High-Mileage Hatchbacks: 2009 Honda Fit vs 2017 Chevy Sonic

Welcome back! For today’s matchup we have two cars from Sacramento, both small hatchbacks, both manuals, and both north of 200,000 miles. But you wouldn’t know it to look at either of them. Remember when cars used to look old and worn-out at half that mileage? Times have changed.

You weren’t very impressed with yesterday’s rustbuckets, that’s for sure. I gotta say, though, I still don’t think the rust on those two is all that bad. I mean, they still have rocker panels. The doors go all the way down to the bottoms of their sills. The wheel arches are still round – at least, more or less. Those are pristine compared to some cars I’ve owned.

And yeah, I knew the Corolla was going to win. And yeah, I will admit that it is the better choice here. I just have an irrational dislike of them, partly because they are so damn common and never seem to die, and partly because the last Corolla I owned was purchased specifically to commute back and forth to a job I hated. Not the car’s fault, I know, but it doesn’t make me have warm fuzzy feelings towards them.

It might sound strange, especially coming from an automotive Luddite like me, but I feel like we’re in sort of an automotive golden age right now, and have been for a couple of decades. Want to drive a new car? They’re better-built and more reliable in general than they have ever been, and they have performance and efficiency we only dreamed about back in the 1980s and 90s. Prefer something older? You’re in luck; the internet makes it easier to find parts to keep an old car going, and any problem you may need to fix is well-documented, even if you have to dig through fifteen-year-old forum posts to find the solution.

As far as the cheap car market goes, there are more good viable choices than ever. Sure, a lot of people default to twenty-year-old Toyotas, but you don’t have to. You can drop a few grand cash on almost anything, with a few exceptions, and not have too many nasty surprises. Today we’re going to look at two fun little hatchbacks that have already paid their dues and then some, but are both ready to give a new owner lots more. Here they are.

2009 Honda Fit – $3,900

Engine/drivetrain: 1.5-liter overhead cam inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD

Location: Sacramento, CA

Odometer reading: 215,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives well

Once upon a time, Honda’s Civic hatchback was damn near the perfect small car. It had a tiny, rev-happy engine, a slick-shifting manual gearbox, and a small, light frame that made it a wonderful dance partner on twisty roads, and that’s not something you can say about every cheap econobox. But then, the Civic grew, and moved upmarket, and lost the hatchback along with its joie de vivre. Fortunately, it had a spiritual successor – the smaller Jazz hatchback, known here as the Fit.

The Fit arrived here with a 1.5 liter four under the hood, equipped with Honda’s VTEC variable valve timing system. It’s a small engine, producing enough power to move the Fit at a respectable clip and not use much fuel doing it. To make an engine like that really work, you pretty much have to back it with a manual gearbox. Automatics just suck all the life out of a small engine, and while these days they’re supposedly “more efficient,” they’re so utterly joyless that no one cares. Fortunately, this Fit has a five-speed manual. It’s for sale at a dealership, so you’re on your own as far as condition goes. But it’s a stickshift Honda; you can’t go far wrong.

It’s a base model, so don’t expect much in the way of creature comforts, but “base model” is relative. I think back to a Civic I once test drove. It had vinyl seats, rubber floors, a four-speed transmission, and only a driver’s side mirror – without a remote adjuster. With power windows, air conditioning, and a CD player, this thing is practically a Bentley by comparison. It’s in good condition, and it looks like they cleaned it up nicely.

The paint is nice and shiny; whoever put all those miles on this car took good care of it. The only thing that gives me pause is some missing fasteners around the front bumper and grille – look at the photo of the engine compartment to see what I mean. The front of this car has been taken apart, and I’d like to know why before I was willing to sign off on it.

2017 Chevrolet Sonic RS – $4,000

Engine/drivetrain: Turbocharged 1.4-liter dual overhead cam inline 4, six-speed manual, FWD

Location: Rancho Cordova, CA

Odometer reading: 201,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives well

The Chevy Sonic came from a long line of tiny little captive imports, starting with the Suzuki-built Sprint, and stretching through the Geo years up to the somewhat disastrous Daewoo-built Aveo. In fact, the Sonic is technically the second generation of the Aveo, but I think GM changed the name due to the Aveo’s lackluster reputation.

Instead of a dreary economy car, Chevy marketed the Sonic as a sporty little number, available with a turbocharged version of GM’s Ecotec engine, displacing 1.4 liters. It has a six-speed manual, big sticky tires, and pretty damn good handling. To prove its point, Chevy staged a whole series of stunts for a TV ad, including a version of the famous “Astro Spiral Jump,” making it one of only three cars to successfully perform that stunt, alongside the AMC Javelin and Hornet. We don’t get any information about this one’s condition either; the ad says “by owner,” but I suspect it’s one of those dealers claiming to be a private owner.

It’s the fancy Premier model, with leather seats, power everything, and a touch-screen infotainment system, fancy stuff for a little hatchback. It looks really good for 200,000 miles; hopefully it all still works all right. As always, buyer beware, and push all the buttons and turn all the knobs before signing anything.

It’s got nice shiny red paint and nice black alloy wheels. I’m usually not crazy about black wheels, but here I think they work. The Sonic got a facelift in 2017, with a new front end to make it look more like Chevy’s other cars. There are hints of Camaro and Impala in there, but honestly, I liked the pre-facelift front end better with its round headlights and purposeful expression.

Twenty years ago, an economy car with 200,000 miles on its odometer would have been seen as well past its prime, no matter who made it. But these both look like they’ve got plenty of life left, and they both should be fun to drive. Either way, you’ll have to do your own inspection to make sure everything is ship-shape. Which one is worthy of your scrutiny?

(Image credits: sellers)