I'm a guy who tends to find exactly the car he wants, buys it new and then shoots for 500,000 miles. I am wondering if anyone has an opinion as to which transmission option would be more reliable and less costly to maintain in the long run, the manual transmission/clutch or the automatic, on the Fit Sport.
Thanks,
der Mond

 

Manuals are known to last longer...and since the Fit is in its first year of production, it's really hard to tell which would be better in the short run....but in long range terms MANUAL > AUTO

 

Agreed, not to mention the Fit has a paddle shifter automatic (manumatic) and the jury is still out as to how reliable those are.

This decision also depends upon how much traffic you drive in. If I had to drive a manual in NYC/Philly I would go insane.

 

not to mention manuals tend to get better gas mileage, better performance, and manuals are just plain more fun to drive.

 

Amen to that. I don't have a Fit but no matter the car, go for the manual. A clutch is much cheaper to replace than the whole automatic transmission.

 

Well, I guess that settles that. But I bet the paddle shifters are fun...

 

the one's i've tried still work the same as manual shifting your auto trans so...

 

Actually the Fit has been in production since 2001 as the Jazz, in both Europe and Japan. It's by no means a new platform.

As a superficial attempt to stay on topic, I agree with everyone else in saying manual > auto unless you're commuting long distances in heavy traffic. In which case you're probably better off getting something a little bigger than a Fit.

 

I would go with the manual. In spirited driving, I find myself losing where the upshift and downshift paddles are on my wife's Fit Sport. It's kind of frustrating at times.

The biggest factor in choosing a manual, for me anyway, is that the Honda manual is one of the best shifting manuals in the industry. There is no rubbery feel to them at all. I own a 5-speed Acura Integra (built by Honda) with 185,000 miles on it and the clutch and transmission still work great. I believe that an automatic would have probably been rebuilt by this time.

Besides, heel-toeing is something you definitely can't do with an automatic.

 

I test-drove a manual and it is such a silky, slick shifter I cannot refuse. My storm silver Sport shoukld be here any day now.