I bought a Honda Fit on New Years Eve. What was I thinking?

I drove my 1996 VW GTI for 11 years and over 120,000 miles. I bought it back in December of 1996 after the oil pump on my 1988 Jeep Comanche died while I was at my mom's house for Christmas. Before the Comanche I drove a 1977 Mercury Cougar XR7 that I bought from my mom when I was 16.

• Cougar had a 351M 5.8L V8 (173HP) 4000 lbs (23.1 lbs per horse)
• Comanche had a 2.5L 4 cylinder (117HP) 3000 lbs (25.6 lbs per horse)
• GTI had a 2.0L 4 cylinder (115 HP) 2557 lbs (22.2 lbs per horse)
• Fit has a 1.5L 4 cylinder (109 HP) 2551 lbs (23.4 lbs per horse)

There seems to be a trend in engine displacement and weight. ;-)

I'm pushing 40 and I'm on my 4th car. I had a friend in high school who had bought over 10 cars before he was 20. ;-)

Why the Fit? Honestly I did not expect to like this car. Before I drove it I drove

• Mini Cooper. This car is really cramped inside and there were some interior design flaws that I would not have expected from a BMW.
• VW Rabbit -- I loved my GTI but I can't spend another 10 years in the same car
• Mazda 3 -- I liked this car but I didn't love it. And it was a bit heavy
• Scion XD -- I wasn't impressed and the front end is really high. it looks a little goofy

The fit looks tiny but it is well designed inside and has more interior space than the other cars. It also only weighs 2551 lbs which is about the same as my 1996 GTI. Cars keep getting heavier and I love light car for city and rush hour traffic. Yeah, I know some people prefer to drive tanks for safety but I also own a 1986 Kawasaki Ninja 250 that I stopped driving when I had kids. I gave up the motorcycle for safety but you won't find me in a Hummer anytime soon. :-P

There were a few things that I didn't like about the Fit that were being addressed in the 2009 model but I became convinced that my GTI was not going to live to see November 2009 (New Fit Launch date) so I headed to the dealership on New Years Eve. I figured I would have more negotiation power on the last day of the year. They only offered my $500 for my trade in and I asked them if they would match an offer from CarMax. They said they would, so I came back an hour later with my $1200 trade in offer from CarMax and they matched it. They also matched a price I was quoted over the internet.

So my car buying tips of the day are

• Always get a CarMax trade in offer 1st
• Always get an offer from the dealer via their internet department 1st as this is better than what you get when you just show up.

That's the story. I hope the Fit gets better gas mileage than my VW. The Golf was advertised at 23/30 but I got 30/34. The Fit advertises 27/33. Lets see what I get out of it. My notes will be here.