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)
As long as the Sonic doesn’t have the 1.8 I’ll take it.
It’s a shame that the current Fit isn’t sold here. It’s still the same size, still marvelously practical, and very stylish.
Its annoying they renamed the Civic the Fit, the Accord the Civic, and made the Accord gigantic.
d’accord!
Indeed. My first Honda was a 1986 Accord LX-i. Great car. But you’re right. Modern Civics are as big inside and out as that was. My 2017 Accord V-6 is a limo in comparison. It’s so much more powerful. And yet, on the freeway gets 5-7 better mpg than the ’86 did. The mileage around town is pretty atrocious, TBH. But I live in a hilly city and it’s not a hybrid. But when the weather is decent, I putt around on a Honda ADV 160 that gets ~95 mpg and I can park on the sidewalk almost anywhere.
I also had an ’86 Accord LX bought used and driven for several years. Great car, but I had to upgrade for my job when I switched to a sales position.
I had an 88 LX on nuespeed drop springs, KYB GR2 struts, prelude wheels, and pulled off about 60lbs of emissions garbage and installed a 2 barrel Weber carb. MPG took a little hit but it was a great car to drive, the springs were progressive so it’d float over garbage pavement but once it settled into a turn it was on rails. I still love that chassis! Pop ups forever!!!!!!!
Pop ups! Ha! The Canadian models had cooler, integrated headlights. The US ones never failed me. In an era where Mazda RX-7s could wink at you.
And… Cool! I am not a modder. Bone stock natural from the dealer, it was a great car. The only mod I ever did was to have the ECU on a 2001 Jetta TDI reflashed to allegedly get 20 more HP. 90-110. Woohoo!
I like the looks of the Sonic better, but I’m going to listen to my brain and vote Honda. I like the Fit, I had a loaner in 2012 and was impressed with it. I like how the back seats work, there’s a ton of room in them with the seats folded down. It seems like a great car to haul dogs and mountain bikes.
As a person who has owned 2 of the 3 cars that did the Astro spiral jump I am going Honda. While I think both of these are in great shape for their Miles they still have the miles. So everything on it has over 200,000 miles so I want the basic spec no fancy doodads that will cost more than the nice price these are selling for to fix.
Shocked the Sonic even made it to 201K. I have a buddy with one that’s already had some big problems at 60K miles.
The Fit remains a surprisingly good little car that feels like a 7/10 scale (in performance) hot hatch-and I’ve only driven an auto. A friend who had track day experience had a 1st gen Fit for his DD and lowered it and put in a short shifter, lighter wheels on it and he could absolutely throw that thing around a cloverleaf.
Seems like none of these has ever been in an accident so the missing front clips on the Fit might have been part of some maintenance done. Or maybe they replaced the headlights? Most of these Fits had foggy headlights after age 5 or so.
They both are 1 owner cars so that’s good.
I know the Fit is going to be more reliable, but I’m going with the unpopular opinion here and picking up the Sonic this time. I like the non-grayscale paint, extra features and safety and although that 1.4 LUJ is a bit of a hit or miss it drives better than the Fit and gets better fuel economy while doing so. I know because I’ve driven both.
Valve covers with integrated PCV can leak on these, but they are under $100 and easy to replace.
Did I just vote for a 16-year-old base-model Honda over an 8-year-old top-of-the-line Chevy? Why yes, yes I did. Really enjoyed the car-share Fit I used to drive occasionally, just a perfect little car.
The Sonic is nice enough, but I would take that Fit all day, every day and twice on Sunday.
My sister has the same ’09 5spd Fit in white. The car is miraculous. she hauled a washing machine in it. Ideally, clips are just missing from removing that front to get to maintenance (it is at 200k)
the license plate lookup tells me it doesn’t have any reported accidents, and both this and the Sonic are 1 owner vehicles. That’s a win in my book
Turbo! Six speed! Speeding ticket red! Better name! Sonic for the win!
Now, I just need to find a Miata drive-in to take it to…
Fit all day. Those tiny turbo Ecotec’s have a less than stellar reputation on reliability (turbo failures, mainly) and honestly don’t feel much faster than the N/A option. They’re all top-end power, the turbo doesn’t seem to do anything until nearly redline, so most of the time they feel quite anemic. The larger n/a engine had lower peak power but better low-to-midrange and really, better to drive. It also didn’t need premium fuel, which I seem to recall was “recommended” for the turbo. Like any modern car sure it would behave OK on regular, but then the barely-there turbo is probably even less present since it pulled timing/boost for cheap fuel.
