Another Day...

Another day, another recall, but this time my car is not involved...yet. It was announced last week that Honda is recalling 2007-2011 Honda Fits for the front passenger airbag inflator. This recall seems to be based on the age of the vehicle, and it's just a matter of time until the 2012 is recalled as well--my assumption--I have no actual inside knowledge of the future situation.

Further, I'm thinking that loaners will not be available for the front passenger airbag fix as one can operate the car without anybody in the passenger seat.

I'll be keeping my open for recall notice for the 2012, and for now I'm happy that I don't have to deal with this latest setback.

Day 58: Outside In

Having had my Fit back for the day, and driving around and parking in bright sunshine gave me a chance to assess what the past two months have been like for the car. What I can immediately tell is that the dirty pollenated outside parking got into the cars nooks and crannies. There are places I know were very clean when the car left me that are now caked with schmutz. I'll get into the cracks this weekend to clean them up. This car has lived in a garage for past 4 years, and was washed/waxed regularly so at least the buildup of polleny grime will come off easily. To their credit, the dealership did clean all the obvious outsides well, and even vacuumed the all season mats in the car--not so much under the mats, but that dirt wasn't their making.

Curiously, there was one small chip of safety glass in cargo area making me wonder whether there was a broken glass incident unreported by the dealer. The documents in the glove compartment were shuffled as well, but there really wasn't anything left in the car fit to steal. After thinking about for a while I'm guessing maybe a box or cooler that I previously loaded in the car from the street picked up the rogue piece of glass.

So far the car is right back to what I remember. Really nice handling and fun acceleration in the high revs. Just a really well made little car, especially coming from the poor imitation, the Nissan Versa Note, that we've been driving for the past month.

Happy to have the Fit home. I just hope the passenger side airbag doesn't need the same repair, as has happened in Accords.

Update: I clay-barred the Fit's roof, hood and fenders. It turned out to be relatively easy to do on such a small car, now those areas are buttery smooth after re-applying a coat of wax.

Day 57: Fin

Lynnwood Honda just called to let me know that they got an airbag inflator in, and installed it in my Fit. I'm leaving now to go pick up the car. Hopefully it didn't suffer too badly sitting around for the last two months. Oh boy, I'm very excited to get my Fit back.

Hooray!

Day 56: Act Accordingly

A friend of mine with a 1991 Accord with more miles that she's comfortable with and more to-do items on the car's repairs list that she wants to spend is looking for newer Accord. I shouldn't be shocked but late model Accords and Civics are really expensive. I knew when I bought the Fit that we were spending less than Accords, and depending on trim level and options, less than Civics. What I wasn't prepared for today was the retained value of those Accords and Civics. The frustrating thing for her is that the only 'affordable' Accord for her is a 2003--considerably newer with better safety options than her '91, but in terms of maintenance costs, it will probably get spendy pretty quickly. I was thinking she'd be able to afford an '09 Accord or Camry, but there's no way. They is just too high a premium on these cars if they've been reasonably taken care of and have minimal mileage. This really contrasts with the complete lack of love for the recent model off lease Nissan Leafs I've been seeing on the market (and been tempted by). 2012 Leafs with low mileage off lease are going for well under $9,000, and then your fuel costs are a fraction of an ICE, and maintenance costs are similarly low, as long as you don't need a new battery. The gorilla in the room is the 75 or so mile range on these cars--a problem somewhat mitigated if one has the quick charge port. But they will never be able to take intercity trips. We definitely are spoiled being able to fill a tank of gas in minutes, practically anywhere, anytime. If I needed a 2nd car, I wouldn't hesitate in getting one of these Leafs, but as a primary car, I just couldn't do it. I do have an idealist friend whose primary (only) car is a Leaf. He rents a car if he needs to go out of town, and ultimately is many dollars ahead.

More and more Fits are getting fixed. I'm expecting mine to be done any day now. My 30 day rental window is coming up again. I don't think I have to swap the car--last time it was just a verbal renewal over the phone. Here's hoping the rental will be over before May 4 when the agreement comes up.

Day 55: Still Waiting

There were at least a dozen reports from FitFreak,net yesterday and today of either notice to bring Fits into the Honda dealer repair shop for the airbag inflator repair, or the actual repair getting done. The repairs appear to be happening all over the country--not just in high humidity zones. More likely it looks like it is based on who has Honda-provided loaner or rental vehicles. This all leads me to believe that it will be a very short amount of time until I get my Fit back as well. I did contact the dealer yesterday about this and was told that they have no record of an imminent fix for my car, but I don't think they really know what is happening on the corporate distribution side. I could be wrong, but Honda hasn't shown itself to be that highly coordinated EXCEPT in the face of social media pressure. Remember, they (probably) had my Honda Airbag twitter account disabled within hours of it starting up, and they actually responded to this blog by the 8th day it was up. A miraculous event considering I still don't see it when doing google searches for Honda Airbag. Maybe Honda's search-monkeys have special powers of intuition that just tell when there is a dissatisfied Honda customer out there on the internet. Now, actually satisfying the dissatisfied customers unreasonable demands--that's a different story.

I want a pony.

I heard there would be punch and pie.

I want my Fit back.

One of these things will happen soon.

Day 54: Beginning of the End

My test drives of the Ford C-Max Energi and Mercedes B-Class showed me how far we've come with the engineering of small efficient cars, their differences and compromises, and how far we need to go. First to the C-Max.

The C-Max Energi feels great getting into it. The seats are at a reasonable height and the doorframes are tall--no danger of clanging my head on entry. Inside is well appointed with touch points covered in soft stuff. I'm not a fan of Ford's Sync system, but like anything, I'd probably get used to it. I don't think using the touch based screen would be easy at all, but steering wheel plus voice controls seem to be well deployed. Rear passengers have plenty of room with supportive seats and a nice amount of legroom and ability to see out of the car. Driving the car is very pleasant (for an automatic). On battery power, it is very quick off the line and torquey. Corner is flat and confident and road noise seemed minimal. Overall the car is only 174" so a foot longer than my Fit, but not overly large by any means. The only downside to the C-Max Energi is the compromised cargo area that is intruded on extraordinarily by the battery pack yielding only a 19.2 cubic foot capacity. The load floor is raised about a foot over where it would normally be without the battery. Interestingly, with the rear seats folded, there is a flat load floor, but again, it's high up making for limited cargo capacity of 42 cubic feet--a deal killer for me. I looked at the C-Max Hybrid (but didn't drive it) and it's load floor is about 8 inches lower than the Energi making it much more usable. Claimed electric range is about 19 miles, then it gets about 37 MPG after that.

The Mercedes B-Class electric is so close to perfect, but misses in a huge way. By placing the battery at the bottom of the car, everything about the car seems normal. Good entry and egress. Good cargo area with a low load floor and plenty of space, good handling and ride and quietness. Great touch points. The not so good is that Mercedes seems to overcomplicate everything they get their hands on, and the B-Class is no exception. There is a high center mounted video screen for info, back up cam (if equipped) and GPS that sticks up out of the dashboard in a really unfinished way. I get you don't want your dash to go that high, but neither should you just keep piling stuff on. The B-Class is powered by Tesla, but they left the Tesla acceleration at the factory. The compromise here is the size of the battery only gives a claimed range of 85 miles. The used 2014 model I was looking at had an asking price of $25K--too rich for my blood

The big news of the day is first report of a Honda dealer having parts for the inflator fix. According to posts on FitFreak.net, dealers in Connecticut and New Hampshire have parts and will be fixing this posters' Fits today. Huzzah. The parts coming in have the VIN# of the car to be repaired, so it's definitely a coordinated effort.

