car shopping

[cellio]

With six months to go on my warranty and a desire to do test drives in daylight, I figured it was time to go check out the Honda Fit. I've been somewhat admiring this car from afar, but I'd never driven one (nor even sat in one). So tonight, armed with a dealer referral (thanks, ralphmelton; he says you two are a lovely couple :-) ), I set out to remedy that.

The visibility is rather better than in my Golf, though still not as good as in my old Mazda 323. (Nothing else has come close to that, alas.) The interior is comfortable, and I was able to find good positions for the seat and steering wheel. (I like to sit up in a car, not slouch; many cars don't support that well, but the Fit and Golf both do.) The instruments are easy to read. The rear seat folds sensibly, which was not the case in the Civic I looked at three years ago. (Transporting my hammer dulcimer would be a piece of cake.)

They didn't have a manual transmission on the lot, so I had to drive an automatic. For an automatic it seemed fine, but I'll want to drive the manual before committing. The car I drove had a smooth ride but was a little sluggish on hills and while accelerating; I think that's the transmission type and not inherent, but I want to make sure.

The steering and braking were smooth. I obviously couldn't do a skid test in summer, but I'll trust. The turning radius felt nice and tight.

The Fit comes in two flavors, basic and sport. While I flinch a little at the "sport" name and note that the engines are identical (I expect "sport" to mean "vroom!"), the latter is the only path to some features I've become fond of, so I'll probably spring for it. Not sure yet. I'm trying to decide if keyless entry, intermittent wipers, MP3 support, and the rear wiper are worth the $1200 difference. That's steep, but I've undervalued the annoyance factor in the past, too. (There are other differences, but they're things I don't care about.)

The salesman offered me less for my trade-in than I (and Edmunds) think is called for, but he's going to try to improve on that. Since I told him I wasn't going to make a decision tonight anyway, that's fine. He was not drastically out of line, but it was enough to be worth pushing back.

Of course I knew, and he knew I knew, all the pertinent data about pricing, invoices, supply and demand, and so on. He commented that the internet makes things much easier for all concerned; I would have thought it would make it harder for dealers, but maybe it depends on the car being sold. We both know that there's only a $500 markup built into the price for this particular car; maybe if we both knew that there was a large profit built in that would be different.

Our conversation was pleasant and low-pressure, in both directions. I loathe the high-pressure slick-salesman situation; while I'm not particularly intimidated by it, I find it distasteful. It's possible that, if I buy this car, I will overpay by $100 or so, but I consider that to be the price of the experience.

There's enough demand for the Fit that they're being doled out to dealers; this dealership can get four per month, filling out the matrix of {basic, sport} {manual, automatic}. The next sport manual is due in a week or so and is an acceptable color.

I'm positively inclined, but I want to sleep on it (and see if he can improve the price).

Comments

[indigodove.livejournal.com]

He's pretty nice, and the dealership has treated us well.

If you would have a problem with a car you bought off him, he will help you get it fixed for less. He helped me when my transmission unexpectedly went boom. They bought the transmission, we paid the labor for installation...it was under $100, so we were pretty happy. He definitely helped us get that deal.

Hope it works out for you!

[cellio]

Sounds like it will. He called today to say they could meet my price on the trade-in, so I said I would buy the car contingent on actually driving the manual-transmission flavor before committing. (I assume it will be fine and that the sluggishness was due to the automatic transmission and my lack of familiarity with same.) I should hear something in about a week and a half.

Very pleasant person to work with. Thanks for the tip!

[cahwyguy.livejournal.com]

We were impressed with the Fit when we drove it, if you recall.

[cellio]

I do recall that, yes.

parallel parking

[brokengoose.livejournal.com]

I don't know how much of an issue this is for you, but if you have to park on the street even occasionally, I suggest trying to do so on a test drive. It concentrates a lot of information about low-speed handling and blind spots into a few minutes of driving.

Re: parallel parking

[cellio]

Oh, good idea! Thanks. I don't do as much street parking as I used to (have garages at home and at work), but it's still relevant and, even if it weren't, that's a good test.

[starmalachite.livejournal.com]

Intermittent wipers are *definitely* worth getting. Rear wiper even more so. These features have each saved me from at least one accident. Given the increased safety factor the improved visibility in bad conditions provides, it sounds like $1200 well spent.

Keyless entry is useful. A nice bonus is that if you can't find your car in a parking lot, you can make it beep at you. And keyless trunk entry when your arms are full is a godsend.

And MP3 support -- just plain cool.

[cellio]

I think the wipers are important, too.

I have used the "where the heck is my car in all this mess?" feature of keyless entry. The other benefit there is largely one of self-defense: being able to push one button and lock all doors is increasingly useful as more and more passengers assume you have this feature. I've accidentally failed to lock doors when I'm a passenger and I think I'm fairly conscientious about such things.

The MP3 support is, alas, a cable connection and not a tighter interface. It would be nice to be able to use the stereo's controls (forward/back), rather than the ones on the iPod, while driving, but that's not how it works.

(Hmm, now that I write this I wonder if the CD player also accepts MP3s. I think it probably does, so there would be two ways to play them.)

[wrenb.livejournal.com]

We just bought a Fit Sport two weeks ago. We love it. Good friends bought a manual earlier in the summer, and they love theirs too. I've seen the Fits multiplying in my neighborhood -- a good sign. Glad you've had a nice, low-pressure experience! That was what we experienced too (granted, that was in Omaha where the Fit was not moving off the lot).

[cellio]

Glad to hear the good report!