"Shmevans" (icantdriveanyslower)
02/19/2016 at 15:17 • Filed to: None
11
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"Shmevans" (icantdriveanyslower)
02/19/2016 at 15:17 • Filed to: None | 11
| 1 |
After working for Mercedes-Benz and driving their cars for 3.5 years I realized that my left leg was becoming decidedly useless and something had to be done. Drastic measures had to be taken. A few phone calls to a few friends later and I was the reluctantly proud(ish) owner of a 2008 Honda Fit.
My new-to-me GD3 Fit was after all the Fit Sport so was practically a Mercedes anyway. And it had the absolutely necessary 5-speed required to get anything out of its 1.5L “VTEC” - which isn’t really proper VTEC but that’s fine.
My co-workers gave me very strange looks the first day I drove it to the office and parked it amongst its new greyscale German friends. Many of them didn’t understand that anyone would prefer shifting their own gears to the brand new car, maintenance free, skill free driving that everyone had become so accustomed to. I was probably the only one in the entire office who didn’t have kids and yet chose to drive something other than an MB.
Within the group of people I was closest with in the office there were the ever-hilarious (...) challenges to drag races and questions about what it felt like to go from 302hp to 109hp overnight. I was fine with all of this however and the longer I had the car and more fun I made of it the more they started to realize the brilliance of my decision.
The C 350 Coupe I had come out of was great, don’t get me wrong. But $80 in premium gas per 500-600 kms was a tough pill to swallow even if the lease costs were laughable low for what I was driving. Not to mention the cost of any repairs that were ever needed. “Nail in your sidewall? That’ll be a few hundred bucks please.” Only Mercedes Original P-Zeros on this baby according to the lease agreements. Bah.
The Fit has already paid for itself after less than a year of driving it. Plus now I have an asset (albeit not a very high valued one) instead of an ever changing vehicle that while on the surface looks like a good deal, costs an awful lot when reality sets in and you realize you could be having just as much fun, much more legally and for a whole lot less. Let’s just say that not counting repair costs or fuel, my Fit purchase basically broke even with the old lease payments after about 10 months.
Showing my colleagues the many benefits of the car was the best part. I ften compared the cargo space to their C’s and CLA’s and even the GLK’s. With the seats down there was more usable room than any of them. The absolute best part though was when we got the first Mercedes-Maybach S 600 in. I hopped in the back (as you do) and checked out the leg room. Decent, I suppose. Then I quickly parked the Fit next to it and quickly converted it to Refresh Mode to prove to my friends that for less than the price of the optional wheels on the Maybach, you could sit in the back and be driven around just as comfortably (almost). All you do is pop the headrest off the front seat, slide it fully forward, and lay the back all the way back so that the top of the backrest mates up perfectly with the base of the rear seat. Even the pattern on the seats match up to make it look like a proper lounger. It’s brilliant and just as good as the quarter-million dollar MB, all things considered. See diagram below for what I mean. And this is all in addition to 5-seat normal mode , cargo mode , tall mode , and long mode . It really is a packaging masterpiece. You try getting a mountain bike, a potted plant and a surf board into your Maybach...
Since I left MB a few months ago I haven’t regretted the Fit at all although I will admit to craving “moar power” quite often. But I can still do a lame burnout if I really want and have been able to move basically anything, any time so I’m not dying. It really is a case of driving a slow car, fast and even in the city amongst other cars I’m never really breaking the law when doing it. I probably look a bit of a tool with all that body roll but that’s okay.
All in all, it isn’t the most exciting car in the world, but it doesn’t leak like Mr. Regular’s Silicone Sally and has easily been the most practical car I’ve ever had while living in Toronto. Here it is, all on it’s own in the basement of MB Head Office. The Germans are right to stay away to avoid embarrassment.
MPA
> Shmevans
02/19/2016 at 17:46 |
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I had a ‘13 base model- loved how much stuff it could hold. how well it handled - and that even me, with a lead right foot, avg’d 33.6mpg . Hated the 117hp though.