Day 53: Beating a Dead Horse

Today's email included a very nice note (okay, it was a spammy blast) from Lynnwood Honda offering up to 120% of blue book value for my used car.

So naturally I clicked thru to see if they would be increasing their low $11,000 offer for my Fit up to $13,200 (which I still think is too low to actually get a deal done, but it's progress). What did I find with the click thru?

This lovely sign up sheet. So I filled out the sign up sheet and got the very professional looking result:

More runaround from Lynnwood Honda. Thanks for the easy to use tools--NOT! I will call them in the morning and see if they really do want to improve their offer, but I'm thinking not, since the sales manager hasn't gotten back to me about improving the original offer.

Tomorrow I'll get into my test drives of the Ford C-Max Energi and Mercedes B-Class Electric.

I miss my Fit.

UPDATE: Apparently my request went thru. A rep from Lynnwood Honda just called and offered me $10,200 for the car. For those of you keeping score, that is less than the $11,000 offered last week, and, as mentioned by the buyer, I wouldn't benefit from the reduction in sales tax if I didn't do a trade in and buy in the same transaction. Same net result however--these offers are way off the mark if they really want to get me out of my car and get themselves out from under my rentacar.

Day 52: All Quiet

Whole lotta nothing going on today. No contact from service, sales, corporate, or elsewhere in the Honda-verse. I've noticed more of the reported rental cars seem to be going to Nissan Versa Notes to have comparable vehicles in size and capacity. One person reported that the Versa had better MPG than their Fit. So far the Versa we have has comparable MPG, but pales in comparison in the fun factor. Others who have the VW jetta are really liking the solid feel of the VW. Same with the Ford Focus loaners--very solid with nice handling.

I'll be test driving a Ford C-Max Energi and Mercedes B-Class electric (powered by Tesla) tomorrow. The Ford has flaws given the battery incursion into the storage area. The Mercedes seems to have a full size storage area and very few flaws in terms of conversion from ICE to electric. But, it seems like every Mercedes I've ever seen has some sort of electrical issue--corner markers out, brake lights out, and the like. Can you imagine a pure electric Mercedes and the gremlins in the Bosch system? I don't know now much is Bosch, and how much is Tesla, but I definitely wouldn't own this car without a full warranty. I can only afford a used one, but they have warranties available.

Honda, do you really want me to be test driving every car in creation?

Day 51: Not My Department

Today I contacted the Sales Manager at Lynnwood Honda just to see if the offer was accurate (selling me a car at MSRP, and not giving me more than bluebook value for my car) as it seems that the trade-in assistance was being ignored by their salesperson, especially considering the $1100 per month for the rentacar that Honda is paying.

The sales manager, as somewhat expected, said that the $1100 per "is not something that we [Lynnwood Honda] have input in or benefit." In other words--we're not affected by what corporate is doing, so we'll just keep on doing what we're doing. He went on to add that he had contacted American Honda to "explain the situation of overall savings" but was not at present able to offer any additional assistance other than the rental reimbursement (which is not reimbursement--Honda is straight up paying for it). The small thing that sticks in my craw in this situation is the mismanagement of the situation. Honda could be many dollars ahead on this deal by swapping the car, instead they are squandering money in the effort to keep drivers on the road in rental cars. If the airbag fix was imminent, I see the logic in this. I've seen references to the fix not happening before Fall, in which case, Honda will be out $1100 for each month they've got me in a rental car.

It's time for Honda Corporate and its dealers to get on the same page and save the company some real dollars. Evaluate which cars are going to be fixed soon, and provide loaner cars for those. For the cars where a fix is not soon, figure out how to get those people in new HONDAS, then fix and sell their old vehicles. Honda is approaching $2000 in costs for my loaner car. That money would have (and could still) go so much further putting me in a new Fit. Step up to the plate Honda--here's your chance to change the paradigm.

Day 50: Recall Sales

As we enter into the 10th week of recalled Honda Fit, the team at Lynnwood Honda took this auspicious day to reach out to me. Did they want to tell me about the status of my Fit? Did they want to know how it was going with my latest rental car? Did they want to invite me over for tea and cookies? No to all. They want to sell me a new car.

Here's the texts (and replies):

+14256867219: Lynnwood Honda is confirming request to send a message, reply YES to allow. Reply HELP for help. Msg & data rates may apply. 5:43 PM

Me: Yes 6:09 PM

+14256867219: Lynnwood Honda: Welcome! Freq of msgs based on profile. Reply HELP for help, STOP 2 cancel. Msg & data rates may apply. 6:09 PM

+14256867219: Hey Mark. Dee Mcdonald here @ Lynnwood Honda. Are you still in the market for a new Honda? Reply STOP 2 cancel 6:10 PM

Me: Are you offering to swap my recalled fit for a 2015 or 2016 fit LX manual straight up? 6:12 PM

+14256867219: No Sir. I simply reaching out to see if you have reconsidered our offer. Reply STOP 2 cancel 6:13 PM

Me: Your offer was laughable 6:14 PM

+14256867219: No worries Sir. Thank you & have a nice day! Reply STOP 2 cancel 6:15 PM

Me: Stop 6:15 PM

+14256867219: Lynnwood Honda: You've been unsubscribed and will no longer receive messages. For questions call toll free 1-888-988-6444 6:15 PM

Considering they were offering me a car at retail and giving me not such a hot deal on my trade-in (as you may recall from reading Day 41: Additional Trade in Assistance) it wasn't a very good deal then, and it still isn't. It's funny to me that Lynnwood Honda texted me asking permission to text me. Hmmm.

American Honda--please tell Lynnwood Honda to swap me a new Fit for my recalled Fit straight up, then you won't have to pay for rentacars anymore.

I was looking a used Ford C-Max hybrids and plug in hybrids today. I can get a plug in hybrid model from 2013 for about $13K. Very tempting.

Day 49: Long Test Drives

Honda really needs to rethink providing non-Honda rental cars for their recalled vehicles. I've read in FitFreak.net a bunch of people saying how much they are digging their rentacars. One person in a VW Jetta said how much their spouse liked the car, and they were seriously considering dumping their Fit and getting a VW. Others are having good experiences with all manner of other brands of cars. Honda should provide Hondas for their customers. Setting us up with the competition can't be good. I honestly wouldn't consider a Nissan Versa Note or Hyundai Elantra sedan or Ford Focus as a replacement for my Fit. But, I would consider a Ford C-Max given my one week test drive of the Focus 5-door. That week showed me that the Focus is a really nice feeling car, but it's too small inside for my needs. The C-max is way bigger inside, and is available as a Hybrid or Plug-in Hybrid as well as regular ICE (internal combustion engine) model. This airbag recall has got me thinking about what I would do if I couldn't drive my Fit anymore, and what I would do is very probably NOT buy a Honda as a replacement. I've said for a while that my Fit is probably my last ICE car. I'm very much looking forward to driving the Chevy Bolt, but I'm concerned about it's ability to take a road trip longer then 200 miles. The Tesla Model 3 has 400K people on its waiting list. Now the C-max plug in can operate as an electric vehicle for 95% of my driving needs, and has an ICE for the other 5 percent. A small, tall wagon with plug in ability is something only a few manufacturers have, and no one has the price point of the C-max.

