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.