Should I buy Honda Fit straight drive or automatic? For some reason Honda has the straight drive revving about 600 more rpms on the interstate. I wonder why. My 2000 Civic Si revs very high (around 4000 rpm at 70 mph) and it’s annoying.
Test drive them both, if the stick’s rpms are irritating, get the AT.
No. I Certainly Wouldn’t.
“Should I buy Honda Fit straight drive or automatic?”
Why go from one annoying little car to another annoying way too little car?
"My 2000 Civic Si revs very high (around 4000 rpm at 70 mph) and it’s annoying."
CSA
Not everyone likes the same thing in a car. If they did we would all have the same make and model. The fast is many people prefer smaller cars. Most of my cars have been compact or smaller size. That is my preference. I really hate driving large land ships.
Bmanno Is The One Who Noted That The High Revving Little 2000 Civic Was “Annoying” And Noted The Other Really Little Cars Revved, Too. That’s What I Was Talking About.
CSA
How can your RPMs be that high at 70mph? I have a 99 EX(1 step down from the Si, and same body style as yours) and I’m doing around 3000~3500 RPMs at 70mph.
If you find a high revving engine annoying, perhaps you should buy something with a larger, slow revving engine. The Civic Si and the Fit were both designed to be high revving vehicles.
Honda Civic Si 2000 gets added horsepower by revving high. Later model years of Si increased engine displacement and did not rev as high. I think Civic Si 2000 revs higher than about any other small car, except Mazda RX8 with its Wankel engine.
My daughters’ Corollas run at much lower RPMs on interstate and are much quieter, but not as fast.
I have ridden in both manual and AT Honda Fit. Neither revs a high as my Civic Si. But I am very curious as to why the manual transmission Honda Fit revs higher in 5th gear than Honda Fit automatic transmission.
My 2000 Honda Civic Si, now with 157K miles, has been an excellent car and very much fun to drive. But it now burns oil (1st of many Honda I have had experience with to burn oil). The noise generated by the high revving engine has been annoying. Hence I look for something that does not rev as high. I much prefer small cars.
bmanno, I think most of us in this group know why the Civic Si revs high. We have had discussions on the merit of high and low-revving engines, VTEC engines, and other related issues.
Honda’s small lightweight cars are known for being noisy. Since it bothers you, I think you should find another model that doesn’t have that problem.
Perhaps if you want to know why the manual version revs higher, you should ask your salesperson. The salesperson probably won’t know why, but it is a good chance to size up your salesperson to see if he/she knows the product.
Have you observed this phenomenon by looking at a tachometer or is it something you feel? If it is something you feel, they might not be operating at different RPMs. It is possible you feel it with the manual transmission but you don’t feel it with the automatic.
It probably has something to do with the different gear ratios between the 2.
edit:
5-Speed Manual Transmission
Gear Ratios: 1st: 3.308, 2nd: 1.870, 3rd: 1.303, 4th: 0.949, 5th: 0.727, Reverse: 3.308, Final Drive: 4.62
5-Speed Automatic Transmission (available)
Gear Ratios: 1st: 2.996, 2nd: 1.679, 3rd: 1.067, 4th: 0.761, 5th: 0.552, Reverse: 1.957, Final Drive: 4.56
I think the difference (auto v man) is due partly to marketing.
The kind of driver who chooses the manual is more likely a serious enthusiast who may even take take it to the dragstrip to time it.
Si was Honda’s top offering to the ricer-boy-racer crowd.
I had a '75 Civic and it was almost like a go-cart with a motorcycle engine.
The buyer of the auto on the other hand just wants a fine economy car with a little extra zing.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the auto had come with a slightly softer suspension.
I have a 2008 Fit Sport MT. The engine revs at about 3,000 rpms going 62 mph. I’m getting about 43 mpg.
Respectfully, I think the Civic Type R was Honda’s top offering to the ricer crowd, and that is only if you ignore the S2000’s capacity for ricer upgrades. It wasn’t widely available in the US, but some people figured out ways to get them into the US. If you ever watch Car and Driver’s Superflea challenge, I think six of the top ten cars were Hondas, and I don’t think any of them were the Civic Si.
As to your remarks about your '75 Civic, I think you are right. I have thought about what it would be like to make a trike motorcycle or street legal dune buggy with the engine from my '98 Civic. If I used it for a trike, the engine would have to sit behind the driver. At about 1,800 CCs, my Civic engine would be pretty quick if I was able to eliminate much of the weight of the car body, and would be just about right for a high displacement motorcycle. Just look at the Ariel Atom. It would be pretty quick even if it’s Civic engine wasn’t turbo charged.
Edit: One of the top cars in the last superflea challenge (2003) was a Civic Si.
“Respectfully, I think the Civic Type R was Honda’s top offering to the ricer crowd”,
I defer to you. All those letters etc. get jumbled in my old head over the years.
The '75 was 1488cc and ~1800lb.
Hmmmmmm. Yeah, maybe I’ll spring for this ---- pretty good. But they don’t give the RPMs at 70 mph.
Honda website give mpg = 29/33 ???
Do you really care? If you can shift fast enough, you can get from 0 to 70 MPH in less than four seconds.
I have a 2008 Fit Sport MT. Cumulative mpg after 21000+ miles is 36. I’ve never gotten less than 33 or more than 44 for a full tank of fuel. I drive about 90% in town/suburbs.
Back to the OP’s question. Engine noise isn’t an issue for me below 4000rpm, and that’s >80mph on level terrain. You should see/hear for yourself with a test drive. Who cares what the rpms are if you can’t hear or feel the engine and the mpg is good? My best mpg was at a steady 75 on the interstate.
Love driving my Fit.
Do I care?
My 2000 Civic Si, with 154K miles, burns quite a bit of oil. I blame it on the high RPMs.
I’ve had experience with quite a few other Hondas and have not seen them burn oil even with > 154K miles.