I've been driving Hondas pretty consistently since 1984, having owned a 1981 Civic, 1988 Civic, 1991 Civic Wagon, and 2012 Fit. I've also had short stints with a 1986 Toyota Corolla, a Mazda 626, a 1990 Acura Legend, and a Volvo 240. The Honda were (and are) my mainstays, and I always looks at Hondas first. But the current generation Fit is not geared properly in the manual transmission lacking an overdrive 6th gear, and the HR/V is just not for me. The new Civic hatchback is compelling, but it is ICE only. Make it a plug in electric hybrid and I'd like to give it a try.

Day 48: Fill er up

Yesterday we crammed 5 people, one 48 quart cooler, various shopping bags, and large appetites into the Nissan Versa Note for a drive across town in late afternoon heavy traffic. Some thoughts on the car with a full load. It's a slug. Not just not peppy, but really sluggish. Slow to accelerate. Slow to maneuver. Slow to stop (which only happened rarely cuz we were mostly going so slow). The versa is not a fun car, and under a full load, it's not a fun slug. But, as I sing annoyingly to my children "just be thankful for what you've got."

I miss my Fit. I saw a blurb on fitfreak.net today that said the commenter traded in their versa note for a 2016 Honda fit. Me want that. C'mon Honda, do me like that!

Day 47: irrational Hysteria

I was driving the Nissan Versa Note the other day and on the instrument cluster is a countdown miles to empty number was prominently displayed. There were about 225 miles on the tank, all city driving, and the coundown showed about 110 miles left. Seeing this I figured I didn't need gas any time soon as we don't drive very much. After spending about 10 minutes in freeway traffic on my way downtown, the miles remaining dipped to 50 and the gas light came on. This seems awfully premature, but I had only filled the tank once, and it was when it was half full, so I didn't really have a feel about what kind of real world mileage I was getting. I gassed up 10 miles later, with 35 miles left on the meter and 240 miles on the tank. The car took 8 gallons til it clicked off, and I didn't overfill it the previous fill up. That works out to 30 MPG. The Versa Note has a fuel capacity of 10.8 gallons, so I had about 84 miles left for a total real potential range of 325 with city driving. When I restarted the car after the fill up, the range was listed as 364 miles. Clearly, city driving will not get that many miles. At least I know now that the car gets about 30 MPG and I can wait til 300 miles if I've just been doing city driving. My lifetime average with my Fit is 32.3 MPG over 30,000 miles.

Day 46: Junk in the Trunk

The Nissan Versa Note is, as I've said in previous posts, not as capacious inside as the Fit due to the load floor being somewhat higher in the cargo area, and significantly higher in the folded seats. The Versa Note does have the ginormous footwells in the backseat which are a blessing and a curse for hauling stuff. The blessing is that you can fit a fair amount of stuff in the footwells with the seats folded down. It's a little tricky getting large items into the footwells with the headrests still on the back seats--they protrude a lot from the seats and require you to slip stuff around them. The main problem though is if there is a box or something on the folded rear seatback, and nothing in the footwell, and you come to a quick stop, the stuff on the seatback will tumble into the footwell if there isn't something there to prop it up. I guess I see why Nissan didn't put a lip on the top of the back of the rear seat as it would impede longish items, but having my stuff tumble was irksome. The rear cargo area is relatively spacious--tonight I fit 8 folding chairs into the space, and was going to pile more stuff on top. All in all, the back is very reasonable for such a compact car.

Day 45: No End in Sight

Many people I've had as passengers in the Fit (and now the Nissan Versa Note) are put off by not being able to see where the end of the hood is (or the hood at all in the case of the Fit. While this is something that took some getting used to, it became second nature parallel parking and doing things that required I know where the front bumper is. At first, I drilled a 1/4 inch hole in the plastic license plate frame so I could mount a bike trailer flag to see exactly where I was, but over the years I found that I hardly ever used the flag anymore. I came to the Fit from a 1991 Honda Civic wagon--another car that the hood did a disappearing act before your eyes. However you could lean forward and see where you were in the old Civic--not so in the Fit. The Civic's beltline was so low you had the impression that the doors and windshield were waist high--another disconcerting feeling for passengers of modern vehicles with their high beltlines. The not-so-high beltline is something I really like about the Fit and another feature I miss. I dread getting into the backseat of most modern cars with their high beltlines and low seat combining to make vision from the backseat impossible. The Fit's backseat is stadium style--giving rear passengers a chance at seeing out the front, and alleviating car sickness on long or twisty drives.

Though I've seen fixes referred to as imminent on different websites, I've seen no reports of updated airbag inflators actually installed yet. So, no end in sight.

I miss my Fit.

Day 44: Good Evening Warsaw!

I noticed the other day that my post "Day 40: Official Trickle" had a lot of hits. It's up to 180, which is strange because half the posts on this blog have zero hits. Also, a bunch of the hits are coming from Poland. I'm not sure what I said or did to make the search spiders capture that day in particular, but whatever I did worked (in the limited way that a non-entity blog works). Could have been the links to Honda's info page or the Chevy Bolt or Tesla Model 3. Or it could have been the "official" in the title. Who knows?

Miles (not smiles) are piling up in the Nissan Versa Note. It is doing its job adequately, as in, it runs and gets us from place to place while holding the stuff we ask it to hold. And it isn't planning on killing us with shrapnel if we get into a collision. Honda has not gotten back to me about swapping my 2012 Fit for a 2016 (or 2015) and saving the rentacar fees. I guess, like in 2nd grade with secret treat, they don't have enough to share with everybody so nobody gets any. C'mon Honda, swap cars with me--who am I gonna tell?

Day 43: Fits for Sale

Just for giggles, like in week 1, I check for sale sites to see what the state of the market is for used 2nd gen. Honda Fits. Where in that first week I was encountering Honda dealers advertising used 2nd gen. Fits, now no Honda dealers advertise them. Every other shape of car dealer, new and used, are actively selling used 2nd gen. Fits. This makes me wonder about the legality, responsibility, and ethics of selling this car with a recall on its head. Honda has told its dealer network that if they sell a used 2nd gen. Fit then that dealer is responsible for any lawsuits related to exploding airbag inflator. Further, American Honda is giving cash payments to their dealers to NOT sell the cars affected by the airbag recalls until they are fixed.

I haven't contacted any of the many listings for used Fits from non-Honda dealers, but I'd be interested to hear their response about selling cars with active recalls on them. Any lawyers out there want to start trolling Honda Fit listings?

