But I Digress…

Well the holidays are over and we can get back to the grind for better or worse.  I drove back up to Ottawa, Ontario this Christmas holiday to visit with the wife and friends and family.  Mostly family, as most of our friends were also visiting their families.  That’s just the way it worked out this year and probably for the best as it gave my wife and I more time together with family we haven’t had a chance to visit with for quite a while.  So anyway, I thought I’d report my experiences with the 2010 Honda Fit Sport on a long (very long – almost 12 hours) haul.

Again, compared with an SUV or Van, the latter is definitely more comfortable.  I’ve made the trip a few times in our Ford Freestar and the padded leather seats and sitting position are far more comfortable, but compared to the Toyota Yaris, it is a more comfortable ride for long trips.

Without a doubt the armrest on the Sport model (the Basic model doesn’t have one so don’t go looking for it on that model) is kind of useless.  While it does offer some reprieve for your arm just hanging there or holding onto the gear shift in 5th gear all the way, it is just too short and it’s mounted a little too low (or is it too high?) to offer any real comfort compared to not having it at all.  I understand why it’s so short as it would be in the way of the gear shift if it was much longer but it could stand to be at least another inch or two longer.  So while it’s nice to have the armrest, let’s be honest it’s not that big of a deal to begin with and why it’s not standard on the Basic model who knows; probably because they knew it was mostly useless.  It’s also very difficult to pull down while driving, especially if you have a sore shoulder.  Okay enough about the armrest already

I didn’t discover until the day I headed for Ottawa that there was only one power outlet, which up until then was (and still is) used exclusively for the Garmin GPS pasted in the bottom corner of the windshield.  On such a long trip, especially with bluetooth turned on, my phone won’t make it a full twelve hours typically making four or five calls along the way.  I can’t really see the innards of the power outlet because it’s so deep and stuck way under the dash (which is a good thing as it’s out of the way) but it seems that the outer drum contact must flare down too close to the center pin contact.  It’s pretty easy to blow the fuse just by wiggling whatever is plugged into it.  I bought a one-to-two-outlet adapter so I could keep my phone plugged in along with the GPS but there is enough slack in the adapter and the center pin is wide enough that just plugging it in causes a short.  Just a poor design.  If you plan to use something fairly big that can move around at all I would advise wrapping all but the very tip in hockey tape to prevent the center pin from shorting the power outlet.  Replacing a fuse in the parking lot in the middle of a long trip isn’t fun.  Luckily I had several spares in the glove box from previous lessons learned but it’s still a pain to have to do when you’re trying to get to your destination as quickly as possible.  With so much room under the hood they should have put the fuse box for everything there.  That’s where the Yaris put all its fuses and it was incredibly easy to get at without having to do a contortionist act in the middle of a parking lot.  I’d also suggest wrapping that same hockey tape around the barrel near where it exits the outlet to keep it nice and snug without moving around.  My GPS adapter already fits really snug so it’s not an issue but the Y-adapter I bought is a bit loose and heavy at the end with the two power outlets hanging out the back.  Eventually I want to install the AC adapter I have laying around, that’s designed to be wired straight to the battery, somewhere convenient but that can wait until spring.

While I didn’t bring tons of stuff with me nor much back, the fold flat seats make for a lot of storage space.  I bought a big winter shovel in Ottawa rather than try to find one here in Virginia and it fit handily in the back without any trouble along with my suitcase and gifts and stuff.  The commercials really are true.  Go figure.

My biggest complaint about an otherwise fantastic little car is that the engine is way too loud.  I’m no automotive engineer but I think a six speed transmission would go a long way to curbing the noise from the high-revving engine at 65 to 70 mph.  Several others on forums and such have complained about it so it’s not just me being picky.  The Yaris’ little 4-banger was loud but but this one is even louder.  In the city it’s not a big deal but on the highway it can be irritating.