Also, the manuals in GM FWD cars blow. The shifter feels like wiggling a stick in mud. They’re a pain in the ass to drive in traffic through a perfect combination of 1)clutch that is both numb feeling and very abrupt, the friction zone is like 1mm of pedal travel, 2)first gear it too tall, it always feels like you’re setting off in 2nd, and 3) an engine with no low end torque. I mean, you do eventually get used to it, but it’s hot garbage. Gimme the auto at that point.
How much is a bus pass?
Shame on you.
I loved my 2009 Fit Sport 5MT every damn day. It was a hoot to hammer around at 8 or 9/10ths nearly all the time and not get into trouble. Increasing the tire width from 185 to 205 cost some mpgs but significantly reduced understeer. A thicker RSB would’ve been a great addition. What a fun car!
I was looking forward to reaching 200k+, but it mechanically totalled itself around 130k. Ejected a plug and coil pack without warning, ruining the threads in the cylinder head. I’m delighted that I upgraded to an FK7 Civic (6MT), but I wish my Fit had enjoyed a normal Honda lifespan.
I like both cars but the edge goes to the Fit. The Sonic especially in hatchback form is also a looker. My only concern it the Turbo 1.4 that tends to eat its turbo with regularity. It all stems from
A poorly placed oil feed line right near the exhaust manifold. If oil is changed before the recommended intervals it isn’t a problem but at extended internals , the smallish tube will cook the oil , gum the line up, and destroy the Turbo. Over 200k mileage might suggest some proper maintenance was followed
leaking valve covers with torn up PCV valves were also quite common around the 75K – 100K mile interval. Not a big deal to replace and the cover itself is only around $100, though.
I’m all about Fitness, fit’n’ess carry-out pizza into that Honda Fit. Chevy turbo with 200k on it, eesh..
Honda, not even a discussion. I wonder how long that Sonic has been sitting around/not selling at $4000.
GM, ever since post bankruptcy has made just absolute hot trash engines. This 1.4 turbo in their economy cars(cruze, trax, encore) has a lot of issues. The 3.6 V6 in their sedans/suvs has timing chain issues and is crap. The v8 in their pickups/suvs have had lifter/valvetrain problems ever since they introduced AFM/cylinder shutdown 15 years ago. Its so bad that newer trucks under warranty are sitting around for months cause they have a shortage of new replacement engines.
Anyways enough of my anti-GM rant. If the Sonic had an engine I could trust, Id vote that over the Honda. It is a nicer car and GM has done a lot better on stuff like styling, interiors, sweating the details. Except on their engines
Do you know what they call A car with a great interior but damaged engine?
Patio furniture
Candidate for a cool engine swap?
I feel that damn near regardless of the conditions of the vehicles in question, a Honda vs. GM battle is always going to go in favour of the Honda.
That said, I voted for the Sonic. More bang for your buck.
yeah it also happened a couple days ago between a beat-up but reliable Accord wagon with electrical gremlins and 280K miles against a mostly bulletproof Buick Park Avenue with 115K miles.
Honestly I thought the voting was going to be closer on that one, but if that one didn’t I’m ever less hopeful on this one knowing the 1.4T doesn’t have a generally good record.
Yeah. That one surprised me a bit too. I always thought those wagons looked cool (and better yet, had the 5M), but my in-laws had the Buick with the NA 3800 and the power was adequate. It felt like an American Jaguar XJ. But reliable. It was still running nicely when they sadly passed away.
A turbo GM motor with 200k+ miles?
I’m sure I’ll fit just fine in that Honda.
The sonic looks like more fun and it’s newer with more features. Plus its begging for an epic Sonic The Hedgehog livery.
I would have said that 215k is a lot of miles, even for the Fit, but since the Chevy is basically in the same spot, I’d take the Honda all day. I love my 2009 Fit. AFAIK, there weren’t really “trims” on that generation of the Fit. It was basically the base and the Sport, and the Sport was a spoiler, alloy rims, and maybe fog lights
N/A vs Turbo? In this case going naturally aspirated.
the newer vehicle with a manual is certainly tempting in this case, the miles indicate a long commuter car and honestly those tend to be less worn out in many cases vs an older something with the same miles. BUT, and that is a big but on purpose…the 1.4 Turbo “lean code” (P0171) issues are a real threat to this MY. The engine may run roughly and power may be reduced, though these symptoms are not always present. this particular car with over 120,000 miles on the clock means it does not qualify for the free turbo replacement campaign. though that ran out in February of 2024 anyway. SO this kind of indicates the low buck car was never intended to last past 120K anyway.
