carry my gsd in the back with the seats folded down. It was my first nice car that my new husband bought me. We were living in Bella Vista and I drove to UA every day in that zippy car. I got 43 mph at that time. :cool: Later, when I went back to school, I bought me another Civic hatchback. Those suckers are so darn handy as a commuter car. I think about getting a grocery store car every now and then with these gas prices. I like my toaster on wheels, but I'd like to tool around in a Mini Cooper. :)

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I had a '90 Civic hatchback, too. I sold it in '96, but I do still miss it. It had a 5-speed, got about 42 mph on highway trips, and I could fit the moon in that thing.

Mr. SR500...many happy and safe miles with your new buggy...

What's showing up a lot on Craigs are the rebuilt Geo's of the 90's. These cars average over 30 mph. I would not buy a used car on Craigs but why did they ever stop making a car with mileage that good?

can somone post a photo of a fit with bikes inside? I'm just not seeing it. I was recently car shopping, and didn't even look at the fits because they looked just too small. I drive 40 miles (mixed) each way to work, and my beloved aztek's gas mileage (low 20s) was killing me.
I needed something that got good gas mileage but had room for my son's car seat (can't put the back seats down) and also at least one good sized dog crate (I have a big "dog car", but need the option in case I need to take a dog to the vet or something). But I also carried my folding bike in the back of the aztek so I could ride during lunch sometimes, so needed room for that.
I ended up getting an HHR, so far I'm liking it but am still getting used to a "small car". I love the gas mileage, 30 mpg with the mixed driving in my commute. The folding bike doesn't fit as easily as in the aztek, but it does fit on it's side in the little storage well in the back, with the shelf above it.
I'd like to see a photo of a bike in the back of a fit if anyone has one- from the outside they look so small!
thanks

To get bikes in the fit, you need either both back seats in the up position (bench part of seat up, like in the commercial w a bike behind the front seats) or at least one back seat in the down position. Indeed, it only feels roomy with the rear seats down, but you could put 2/3 rear seats down and still fit a child/car seat in back.

We are empty nesters, so we drive around with both back seats down and it feels like our old station wagon. But if the kids come to visit they can be put up easily.

Sorry, not pics yet w bikes inside.

I have a 2004 Civic coupe. I usually just throw my hybrid in the back with the front wheel off

My Yakima rack is now installed. Here's the Fit with my bike on top. I'll try to get a picture with it in the back.

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Originally Posted by Trek420

What's showing up a lot on Craigs are the rebuilt Geo's of the 90's. These cars average over 30 mph. I would not buy a used car on Craigs but why did they ever stop making a car with mileage that good?

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I think the reason that they stopped making a lot of cars like that has to do with new safety regulation that make cars heavier. That's why there is nothing out there like the old civics that used to get 40-50 mpg - they are just to heavy.

at least, thats how it was explained to me. You start adding in ABS, traction control, air bags etc and you can't make a super cheap/light car any more.

Regarding the FIT, it has that cool fold UP back seat. I would think you could fold the seat bottom up, take your front wheel off and stick a bike in crossways.

I.

That's what I thought. The idea of a $1-2k car that gets 30-40 mpg sounds great. But it probably won't have modern standard safety stuff. :(

Maybe, maybe not. It's true, I couldn't find specs on cars as old as '83, but I was surprised to learn that my Prius (2932 lbs) is considerably heavier than the earliest subcompacts I could find (2100-2200 for 1990 vintage cars) - and of course a Prius is so roomy inside that it's considered compact, not sub.

But, the way I understand it, fuel mileage comes more from aerodynamics than it does from weight, and body design and wind tunnel testing are much improved in recent years.

I'm not convinced that automakers couldn't be doing a lot better if they had any motivation to.

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

Maybe, maybe not. It's true, I couldn't find specs on cars as old as '83, but I was surprised to learn that my Prius (2932 lbs) is considerably heavier than the earliest subcompacts I could find (2100-2200 for 1990 vintage cars) - and of course a Prius is so roomy inside that it's considered compact, not sub.

But, the way I understand it, fuel mileage comes more from aerodynamics than it does from weight, and body design and wind tunnel testing are much improved in recent years.

I'm not convinced that automakers couldn't be doing a lot better if they had any motivation to.

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mmm- I dunno. We currently own a nice little 83 tercel (one of those nice old lightweight high economy cars that you can't get any more with zero safety features) and a 08 Mazda. Which one would you rather be in a high impact collision in?

I do agree that the automakers could be doing a lot better. I was very disappointed in the offerings as we car shopped recently. I didn't want a hybrid, I did want good mileage, and I needed a wagon, and I wanted one nicely equipped, and not european. That left me two cars to choose from.

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

I'm not convinced that automakers couldn't be doing a lot better if they had any motivation to.

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Oh c'mon where'd this guy come from. This isn't TREK, HELP!! A major exec of a major car company has taken over my user id:rolleyes: now he's writing .....

SUV's took no effort on our part. It's just a bigger, heavier car on a truck chassis. We didn't even have to change the production line, just higher prices and more profit for us. :D And the public gobbles them up. To you the illusion of power, safety and speed is soxy, that's what sells our cars. C'mon, nobody buys based on MPG, that's wimpy, practically un-American. Just watch our ads :D Powering through mud, hauling trailers up a mountain, taking the short-cut around gridlocked traffic off road up over a mountain, rescuing puppies from tornadoes and floods (I'm watching our ads right now!) and all with children safely tucked in back watching videos. Don't you just want one right now? We know you'll never do these things. We know you'll be stuck in gridlock at single digit MPG and not rescuing kittens from hurricanes. We know even the light truck frames these are build on get better MPG.

But by then you've bought our car and we're laughing all the way to the bank.

We're so smrt :D)