I love the USB connector in the top glove box!  On such a long trip I can load up a thumbdrive with all the podcasts I want to catch up on, or audio books or whatever, plug it in and go.  Honda has done a great job of making it easy to navigate the folders and files on the drive with the stereo controls and multi-segment display.  I don’t really have any complaints.  It shows all the major MP3 tags if you want like author, etc.  which makes it easy to double-check what chapter you’re on of say an audio book.  The CD player also plays MP3 CDs but with the thumbdrive support I’ve never used it.  I did have an audio book on CD I listened to on the way back, and a multi-CD changer would have been nice.  Swapping CDs at highway speeds isn’t exactly safe, and often I’d just switch to the thumbdrive or the radio until I had a chance to pull over and change the CD (the CDs were packaged in one of those protective multi-CD cardboard sleeve thingies that are hard to manipulate with one hand, especially at night, even with the dome light on).  The next time I take a long trip I’ll just rip the audio book to MP3s and put it on a thumb drive.  My wife has an iPod that I meant to hook up to the USB port to see what difference if any there was from a plain old thumbdrive but we kept forgetting.  To be honest though the file and folder navigation works just fine.

While it has nothing to do with the car and everything to do with either the dealership or the manufacturer (whoever initially fills the windshield washer fluid basin before they sell it), the first thing you should do if you’re going to be travelling through any climate that may dip below freezing, is either ensure they used proper washer fluid good to well below freezing in the first place, or flush it completely and be sure to run proper fluid through the system until the lines are full of the good stuff.  The jets froze up on me in New York and I had to stop several times to snowball the windshield.  I filled the basin with proper fluid at a gas station but there was already too much water in the lines and it kept freezing up.  A run through a hot car wash got the lines unplugged but I’d play it safe and flush whatever crap they put in there unless you buy the car somewhere where the climate will not forgive that kind of cheapskating.  One other thing I should mention is that the fluid basin is incredibly small in the Fit.  It only holds about half a jug or so.  It is surprisingly small.  Here in Virginia that’s not such a big deal but in northern New York and most areas of Canada I’d hate to have to contantly be refilling the thing.

Well this is getting to be another novel so I’ll try to wrap it up.  The pros for a long trip?  Hands down – and it’s such a simple thing – the USB port.  Having access to multiple gigabytes of podcasts and audio books on such a long trip is great and no swapping CDs.  The fold-flat seats make for a lot of room in such a wee little car if there are only one or two people.  Gas milage isn’t mind-blowing but I averaged about 35.1 mpg doing between 65-70 mph most of the way.  A six-speed transmission, even if only slightly higher ratio than 5th would surely help as the engine revs up around 4 grand at those speeds.  The windshield wipers are very well designed if a bit odd (one huge one and one itty bitty one).  They keep the huge Fit windshield exceptionally clear.  I got caught in the middle of a really nasty snowstorm in New York on the way back from Ottawa and they work noticeably better than other designs.  One big swipe in front of the driver.  Makes sense.  The back hatch is really big for such a little car and the rear doors open to close to if not at a full 90 degrees allowing for much easier rooting around and packing stuff for a long trip.  I doubt any other car of this ilk is this well designed.  Even my wife immediately noticed how easy it was to get in and out of when packing all of our crap in the car.  I have to also mention the dash, especially at night.  Well done Honda.  Whoever designed the dash for this car deserves a raise.  Everything is so easy to read and well placed I am super impressed.  The lighting in the Yaris absoultely sucked.  The Honda Fit Sport (especially the 2009 and 2010) couldn’t be any better designed.  My only complaint is the glove boxes aren’t very big and without a center console you may find yourself stuffing junk in the door pockets.

The cons?  Only one power outlet.  On long trips you’ve always got crap you need to plug in and charge, especially if you’re a gadget freak, and only one power outlet in the whole car, especially nowadays, just doesn’t cut it.  The engine is way too loud at highway speeds.  Again, a six-speed transmission would have helped here as well as gas mileage.  The washer fluid basin is way way too small.  I could easily see having to refill it at least once on a long trip in the winter on salty sandy mucky roads.  It depends on where you live whether this is a con or not.

Marginal?  The seats.  While more comfortable than the Toyota Yaris they still lack the long ride comfort of the stiff padded leather seats of a big sedan, SUV or van.

