Mark is still in the shop, pending further boroscoping, so I’ll do my best to do his daily adjutications some justice in his absence. Did I venture away from the SB part of SBSD yesterday with two cars that were a little too nice? That’s sometimes my one (and only) shortcoming.
It was a battle of convertible, manual, Swedish FWD turbo sports cars, both in good-to-excellent shape. I had a sense that one of these would be way more popular than the other, purely on price, so I was delighted to see that it was in fact a lot closer than I expected.
The value-minded amongst you seemed to prefer the Saab to the Volvo by a small amount, though many of you admitted in the comments that if the Volvo’s price was a bit lower, you might have swung that way:
Today, these cars are both economical, and each comes with a reliable manual transmission. They’re also both from Eastern Connecticut, aka the Nutmeg State, aka the Troll State.
2009 Honda Fit Sport – $3,600
Engine/drivetrain: 1.5-liter i-VTEC four-cylinder with a 5-speed manual
Location: Waterford, CT
Odometer reading: 142,000
Operational status:Â Runs and drives well
I had our old friend Chris Perkins over to test drive my BMW the other day, as he is in the market for an E39, and fellow autoscribe Sam Smith pointed out that the 530i Sports are the one to have (if you’re not going to fork the money over for an M5). I remarked that I didn’t want to replace the BMW, but a part of me wants a Honda Fit.
This is the second-generation car, and it’s a little bigger than the cute first-generation car. I think I prefer the first gens, but it’s a minor preference. These cars will run approximately forever if they don’t rust, and also make surprisingly good race cars. This one is maybe too nice to turn into a race car.
In addition to being a clean car (though I can’t see underneath for rust), it has the one feature you need for a truly reliable car: a stickshift. Having driven a race-prepped version of this car, I can say the 117 horsepower goes a long way when you can control the shifts, and you get the higher revs you want from a sporty-ish Honda. The interior also looks like it’s in great shape.
The headlights are a little cloudy, but at $3,600 that feels like something that you can easily fix.
2014 Jeep Patriot Limited 4WD – $2,900
Engine/drivetrain: 2.4-liter ‘gas-saving’ engine with a 5-speed manual
Location: Manchester, CT
Odometer reading: 140,000
Operational status:Â Runs and drives well
Connecticut does a good job of plowing its roads, so you can probably skate on having an AWD vehicle. A good FWD car with decent tires is enough to get the job done 95% of the time. If you do want to spin all four wheels at once, the Jeep Patriot is a cheap way to do it.
While not the most memorable Jeep, it’s certainly one of the Jeeps of all time. This particular car is a Limited, so it comes with keyless entry, power options, and even leather seats. The 2.4-liter motor in these cars is the “World Engine” shared with, oh, 80% of all cars produced by Hyundai, Mitsubishi, and Stellantis/FCA since the Obama Administration (no one look that up).
They’re fine! This one probably produces somewhere around 180 horsepower. Even better, it comes with a five-speed, so that’s one less thing to expensively break.
Are these good cars? I have no idea. But it’s cheap, there’s no obvious rust, other than on the hitch (I presume, being a Connecticut car, there’s some underneath).
So what’s your poison? A Honda that can go another million miles, or a Jeep with heated seats and AWD that can go… probably 10 more miles at least.
Top photo: Craigslist sellers
Having had three Hondas (not including my scooter, which would make four) I have loved all of them. I had a ’94 Grand Cherokee which the ’06 CR-V replaced. It, the Jeep, was ok, scary amount of warranty repairs, but it settled down… the rust it accumulated underneath in Cleveland was pretty scary. The CR-V, in salt-free Seattle, was nearly as roomy inside and trouble-free over 150K miles. And (AWD) probably better in the snow. I kinda wish we still had it, but my son’s mom wanted him to have something with fewer miles on the clock. He ended up with an AWD Escape, which also held up well through several winters in Wisconsin. Now, it’s the backup to an AWD MX-5 CUV.
So, long story short, the Fix for the win. FWD has always been enough for me.
PS… best wishes for Mark. The borescope referred to somewhere along the way sounds invasive, if not painful.
The MK74 is, perhaps a good-enough car. But the Fit is obviously a great car, so this isn’t even a contest.
The angle on the shifter for the Jeep looks awkward. Seriously. That’s an issue on a stick. Honda it is.
I’ve driven them with a manual and the ergonomics are fine.
When I saw the top shot, I was thinking there was a catch. Like, someone was murdered in the Fit, or it only had three tires, or the Jeep came with (puts pinky finger up to corner of mouth) one million dollars.
But nope. It’s a straight-up pick.
If it’s good enough for BigBootyRacing, it’s good enough for me. We’re lovin’ the Fit.
I own a 2015 Fit. This is a runaway for the Honda.
“I’ll take Which car is a piece of shit for 400 Alex.”
The stick on the Dodge product won’t make all the electrical problems go away.The Fit is the easy choice.