Honda takes it for me today.
I’ve somehow never owned a Honda, and the Fit seems like the kind of lasting cheap & cheerful little car I’ve owned much of my life.
Plus I already have one turbo edging toward 200k…
The Fit hands down. Mine is up there in mileage and I’ve hauled things, tracked it, beat the snot out of the poor thing as a highway commuter downtown, and that car still has no squeaks or rattles inside and loves having the hammer out down.
That being said the downside is parts are a pain… When you search Honda Fit parts … You get all parts that FIT Hondas!
lol oh man I never thought of that name being a nightmare. I ran into something similar when I owned a classic Mini Cooper. MINI is the new one (2005+), Mini is the old one (60s/70s/80s). Search algos can’t figure it out.
I know how that goes. I’ve got a SAAB 96 (no, not model year 1996), a Volvo 66 (again, not model year), a KV Mini 1 (no, nothing to do with electricity, or the Mini, or the MINI, or, surprisingly, the KV-1 Soviet tank), an American Microcar (self-evident ambiguities), and an HMV Freeway (no, not the music retailer or the limited-access highway). It’s not like parts are readily available for any of these anyway but the names really don’t help.
Holy shit you have an HMV Freeway!!?! What kind of MPG do you get? I saw one when I was commuting an hour each way to work, but wound up getting a 2000 Insight instead.
The factory’s mileage claims were perhaps a bit optimistic. Mine has the smaller 12 hp engine which is the version “guaranteed to get 100 miles per gallon at a steady speed of 40 mph when run per test” but I’ve been lucky to see around 35 mpg or so under even the best circumstances. Other owners seem to have had about the same results. It does make for a distinctive commuting experience, though:
https://live.staticflickr.com/3550/5733681301_89a874e566_c.jpg
Yeah, I figured as much. Glad I went with the insight, 52mpg with snow tires, air bags, air conditioning, etc 😛
Instead of snow tires Freeway owners received a letter from the factory. Keep in mind H-M-Vehicles was located in Minnesota:
“With the recent cold weather, snow and slippery driving conditions, we have had several vehicles over-turn. This has been caused by loss of traction on the rear wheel with the rear of the vehicle swinging around to one side. The vehicle will over-turn when dry pavement is engaged while traveling sideways. Therefore it is being recommended; THE VEHICLE SHOULD NOT BE DRIVEN WHEN THE ROADS ARE SLIPPERY.”
See? Problem solved. Also, yes, the semicolon is in the original.
Wow. That thing looks terrifying! I’d rather be on two wheels than three.
Hey, I only said it is distinctive; I did not say it is not terrifying.
After living a similar life, involving a moving trip from Maine to Los Angeles, the only thing that this car needs is more NVH insulation
100% this, they love to chip seal the roads around here and it makes the thing so loud inside.
Actually, I’ll add on improved sun visors. They’re the most basic form without extensions or additional flaps, and the car needs more coverage
Our 2006 CR-V was similarly loud on the concrete two-inch aggregate pavement that made up much of I-5 and I-90 around Seattle back then.
Honda has gotten better about that, but they are STILL behind Toyota and the domestic brands on that. Even my 2017 Accord gets noisy on that stuff.
I haven’t been in a lot of other brands of cars around here and a lot of those freeways have been redone with either asphalt or much smoother cement.
Not quite the same but Fiat Spider in the 70s and 80s and the Fiata Spider plays the same game
I test drove both of these cars about 10 years ago when they were new. Neither were impressive, but the Fit just felt depressing. The odd endless windshield and the goofy A-pillar ruined it for me. Also, the name. I’d quickly grow tired of jokes about how to “Fit” in that car.
I ended up in a Fiat 500 Sport, if that clues you into my bad car making decisions at the time. But the Honda was a hard NO for me then and still today.
The Sonic RS was easily the more fun of these two.
I have literally never met someone that doesn’t like the Fit. I have no words
The 2009 Fit shown here is a better choice than a new Fiat 500 from any year. The 500 all the problems of a Fiat none of the style or joy.