Day 42: All the News that's Fit to Print

My mother in California just saw an article in the SF Chronicle specifically about a woman who received the recall notice for her Honda Fit and turned it in for a rental car--exactly what I did, except I turned in the car before I got the notice. Some days I feel like a nervous nellie for turning in a car I really like driving on the infinitesimal possibility that the airbag will kill me. Other times I feel like if I can eliminate certain known risks, why not do so. Driving cars is risky. Walking is risky. Bicycling is risky. Staying home is risky. Why did I choose this one small issue? One piece of my thinking was that if Honda is saying, in plain language, that the airbag could cause severe injuries or death, then I feel I need to take that seriously. Yes, Honda is in CYA mode. Yes, I have a better chance of a tree falling on my car and killing me than a ruptured airbag inflator. Yes, the parade of rentacars I've had are less fun/practical to drive than the Fit. Yes, I've taken risks in my life.

No, I don't want to die or be injured by a faulty Takata airbag inflator.

Day 41: Additional Trade-in Assistance

Back on day 31 I said:

"Honda, please give me a new Fit LX. You get to keep my car and resell it after it's fixed. Do we have a deal?"

Yesterday I got an email that said:

"...now is a great time to look at our 2016 lineup. We are offering additional trade-in assistance that may make it easier to simply purchase a new vehicle and let us handle your recalled one. If this is something you would like to explore, call the number below and ask for a Product Specialist and they will be happy to discuss options with you."

Ooooohhh, additional trade-in assistance, what could that mean? So I called the dealer and had them type me out a quote detailing what they mean, and here's the result. I could get a new Fit for MSRP, and they would give me $11K for my 2012 Fit with 30K miles (and alloy wheels, wheel locks, seat covers, mud guards, body side molding, rear bumper applique, door edge film, all weather mats, and cargo tray). Uhhh, where's the trade in assistance? Nowhere apparently.

I told the dealer that their numbers were not compelling, and the salesman replied that the door is open if I want to reconsider. I replied:

"When you want to trade nearly straight up (you'll be saving $1100/month on the rental car you're providing) I'm willing to talk. You'd be ahead doing that."

Here's Honda losing sight of the long term implications of providing rental transportation for me rather than just putting me in a new car and selling mine when it's fixed. They are clearly just trying to turn some additional profit for their sales side, but in the meantime, they could lose of significant dollars on this (and other recall rentals) by not just swapping out new cars. The only thing I can think of as to why they'd not go for this is that the fix is imminent. Here's hoping that is the case.

Day 40: Official Trickle

According to Honda's Airbag Inflator Recall Center:

"At this time, Honda has no replacement inflators on backorder for the recalls announced before February 2016. An initial supply of replacement inflators for the recall announced in February 2016 has been distributed to dealers and will begin arriving over the next few days. Honda is taking action to accelerate this supply."

This is very good news as it seems at least for the 'hot and humid' places the airbag inflators will start getting attention. I'm hoping some of those inflators start trickling to us early squeaky wheels as well so I can get out of the rentacar and back into my Fit. Not only is the rentacar costing Honda more than $1000/month, but they're moving Honda owners into all manner of other vehicles for what amounts to long term test drives. I've had 4 different vehicles during the past 40 days, and while none of them pleased me as much as my Fit, it's been interesting to get to know them better. I have to say that the Ford Focus hatchback is really a very nice vehicle, if I wasn't looking for the most capacious car in its class. That said, the Focus hatchback is really a Civic competitor. I would have liked to try the Fiesta 5-door, but it wasn't available at the time. I'm not a fan of the styling of the current generation Fit, nor the high revving 6-speed manual, so I have no intention of replacing my 2nd Gen Fit any time soon. But, stuff happens, and I need to keep my eyes open in this area. I'm very intrigued by the new Chevrolet Bolt coming out next year--it looks like it will have interior volume and workable electric range. The Tesla model 3 also looks okay, but as I've said so much before, I prefer the 5 door hatch models.

Day 39: Flat Note?

Nope. The load floor/space in the Nissan Versa Note is unlike pretty much anything out there. When you fold down the rear seats (which you can do without taking off the large rear-view-vision-obstructing headrests) the seat back essentially just flops onto the rear bench, not unlike all other cars out there besides the Honda Fit and HR-V. This makes a shelf 6 inches higher than the rear cargo area. Nissan's solution to this is to sell an option moveable load floor for the rear cargo area. Sure, I'll just raise the cargo area to make a flat floor--NOT! Anyway, two 48 coolers fit in the rear cargo space with the seats down, then other stuff can perch on the lowered seat backs. There is also a large amount of space on the floor in front of the rear seat bench, which in the case of a hard stop, all the stuff perched on the seatbacks will fall into :-)

You can get a reasonable amount of cargo into the Versa Note, but it's not the ridiculous amount of cargo you can get into a Fit. Flat and low load floors are the best!

Day 38: Note vs. Soul

After getting back in the Nissan Versa Note, it's striking how normal a car it seems, versus the abnormality of the Kia Soul. As I said earlier, the Soul jostles the ride over uneven pavement something awful. The driving position is extremely upright and tall, and the hood sticks out not unlike a truck. Probably all things (except ride) that Kia engineers were going for. I have fairly short legs and was finding that I would slide out of the Kia Soul when exiting the vehicle. The Versa however is more 'normal' car height, with a tall entrance/egress, so I just pivot in and out. The hood is sloped not unlike the Fit and you can't really see it from the driver's seat. The ride is composed, though not as sporty as the 2nd Gen. Fit. It doesn't rattle you when you hit pavement imperfections.

One thing the Kia Soul had all over the Versa Note is audio. The speakers in the Versa Note are the worst things I've ever listened to. Midrange (human voice singing) is so shrill that it is sometimes painful to hear. The Kia's speakers had better fidelity, but volume was a problem. Here's that time when I get to say, I miss my Fit.

Day 37: Return to Sender

Turned in Kia Soul and I'm not sorry to see the end of it. On rough highway pavement, it was pure punishment.

I'm not seeing any reference to the inflator parts coming in yet for the Fit, but I feel like we will know right away when they start showing up. Until then it's wait and wonder when they will come. Still missing my Fit.

Day 36: Enough About Points Already

The Enterprise points have appeared in the Plus account again, as has the current rental. Free rental days, here we come. And free upgrades. And dancing girls. And pie. Well, no dancing girls or pie, but still a happy bit of silver lining to not having my Fit.

I scrubbed the bugs off the front of the Kia Soul today in preparation for turning it in tomorrow and flying home. Something about extra smashed bugs on the front end that invites too much scrutiny from the returns people, and an easy enough thing to do before returning the car.

Last thing I'll say about the Kia Soul is that it seems to have come with tinted glass in the back doors, and rear of the car. The view out the rear window had a kind of artificial video feel, but no terribly dark or anything. I have been thinking of tinting the back doors/rear windows/tailgate on the Fit, but was hesitant about seeing out of the car at night. I can now say that I can see out at night okay, so that when I get the car back I'll get an official estimate on tinting. If it's really late summer, I'll wait til middle of winter to maybe catch a slow days special.