The manual Patriot is like having the least worst STD…
It’s still an STD
I saw a clip on FB yesterday where a guy dressed as a mechanic that said that Jeep is the automotive version of a boat, as in Bust Out Another Thousand. As the Honda is the cockroach version, as in last through a nuclear war. In this case I will spend a little extra to save later. I think he said Jeep stands for Just Empty Every Pocket. That is a new one on me
I have a 2016 Fit in Milano Red, and this is the third Fit in our family. My daughter is on her second.
I have two sets of tires on Alutec wheels ordered from Tire Rack. The winter tires are Blizzaks, and this car is a bulldog in the white. I was forced to travel in a New Hampshire snowstorm, and it just churned.
The CVT is unfortunate, but not too depressing. I tried buying a 2018 Fit Sport in orange with 16″ wheels and manual trans, but there was something going on at the dealership, and I couldn’t close the deal. My loss.
You really don’t see these come up much in my area, but I’d be all over a 5MT like this one.
I have a Thule rack and I when I remove my kayak attachments and mount a cargo basket this thing will haul a houseload.
Just a well-designed, well built car that’s also fun.
I love my 2015 EX also Milano Red. We’re in the first stages of yet another multi thousand miles road trip as I type.
It’s a tough one I knew people that had fits that had fits and others that were great. The same with the Patriot desspite reputation though not having a cvt on either you probably take the biggest problem away. And both are probably stripper models so not as much to break. I think Patriot just because you don’t see them much anymore and there is probably good reason for that but how bad can it be.
How bad can it be? They sold about a million of them and as you say you don’t see them much anymore. I can assure you no one is saving them undriven in a hermetically sealed environment with the plan to sell them for a fortune in the future.
To be fair I don’t see too many fits anymore either and they sold millions of them too. I do think there are people attached to fits where I’m not sure that exists for the patriot but who knows. No one is saving a fit or city either.
All three generations are represented in significant numbers here in Tampa Bay, and it seems Maine has them on every other block. There are three in my parking lot.
I don’t get to either extreme of the east coast very often so I’ll take your word for it. I often find pockets of both around college campuses for obvious reasons. But beyond that not so much it really seemed like they were everywhere before and now it’s not all that often I see either outside of those pockets but do see fits more then patriots. Florida and Maine can have some very different from the rest of the country fleets so I could see them being highly represented there just as Mitsubishi is highly represented in Florida and Volvos have been highly represented in Maine.
The Fit was marketed to the young, but it was more often the older folks like me who bought them. And, well, I live in Florida.
I’m happily in the minority on this one. I just do not see why everyone likes the Fit. I loooooove small hatchback cars, but that model has never connected with me.
The ugly jeep on the other hand? Well, at least it has a manual and AWD. That’s for sure a rarity in that model. Plenty of room for a mountain bike in the back with the seats down. Let’s go!
You’ll need the bike when the Jeep breaks down.
No contest. The 2nd generation Fit also has 10(!) cupholders, 2 gloveboxes, a Sekrit Compartment, and genius Magic Seats. The best trick: fold down the back seats; open the hatch and have someone observe the interior space; watch as they walk to the side of the car and then back to the hatch, trying to figure out how a car that small has an interior that large.
Absolutely this. My parents-in-law were in the market for something smallish to carry stuff for their art gallery. This was soon after the 1st gen Fit was released. We had looked at some other cars; as soon as the Honda salesman opened the hatch and folded the rear seats, BAM! Sold!! even though there was still a long waiting list.
Are you having a “Fit”? Ha ha
Hmmm…a Fit vs a Jeep…Patriot?
This is so easy…the Fit fits! The Patriot is ugly junk trash. I’ll have a lot of fun cruising in my Fit and passing (almost) every gas station!
Thanks for the kind words, everyone. And huge thanks to Matt for taking good care of my baby. For the curious: acute choleocystitis. In layman’s terms, my gall bladder was EFFED. So it’s history. Feeling better, but I still have one more night in the hospital to make sure I’m in the clear.
Oh, and Fit for me today, no question.
So I guess you could say your gall bladder was having a “Fit”? I’ll see myself out…
Glad you’re feeling better!
Glad to hear you are doing well. Is my memory going or are you the second Autopian Employee with a gallbladder issue? At least you get to know how good the company health plan is.
How is this even a question? Makes me feel a little bad for the Patriot.
Don’t feel bad, it knows what it did!!
My eldest kid’s ’09 Fit just rejoined my fleet after being replaced by a new Crosstrek. I bought it new, then it went off to college then Pacific Northwest with the kid for about a decade.
I’d forgotten how much fun it was to drive. It weighs the same as my NC Miata, but seats four. Fantastic packaging and a great little car.
Now I just to talk to DT about some kitty cats, as Stewart Little’s family seems to have taken up residence in it while it was in storage for a year.
As for the Jeep, hard pass. Parts are too expensive and needed way too often.