v8guy

Hi everyone, sorry I haven't been on that much lately. My '91 CRX Si is still alive and kicking, but getting a bit long in the tooth these days at 242K.

I have an opportunity to buy an '07 Fit Sport from a friend of a co-worker. He is asking $11,000 and it has 20,364 mi. I checked it out the other day and it looks pretty good, aside from a rather scratched up back bumper cover (that's what happens here in NYC when you have to park on the street). Front bumper is clean and I found only two minor dents, one in the driver's door and another on top of the roof. You have to look very carefully to even see them. The interior is nice needing only some minor vacuuming.

My biggest concern is that it is an automatic. I don't particularly care for automatics, but I did just get engaged New Year's Day and the auto would allow her to drive it as well. I have given her a few stick shift lessons in the CRX, and while she is learning, she still needs a lot more practice before I'd want her tackling the open road with a manual transmission. On the plus side, it does have those cool paddle shifters.

I know Honda made some pretty crappy automatic trannys. Does anyone know what model 5 speed auto is in the Fit Sport and anything about it's reliability?

I check the fluid and it was light brown with no discernible burnt smell. I thought perhaps that Honda ATF was brown like the old Ford Type F, but evidently ATF-Z1 is pink just like good ole Dexron/Mercon. I assume this is the fluid that this transmission takes. Brown fluid at 20,000 miles kind scares me.

The engine ticks a bit loudly. The owner said that it got louder after a while. I'm thinking it may just need a valve lash adjustment. It is definitely a top end noise. What is weirder to me is that it seems to be loudest at the throttle body.

So what do you all think? Should I get it? What about that auto tranny and what model is it? Is it reliable?

Thanks

S2Kev

I would do some research at www.FitFreak.net about the trans. There are a lot of 1st generation fits with like 100k miles already. If it's still under warranty you can have the ticking noise checked out. Just find out what the warranty start date is. The car is under 36,000 miles but I'm not sure if it qualifies under 3 years. I have a 2009 Honda Fit Sport in manual.

v8guy

Ok, thanks. By all accounts those trannys are evidently pretty solid but do turn the fluid dark quickly. Evidently this is normal. I had they seller take it to the dealer to have the noise checked out and they said it was normal. They also said the tranny was fine but to change the fluid at 30,000mi instead of 40,000 if you did a lot of city driving. The following weekend, when I came back to check it out and possibly make an offer, the noise was much quieter, just a very light ticking that sounded totally normal. Very strange. The car had a broken "club" type steering wheel lock on it when I first came to look at it and because of that and the availability of public transportation the guy hadn't driven it in like 2-3 weeks. I cut it off for him so we could test drive it. He had the key but the locking mechanism was jammed somehow. The key would only turn like halfway and no amount of spraying with WD40 and tapping with a hammer would free it up so I covered up the wheel with old towels and cut the lock off with a portable grinder. Then he took it to the dealer to have them check it out. I'm guessing the trip to the dealer was all it needed to warm up the engine fully and get everything working smoothly.

Anyway, I bought it yesterday. $10,500. YaY! The original owner bought the car late in '07 so there are still 6mo left on the 3yr/36K mile warranty. The powertrain is covered by 5yr/60k mile warranty. Hopefully I won't have any problems. The car drives beautifully and looks really sharp after the wash and wax it got yesterday. I'm happy.