Day 35: There and Back Again

Spent a long day in the Kia Soul traveling 800 miles round trip to LA. I learned that the Soul (at least this model) has no CD player. It does not play well with Android. Its short wheelbase makes for a ROUGH ride over uneven surfaces. My ears are ringing an hour after getting out of the car after the return trip (400 miles). Gas mileage averaged 30 MPG at 70 MPH. On the way back, the fuel light came on when the tank supposedly had 50 miles to go, but in reality the tank had nearly 3 gallons left. Driving position can be 'truck' upright. Weird in such a small car. Visibility was okay--nice big mirrors and good out the back once the rear seat headrests were removed. Would I buy one? Not on a bet. Too rough, too slow, too tall, not good enough gas mileage.

Day 34: Points no point

I got a note from Enterprise today saying that have accrued points from my last rental period when I logged on, I saw points accrued. Today when I logged on, I saw no points rude. I think, maybe, they have decided that the replacement eat it is in place and no points for you.

I traveled in the soul for a hundred miles of nearly all highway and used 3.6 gallons of gas for an average efficiency of 28.5 miles per gallon. The fit is 162 inches long and the soul is about 163 inches long but the soul is much more upright and boxy and weighs about two or three hundred pounds more than the fit. Over life its lifetime it has achieved and average mpg of 33.2, and it's high on a highway trip was about 40 or 41 and this is with the high-revving manual transmission. The soul is quieter on the highway but the seats are a little  too contoured for my larger frame. The seating position is also super upright, it feels not unlike driving a truck. Tomorrow I'm driving either 350 or 700 miles depending on whether I want to make a crazy round trip or not and we'll see what that does to my seat and my back have I mentioned lately that I miss my Fit?

Day 33: I Got Soul

I'm on a weeklong trip and have now been thru 2 rentacars. The first was the  clone if the Nissan versa note I left behind at home. I couldn't complain as it was a $5/day car plus 20 cents per mile over 20 miles for four days. I wasn't going to drive the car much so it worked out well. The next car I have to drive 800 miles so I ordered a midsize sedan. After waiting at the counter for 20 minutes I was told the only car they had was a Kia Soul. Between no car and the soul I took the soul reluctantly but I'm not looking forward highway side winds on the slab sided soul. Thinking about swapping it for a lower profile car. The soul feels like it's bug and tall. Not really tiny taste.

Day 32: What's the Point(s)

When I was signing up for the Honda sponsored rentacar cavalcade at Enterprise last month, the very nice and enthusiastic worker at the counter encouraged me to sign up for Enterprise's rewards program at the very same time. After all, said she, Honda is paying for the car, but you will get all the reward points and upgrades generated from having a potentially months long rental.

Fast forward 30+ days, and my rentals are showing on the Enterprise website, but alas, no points or credit for days of any kind. What gives? Time to read the very accessable Terms and Conditions of the rentacar rewards program. Buried deep in the prose is a line about replacements not being eligible for rewards. What the FAQ?

I took a look at the most recently past 30 day receipt I received the other day and had my answer as to why no points are on my scoreboard:

It's a replacement. Oh well. The only reward I'll get at the conclusion of my potentially months long rental period is my Honda Fit back, sans shrapnel spewing airbag inflator. Or maybe Honda will take me up on yesterday's suggestion and give me and fabulous new 2015 or 2016 Honda Fit LX. Either way, there's no point(s). No Silver, Gold, or Platinum Status for you.

Day 31: You're Paying How Much?

I just saw the receipt for my rentacar from Enterprise for the past 30 days. I know, I'm not paying for it. Also, I've never rented a car for a month, so I have no idea how much is costs in the real world. And, I don't know if this is the price that Honda actually is paying for my rentacar. Enough about what I don't know. Here's what I do know: The total for the 30 days was $1,198. If Honda really is paying that until the end of July, that is about $4800 total. Here's an idea, Honda. Why don't you keep my car and resell it after it's fixed. In the meantime, just give me a new base Fit in exchange. Honda would be out less money in the long run. This plan breaks down if Honda really gets the fix done in April as the rumors have, but I'm seeing no light at the end of the tunnel.

So here it is again:

Honda, please give me a new Fit LX. You get to keep my car and resell it after it's fixed. Do we have a deal?

Day 30: Hunkering Down

The rentacar sat unused yesterday. Unused. Unloved. Not unappreciated. Having 24/7 instant access to a car is something many of us take for granted. Granted, we pay for the privilege. I've been thinking about the pay-as-you-go model, and whether and how that would work for us. We recently signed up for Car2Go to used as an alternate car for the rare occasions we need one. Their model is a little daunting with deciding whether to pre-reserve a vehicle, getting to the vehicle, whether to take the key with you at the destination (continuing the per minute/hourly rate in the process) and just the tiny size of the vehicle. I'm convinced that once self-driving cars are viable, you'll be able to call for one ala Lyft and Uber but without the uncertainty about the driver. We're entering a new age where individuals won't have to necessarily own cars. We'll see if it is democratizing or sets up haves and have nots in the process.

Day 29: Deja Vu

I just started a one week trip and got to the rentacar counter for the first of two rentacars this week, and what did they give me? You guessed it--a Nissan Versa Note, gray, midrange CVT. This car is a pay-by-the-mile $5/day deal so I won't be driving it hardly at all. All the tinniness, hesitation with the CVT, and general econoboxiness are the same same same so no news there.

Tomorrow is the 30th day with the rental car which means the contract has to be renewed--I got a call from Enterprise letting know. I will say that they are very solicitous and want to be accommodating. Nice customer service where they could just not respond to concerns. I'm favorably impressed with them.

Time to say I miss my Fit.

Day 28: Gutless

Wow this car feels anemic. The CVT in the Nissan Versa Note makes weird noises while it hunts around for the right 'gear' or ratio, or whatever it is that CVT's do. The hamsters under the hood were clearly overworked today as we drove the car at highway speed with the A/C going. A/C was okay--but we didn't drive far enough to give it a real workout. That does remind me of one shortcoming of the Fit--the A/C is total weaksauce. On a long drive on a hot day, the A/C just feels like it is no longer working. It simply gets overwhelmed by the forces of nature. An unfortunate shortcoming, but its only come into play a couple times--always unpleasantly. Coupled with its buzzy high rev highway manner, the Fit is not a first choice for long hot summer drives, but I'd still take it over the Versa Note.

Day 27: Party of Four

The back seat passengers in the Versa Note are definitely happy campers--the legroom as I've said before is enormous. Think 1970's Lincoln Continental legroom, really. Like the Fit, don't try to smash a third body in the seat. But two ride in legroom luxury.

The speakers in the Versa Note are AWFUL. They make midrange voices sound so shrill they are unlistenable. Too bad that even on the mid-line model, the sound is so horrendous. After 4 weeks it's tough to remember what my Fit's stereo actually sounded like, but I know there wasn't any shrillness to it. Have I mentioned I miss my Fit lately? I miss my Fit, not just lately.

Day 26: Creeps

Tonight we got stuck is horrific Seattle Friday afternoon traffic. 45 minutes of creep, brake, creep, brake, change lanes, creep, brake, stay the hell out of my lane, brake, creep...you get the idea. I'm used to a manual tranny and will admit that in this kind of traffic I was lulled to numbness by the lack of effort in navigating the experience. One thing though is that I very little confidence in a CVT to actually haul ass when I need to get into a hole in traffic, where the Fit you hit the accelerator and VTEC YO! you are in the spot you aim the car. No such thing in a Versa Note. I'll have to test drive the manual to see if they are as gutless as the CVT.