While obviously mainly meant to be a city car, grocery getter, or back-and-forth-to-work car and not a continuous long trip vehicle, it fairs remarkably well for such a small car.  The stiff sport suspension does not offer up a horrible long trip ride like you might expect.  Yes it’s stiff but it’s not that stiff.  Let’s face it “Sport” is part of the model name it’s not really a sports car and the ride reflects that.  Stiff but not too stiff.  Just right.  I would think the Basic model would be too sloppy.  The seats could stand to be a bit stiffer.  The stiffer seats in our van are more comfortable.  I wouldn’t buy this car if all I mostly did was long trips but for the occasional trip you can’t beat the combination of great fuel economy, fantastic design in and out, and the little extras like the USB port.  As far as small cars go for long trips, the Honda Fit Sport is definitely my first choice, even with its few drawbacks.

EarnieShoes Reviews, Opinions and Experiences

I had the CilaJet application done today. Time will tell if it is as durable as is claimed, but the glossy finish promised certainly makes good on its promise. After the application the car is truly glossy. Even for a new car you really can see the difference. In bright daylight the finish really does shine like it has just been professionally detailed and waxed. Honda promises several incentives if you have it applied like key scratch and dent removal for free as well as warranty extensions.

Below are some photos taken about half an hour after having it done at the Giant food market parking lot where I was picking up a prescription:

2010 Honda Fit Sport CilaJet Application	2010 Honda Fit Sport CilaJet Application
2010 Honda Fit Sport CilaJet Application	2010 Honda Fit Sport CilaJet Application

2010 Honda Fit Sport CilaJet Application to Door Sill

Also evidenced by the picture at right is the application not only to the outside body but to other areas of the car as well including the door sills. The car must be perfectly clean with not a speck of dust or eyelash on the body before application as it is baked on not just buffed in like a wax or teflon coating.

Also part of the CilaJet application are all the tires. Whether or not the shine stays remains to be seen but it does look sharp while it lasts.

I’ve included some pictures below of the application to the tires.

2010 Honda Fit Sport CilaJet Front Tire Application

2010 Honda Fit Sport CilaJet Rear Tire Application

2010 Honda Fit Sport CilaJet Application to Dash

And lastly obviously it’s not the same compound (it’s some sort of oil based product) applied to the entire inside including all the vinyl and plastic as well as all the seats. You can see the dash looks as though it’s been freshly Armor-All’ed. Time will tell how long that shine lasts. One thing I noticed after the application to the seats was they are a lot “grippier” than before. They still have the same soft cloth feel as before but they seem to grip your clothes a little more firmly while driving that might get a little annoying but it’s probably temporary.

EarnieShoes Reviews, Opinions and Experiences

For some reason this webserver’s datase can’t handle these extra tables and text that comes with this extra bit of the review so I’m just placing them in a new post. The post previous to this one is part 1.

Some Night Pictures of the Dash:

2010 Honda Fit Sport Dash at Night

2010 Honda Fit Sport Entire Dash at Night

2010 Honda Fit Sport Gauges at Night

2010 Honda Fit Sport Radio Closeup at Night

2010 Honda Fit Sport Speedo Closeup

In the far left night picture the display reads “USB NO DATA” when nothing is plugged into the USB connector and the stereo is in AUX mode (it autodetects whether to use USB or the AUX jack – I’m not sure what it will do if both are plugged in I haven’t tried). If I plugged in my USB thumbdrive, it would display “USB LOADING” for a period of time and then start playing the first song from the first folder. In the second from the right picture, you can see the RDS support is very good (for stations that transmit it). The station I happen to listen to the most updates everything immediately when a new song starts. You can set it to display track title, artist or station ID (maybe more again I can’t remember) or have it cycle through everything which is what it was doing when I took the picture. If the text string is too long it will display the first half and then the next half. In this case it was “Family Friendly” and the camera caught the “Friendly” part. I kind of wish they had put a larger display in for the radio but this one is very easy to read and does the job. I did notice the older 2007 and 2008 models had a much larger display for the radio. Whether or not it supported all the goodies this one does I don’t know.

EarnieShoes Reviews, Opinions and Experiences