Faults:

I have put over 25000 miles on this car in year, and have only had to do preventive work such as timing belt and water pump. Although there is a small amount of rust above the rear wheel arches.

General Comments:

This is a great car. It just devours the miles.

I bought this car thinking that it would just last the winter, but a year and half later it's still going strong with over 180,000.

This car gets about 30 MPG and drives great on the highway. It will cruise at 85mph all day. The car also handles great and is very easy to drive and park.

The downsides are that the car only puts out 70 BHP. So as you can imagine, this car is not quick by any means. This is also not a great car for picking up ladies, not the coolest car in the neighborhood.

The car rides very nice and smooth. But the seats get uncomfortable after a couple of hours.

If you are looking for a very reliable car with super low running costs, and are willing to trade speed for reliability, then this is the car for you. I believe that the doors will fall off before the engine seizes up.

Faults:

Air conditioning unit recalled within the first two years. No cost.

Had trouble getting the car to pass smog in 2006, but my mechanics were able to get it to pass.

Muffler rusted out at ~200,000 miles. Replaced with cat-back exhaust.

No other unexpected maintenance since buying it new, except for repairs associated with the two times it was broken into for the $50 stereo inside...

Oh and it's real easy to leave the headlights on since the car doesn't let you know they are still on when you shut it off. This has resulted in about a dozen push starts (thank goodness it only weighs ~2100 lbs) or jump starts and at least 3 new batteries. My fault not the car's...

The car now burns a slight amount of oil.

General Comments:

I have never saw the upper side of the fuel mileage estimate given by Honda when I bought it. In the car's defense I never drive 55mph, ignore the shift lights, and changed the stock tires out for slightly wider, more aggressive tires shortly after buying it. The stock tires were a little scary in the rain and would result in really scary moments on gravel roads if you got the back end a little loose. Ended up in a ditch twice in the first few months.

But, the car has been a marvel of reliability. I have driven it from Miami to Lake Tahoe and nearly everywhere in between and it has NEVER failed to get me where I was going. In the 13+ years of ownership I typically have seen 300-350 miles on a tank on gas. And that usually means 8.5-9 gallons not the whole 10 gallons. Which puts me in the 35-40 MPG area consistently. You can count on one hand the number of new cars today that will actually get 40 MPG, hybrids included.

The car swallows everything from baseboards to luggage and then some. I moved all my earthly belongings in my Honda from Nebraska to San Diego with a roof rack carrying two bikes, no sweat.

If Honda was making this car today they would be outselling EVERYONE!!! It handles way better than expected (with better tires), has decent acceleration for a car with less than 100hp, and is somewhat stylish. My car has the original clutch at 13+ years and 200,000+ miles!!! I want another one, but a new Honda Fit is 14K to start and gets 34 MPG highway??? What gives???