Day 25: Or Not So Similar

Perhaps I overplayed the visual similarities of the Fit and the Nissan Versa Note. I went to pick up my 83 year old mom at the airport, and expected her to get right into the car and notice no difference. Well, I was completely wrong. Not only did she see a difference, but when I parked directly in front of her, she continued to look for the Fit (I didn't tell her that I was in a different car). This might not be a fair sampling of the car agnostic population, as I inherited my car ID acuity from her. She's clearly still got it.

Day 24: CVT's are Weird

After driving the rev happy Fit for 3 and a half years, the Nissan Versa Note and its CVT are just plain disconcerting. I put my foot lightly down on the accelerator and it stays between 2000 and 2500 RPM's right up to 70 MPH. Go a little lighter, closer to 2000, a little heavier or hit a hill, it's at 2500. No wonder why car makers are leaning on CVTs so much for fuel economy. The first Versa I drove a couple years ago had a CVT that just couldn't decide what I was doing, revving then not giving me any acceleration, then revving. Maybe it was just from its hard rentacar life, or maybe they were just that crappy a couple years ago. I'm reading that the Honda CVT in the newest Fits is pretty decent, but not as fun as the stick. I'm just bummed that Honda chose to put in a 6 speed manual in the Fit with same final drive ratio as the old 5-speed manual in my Fit. I love most everything in my Fit, but 4000 RPM at a reasonable highway speed (CA I-5 in the middle of nowhere) is just painful. Anywho, I'm looking forward to rowing my own gears again. There's a level of disengagement with the vehicle with an automatic that I'm just not entirely comfortable with.

Day 23: What Will the Neighbors Think

I was talking to a neighbor this afternoon and he was so glad that I replaced our old 1991 Honda Civic with the white Ford Focus hatchback, but he was wondering why he hadn't seen it lately. I told him it was a rental, and had since been replaced by the Nissan Versa Note. Huh? said he. I saw you in your car just yesterday. Nope, said I. That was the Versa Note. Oh, that's what happened to your wheels. I couldn't figure out why they looked so different. Turns out he, like so many other people mistook the Versa Note for a Fit. Something I bet Nissan designers are high-fiving each other for as they read this. They aren't that dissimilar looking so I get that he didn't see the difference (other than the wheels). Nissan designers did their homework when it comes to the exterior, but the fit and finish of the Fit and the magic seat still make it the car to beat in the econobox segment.

Now the rentcar didn't come with the fancy alloy wheels, and the color is a little different, but if you're not paying real attention, they definitely look similar enough.

Day 22: Three Weeks and Counting

Okay, 3 weeks and counting now since my Fit was surrendered. One small advantage to turning two other Enterprise rentacars already--I don't have to check in again until I hit 30 days in the Nissan Versa Note. Enterprise needs to renew the rental contract every 30 days, so it means an hour out of my life to deal with the bureaucracy of the rentacar establishment.

Did I mention that the Versa Note is an extreme econobox? I guess so. That point is made from every standing start, and turn of the key. Engines start are loud and rumbling. Acceleration is leisurely and loud too. The Fit, while SCREAMING LOUD at highway speeds, is really quiet and at ignition. I've more than once (when the car was new) accidentally turned the ignition because it was very quiet and smooth at idle. No mistaking the idle in the Versa Note.

Day 19 20 21: MIA

My math must be off by a little, or my schedule of posting is off, or something as this is really day 21, so even if yesterday I said Day 18, today is a 3 bagger. It's been three weeks since dropping off the Fit. I keep seeing references from others in FitFreak.net and elsewhere about the Takaka inflator being available as early as next month, with always a caveat about maybe August. I think Honda is basically trying to not get anybody's hopes up, and will have the fix ready when it's ready, with older more humid environs getting first crack.

The Versa Note fits fine in the garage. Its nose is not as long as the Fit so front wheels stops are further forward than where I keep them with the Fit. Just got to remember to put them back in their original position when the Fit comes home or I'll smash into the laundry sink or shelving. The same problem of not knowing where the front of the car is exists in the Versa Note as in the Fit. On my Fit I drilled a 1/4 inch hole in the bumper bracket to mount a flag on a dowel for desperate days when I don't feel like parking by braille. It's pretty embarrassing to be seen mounting the flag on the front bumper so it's pretty rare that it happens, but darn helpful when I have to do it. As my mom says, "fun's fun til someone loses an eye," and it would be a shame if my Fit lost an eye.

Day-18: Recall Notice

I feel like Steve Martin in the "The Jerk." The recall notice is here! The recall notice is here! Of course I knew about this a month and a half ago, and have already dealt with it. It's still surprising to me to see so many Honda Fits on the road knowing that people are driving them, with the infinitesimal chance of disaster. I guess, as with the lottery, there's a better chance of dying by a tree falling on the car than getting hit by airbag shrapnel, but it still feels wrong to keep driving the car after Honda's lawyers say there is a threat to one's life in doing so.

So we're not driving the Fit--we surrendered it 18 days ago. It's funny--I drove to a friends house this afternoon in the Versa Note and he totally didn't register that it was a different car until I went to leave. He's got a Leaf so he was interested in the similarities between the Versa Note and the Leaf. They really seem like they are built on the same platform, but his Leaf feels very UNLIKE the econobox that the Versa Note IS. Yet, for whatever economic reasons, there is a very soft market for electric cars off lease. Ultimately I'd like an electric car for kicking around the city, but I don't think I could live with ONLY the electric full time. At least not until Honda gets back into the electric car game with more than a compliance vehicle.

Day 17: Regularity

Today seems to be the most back to normal since the surrender of the Fit. Nobody's heads were imperilled just getting into the Versa Note. The only hitch seems to be the weird location of the seatback recline handle (which I figured out but Wendy didn't). The Versa Note screams econobox--it's clattery, small, but drives adequately with an abundance of interior space for its size. Not as much interior volume or cleverness as the Fit, but adequate.

The stereo plays CD's fine. Radio is okay. The whole setup is way more intuitive than the Ford's devil's spawn, Sync. MP4 (AAC) files play from a memory stick or data CD (more than can be said of the older version of Sync). The integration for music from a stick is poor. My memory stick is 64 GB with about 13,000 songs which pretty much overwhelmed the Nissan basic stereo interface. I haven't synced my phone (bluetooth is built in) but I'm assuming it will work for calls, but not streaming audio--we'll see.

Honda's Airbag Recall rep called again this morning to make sure the swap happened and I was happy with the results. I told her basically what I said above--the car is comparable but not my Fit. Just for kicks, I went to Nissan's website to see how Versa Notes can be configured. Turns out the only the base model has a manual transmission, and it has ROLL UP WINDOWS. Wow. No cruise control. No niceties whatsoever. Too bad--the Versa Note might actually be a fun-ish car to drive with a manual tranny. A quick look at Craigslist showed an incredibly steep depreciation as well. 2014 models with less than 20K miles for 37.5 percent depreciation for a year and a half old car. Ouch. That's Mercedes and BMW territory :-)

Day 16: A Different Note

After the origami morning errands in the Focus (which included its refusal to play mp4 (AAC) files from a disc, I got a call from Enterprise to come swap out the Focus for a Nissan Versa Note. Funnily enough, the Versa Note is very close to the Fit's color, and I already knew that its size was totally comparable, mostly.

I picked up the Versa Note and did a couple more errands which included putting a 10 ft. long plastic drain pipe into the car, again, mostly. The tailgate wouldn't close with the pipe heading down into the front passenger footwell, so out the passenger side window it went. This went better than if I had the Focus, but not as well as the Fit--I seem to recall that I could have gotten this piece entirely in the car. I folding down the seats I was very aware that this was no magic seat--the seat backs fold onto the stationary seat bottoms creating a heightened load floor in the middle. I hear there's a way to reposition the floorboard in the rear cargo area to match the load floor height, but I'm not sure I see the point.

I stopped by the Honda dealer to visit my Fit and collect some shopping bags from the cargo area and sunglasses. The dealer had the car in a secure area protected by chainlink fence and barbed wire. Likely thieves would go for the pricier stock in that cage. The service guy said that the car would probably be moved offsite because they are running out of storage space. He also heard the April rumor, and also is in the 'believe it when he sees it" camp.

Credit to the Honda Social media team (Mike) and the Honda Airbag Recall team (Tanisha) for arranging the car swap. I would have done it on my own eventually, but it was one of those things that while annoying I wasn't going to deal with til I had to. The Versa Note fits perfectly in the garage, as it has the same footprint as the Fit. Nothing unusual there.

So now the long term Nissan test drive begins. My initial impressions are that the Versa Note is an economy car (not unlike my Fit) but with somewhat less road feel and polish. The acceleration (with the CVT) is adequate and not surge-y like the Ford Focus. The braking is a little mushy, but the Focus was grabby so I prefer the mushiness. The cargo will be adequate. Rear passengers (2) will be thrilled. It's like a limo in the back of the Note. There is enough leg room for a 7 footer--don't know about the headroom though for that 7 footer. The cargo area (seats up) is smaller than the Fit, but again, adequate for my needs.

Day 15: More Contact

In the morning, the Honda Airbag Recall rep called to reassure me that she had made contact with Enterprise rentacar to arrange a Nissan Versa Note or Hyundai Elantra GT to replace the Ford Focus. She went on to say that hopefully the swap would be done maybe Thursday. Or Friday. Or whenever they get one back from a long term rental. I thank Honda for the continued attention.

I keep seeing references to earlier fixes expected for the Fit, but I'm not hanging any hopes on this. Again, we'll see.

Day 14: Two Weeks and Counting

It's now been two weeks since the Fit was surrendered for the airbag recall. It seems to strange to use Honda's terminology "surrendered" with all its implications. In surrender I really have put myself (my car anyway) at Honda's mercy. Granted, Honda is providing another car, but I'm definitely feeling the surrender these days.

Concerning the Ford Focus, which I still unfortunately have, I've been looking that the back wiper wondering how to operate it for the past 10 days. When I got in the car most recently and backed up, the back wiper swooped across the window. How'd that happen I asked my wife and she told me she discovered switch for the wiper, but not how to turn it off. This is very emblematic of this car: it's got controls for everything that probably work if one could just figure them out (or sit down with the encyclopedic owner's manual, or YouTube). I tried to pair my phone with the Sync system a week ago, and thought I miserably failed until I made a call from the car yesterday and the call was taken over by Sync. There's a line in Harry Potter where somebody says "Never trust anything if you can't see where it keeps its brain." This is how I feel about the Focus, and lately, Sync in particular.

Day 13: The end of the Oil Change message

Cut and paste from yesterday. It's Sunday. No news. No replacement. But we didn't expect anything today anyway.

On the rentacar side, the annoying Change the Oil message is gone now thanks to youtube. Seriously, you can google anything and there's a fix. Last summer after a week with a warm fridge I finally googled its symptoms and came up with a video showing the exact problem, with a thorough step by step process of what parts would need replacement and how to dismantle the fridge to get at them (saving my hundreds of dollars in the process). Turning off the Oil change message was a no-brainer in comparison, but it just reminded me of a valuable lesson in crowd-sourced knowledge. Another reason to give back to the crowd via this blog. If Honda somehow has feelers out to the minutiae of a Honda Airbag mention somewhere on an obscure blog post, and then actually get in touch with the poster, just think of the possibilities. It would have been more efficient to just use Twitter from the start, but A) I don't do well in 140 characters, and B) I did start a Twitter account that was promptly taken down after 4 harmless tweets from the perspective of the lonely Honda Fit airbag, now stranded at the dealer. Here are those four tweets from @hondaairbag (since suspended by twitter)

Honda Airbag ‏@hondaairbag  Mar 8

Uh-oh, I've been recalled #takata #honda #airbagrecall

Honda Airbag ‏@hondaairbag  Mar 8

Off to @Enterprise to pick up the @Honda paid-for rentacar. @Honda sez repair will take 2-3 months. Thanks for the long @Hyundai test drive.

Honda Airbag ‏@hondaairbag  Mar 8

Background info: I'm an airbag in a 2012 @Honda Fit. I fit well in, unlike @Hyundai, or does it (picture of the Hyundai in the garage, mostly)

Honda Airbag ‏@hondaairbag  Mar 8

I want to come home...

0 retweets0 likes

The last tweet was a link this site. Basically I was trying to get Honda's attention in a marginally humorous way, rather than a foaming-at-the-mouth angry customer way. Bottom line is that I'm not an angry customer. I've driven Hondas pretty consistently since 1984, starting with an 81 Civic, then an 88 Civic, and a 91 Civic wagon (get a family, need more space) before the Fit. I'm just disappointed that I've got to live without my car for potentially months. I really really look forward to getting it back. I'm not thrilled with the prospect of my garaged car living outside and not moving for a long period of time either. I wonder how the dealer is dealing with this. I'll have to call them and find out. A subject for another day.

Day 12: Saturday Apparently is a Day of Rest

No news, but it's Saturday--we didn't expect anything to happen today. Drove the rentacar a bit. Waiting for the replacement.

Day 11: Contact x 2

Mike from Honda's social media team actually called, and put me in touch with the airbag recall team. They got in contact with Enterprise to see if they had a more 'like the Fit' car, which turns out to be a Nissan Versa Note. So when the Versa Note comes in, I get to trade in the Ford Focus for it. At least it will fit in the garage and we can stop contorting ourselves to avoid smacking our heads to get in. Oh, and my 6'2" son will fit in the back, or front, or wherever.

The Airbag recall team said it really could be til mid summer until the airbag is fixed. Again, we'll see. At least I'll be in a car with similar interior cargo space (albeit without the magic seat--can't have everything) and exterior dimensions. Do you think Nissan looked at the Fit a little bit when they designed the Versa Note? Probably.

So thanks to the the Honda team for trying to do everything they could in a difficult situation. I asked to be made whole (at least have a loaner comparable to the Fit) and they are trying to do that.

Day 10: OMG Contact

Shopping day today which means that I really really really miss my Fit and it's magic seat and superior cargo capacity and parking ability. Alas, into the Ford Focus again went the two 48 quart coolers, a 12 quart cooler between them. Loading the Focus is like playing tetris--you can't put in a 48 quart cooler directly into the side of the cargo area, or even diagonally into the cargo area. You've got to load it in the center, handles down, then slide it sideways into the side. To take the coolers out, reverse the process. Yes you could just throw them in any old way if you lower the rear seats, but that would involve taking off the inconveniently large headrests (which are only removable when the seat is partially down), and then you don't have a flat load floor on the seatbacks. Better to leave the rear seats in place, and just pile stuff on them and in the foot wells. Also it wasn't a huge shopping day (I'm not cooking lunch for 200 of my closest friends this week), so everything went in okay. I think I will not be able to fit in the contents of a huge shopping trip--the cargo area capacity just isn't comparable to the Fit, or my departed Civic wagon. You'd think other manufacturers would have studied the Fit's magic seats and figured out how to put them in their small cars--they only came out in 2001 so it's not like they haven't had time or anything.

A possible miracle happened here. Mike from Honda's social media team (@HondaCustSvc) has reached out to me. Nothing has happened yet except them wanting my name, VIN and phone number. A nice outcome would be either my Fit gets fixed super fast or I get an old or new Fit (just not 2009-13) as a loaner. Even an HR-V would be acceptable. We'll see. I'm not holding my breath.

Now, how Honda's social media found a tiny blog like this is the really impressive point here. And that they have a social media team. I guess that makes sense. They would have found me sooner if my @hondaairbag twitter account hadn't been suspended. Hmmm, maybe that's why my @hondaairbag twitter feed got suspended.

Day 9: Early April???

I read a rumor that the replacement parts could be ready as early as mid-April--I'll believe it when I see it. No use getting my hopes up. C'mon Honda, get your feces amalgamated.

Still no word from the dealer, or Honda, or anybody. The Ford Focus went out for a quick spin today, and doesn't fit as well in the garage as the Fit.

Day 8: No Joy in Mudville

No call from Honda. No sight of the Fit. No driving the rentacar. No joy in Mudville.

One of these day the NY Times is going to pick up this blog and publicize the heck out it shaming Honda to fix my car. Or not.

Did I mention I didn't drive the Ford Focus today?

Day 7: One Week On and Fits 4 Sale

It's been a week without the Fit, and we really miss it.

I saw some Fits advertised on Craigslist by Honda dealers and thought there was a stop-sale on all Honda models with airbag issues. I wrote to the dealer asking for info about a 2009 Fit and the dealer got right back to me, but said the advertised car was actually not available due to the recall and tried selling me a new Fit instead, then a Yaris, then anything else he had on his lot.

I get that Honda dealers are hurting because they've got a bunch of cars on the lot they can't sell. Honda is giving them cash. Honda, can I have some cash too?

The Ford Focus went on a 180 mile round trip this past weekend, leaving me carless for the weekend, as my Car2Go membership hasn't kicked in yet. Bad timing. The Focus did what it does here--went to the destination, parked, then came back. And it didn't consus Wendy again, so I guess that's good.

Day 6: Reliability

Nada, zilch, nuthin. No word from the dealer or Honda this week about anything to do with the Fit's airbag, but we didn't really expect there to be any communication, did we? I did get a survey from American Honda about the service performed on the Fit the previous week (manual transmission oil change) and when faced with the nearly final question of the rating the overall reliability of the Fit from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent), and thought long and hard before pressing the button next to 1. My thinking was that while the overall reliability of the car really has been fine. However, American Honda wrote on their website "please take immediate action to have your vehicle repaired, as your safety may be at risk." This is not a car that should be driven, so therefore, it is NOT a reliable car. It's too bad because I really do like the Fit so much better than the Ford Focus 5-door we're currently driving.

So I get it--Honda is trying to make this right by providing a rental vehicle while my Fit is not available. But here's a suggestion to make at least this Fit owner significantly happier--loan me another Fit that is not subject to the airbag recall--that will at least make me whole while I endure this episode.

Day 5: Conked on the Head

A very inauspicious start to the day happened when Wendy got into the car and immediately brained herself on the low roofline. Of course everything has a lower door frame than a Fit, but the Focus is really pretty low. Her head hurt for the rest of the day. I got home to find her with a cat on her lap and an ice cube on her temple.

No news on the airbag front. I read that Honda is having to give dealers money because they are not allowed to sell used cars with airbag recalls. Now if we can just get some kind of pain and suffering for Honda owners forced out of their cars (and into ones that make them smack their heads), then we'll be talking.

Of course no word from the dealer or Honda or anybody else--we're hearing maybe by late summer. Enterprise points, here we come.

Day 4: Did I say Fiesta?

Did I say Fiesta hatchback? Well Enterprise had other ideas and after the Hyundai get traded in and all the paperwork redone, I went out to the car to find...a Fiest sedan. Uhhh, this isn't a hatchback. Yes it is said the slightly british accented worker (New Zealand perhaps?). Not the kind of hatch I was looking for. And then a Focus hatchback came rolling in. I'll take that one. A half hour later it was cleaned and ready for rental. During the walk around I found some stuff--a dent in the frame above the passenger front door which probably led to the moonroof being unable to close properly which equals A LOT of wind noise (hurricane noise) and possibly water intrusion, though I haven't seen evidence of this yet. To add insult to injury, after driving the car home, and restarting it, I was faced with an Oil Minder message to change the oil immediately. Crap. Called back Enterprise and they said I could bring it to any oil change place and they would direct bill Enterprise. I bring it? I don't think so. So, by the time the car actually needs its oil changed (Enterprise said it would be in about 2000K miles), I'll have turned it in for a different hatchback.

Thanks again Honda, for this opportunity to test drive a boat load of competitor's cars.

And by the way, the Focus fits in the garage much better than the Hyundai.

Fit 162 inches
Focus 171 inches
Elantra 179 inches.

Maybe the next car will be the Elantra GT (169 inches)

As far as interior volume is concerned, the Fit still beats the Focus handily in cargo volume. Seats in the Focus don't fold flat, so weren't appropriate for holding the days shopping and dual 48 qt. coolers. I just kept the back seat up and put the coolers in the cargo area and everything else in the back seat. The Fit can not fit those two coolers in the cargo area unless they're stacked, which really is possible due to the low load floor. In the Focus the 2 coolers took up all the space,

Day 3: Turn, Turn, Turn

So after two days with a Hyundai Elantra sedan, we can't stand it. Seems to be the combination of trunk and the weird acceleration. The trunk issue is that we've had hatchbacks for so long that a car with a trunk that is impossible to judge the back of makes backing up an adventure--don't want adventures with rentacars. And the acceleration is like you step on the gas and think, maybe I should give it some more gas because this thing isn't doing anything and then it does something. Might be the transmission, might be the programming--I don't care. I don't like it.

I called Enterprise and said I'd like to trade it for a small hatchback and they offered a Fiesta tomorrow morning. So it's off to Enterprise I go, and I'll swing thru the Honda lot to see what's up with my Fit.

Here's to a funner, smaller car tomorrow that will fit better in the garage and my life.

Day 2: Will it Fit?

So I managed to shoehorn the Hyundai Elantra sedan into the garage. No small feat considering the Fit is 162 inches long and was snug, and the Elantra is 179 inches long. It means very limited access to garage food. Hmmmm.