2009 Honda Fit Sport: Unrestful Armrest

I have never sat in the back seat before..neither have anybody sat there for more than 30 mins..I would be arrested for violating human rights. Front seat is extremely comfortable for me though. The fit is a coupe with 5 doors.

That's a disappointing shortcoming even in the cheapest car a manufacturer makes.

You know what's sad? Just about every competitor (Nissan Versa, Chevrolet Aveo comes to mind) got this right. This is one of those cases where "if Detroit did this...."

But it's Honda. All Hondas have this kind of krap-e-car engineering. Subarus do too. But little details like this significantly impact the ownership experience- imagine taking a road trip or moderately long trip and having the damn arm rest play hell with your elbows.

It's SIMPLE, it costs nothing extra- just the basic thought of the vehicle's engineers. But as is typical with Honda, they're too damn lazy/incompetent.

@mikeolan
I would like to point out tht Subaru's cheapest car, the Impreza, has a proper rear armrest and spacious, for the class, rear seat.

http://z.about.com/d/cars/1/0/6/u/1/ag_09impreza25i_backseat.jpg

What's worse, the Fit's blue dots are the MS3's red dots?

^ are should be"or"

Break out the Fail stamp and make it epic sized!

@subaru123, no, those aren't blue dots, it's the texture of the door panel.

@mikeolan, I have owned a few Honda products with minor ergonomic foibles like this, but I have owned more of them, both old products and new, that were ergonomically perfect in every way (for me). It seems as though you have some dislike for Honda based on a number of your posts that I have seen, and while I agree that an engineering oversight like this, if it has been accurately depicted, would piss me off too - I think Honda gets it right most of the time, based on their sales numbers.

@Subaru123:

The Subaru's armrests are crappy plastic. And the padding and upholstery are sub-Yugo on both. Like seriously, I don't know of a car with crappier seats- it doesn't matter, it's a Subaru and it's not like their buyers have high standards. My Forester (I fully admit to owning one- it's what happens when you don't test drive the competition) had padding on its armrests, but they were uselessly thin and covered in Vinyl that got rejected by the company that makes School Bus Seats.

@Alex4515: I hate crap. It just so happens a lot of Hondas happen to fall under that category of late. There are plenty of Hondas that I think are nice, especially the previous-gen Accord, which I thought was an excellent machine.

I guess you could call this... un-Fit? :-)

@mikeolan: Trust me, NOTHING is sub-Yugo.

@stephen987 : I don't know, I can name about 10 things I wish my Subaru had done as well as a Yugo!

Yugo and subaru in the same sentence LOL.....

@mikeolan
Not to start an arguement or anything but what MY Forester do you have. Because I actually never cared for Subaru until the B9 Tribeca came out. IMO that was the first good looking Subaru and it had a quality interior (perforated leather, doors that "thunked" when they closed, leather wrapped door panels, and armrests that didn't push in when you put weight on them {the armrests in my Prius almost collapse in on themselves when you use them}).

@mikeolan: Like what, rust faster? Attract more giggles from passersby? Ooze vital fluids from underneath?

@stephen987: keep its tires properly inflated, heat the car properly, accelerate, not need new wheel bearings after 18K (i hear Yugos last almost to double that!)

The MY Forester was a 2008.

Anyone who would compare a Honda or Subaru to a Yugo because of something as meaningless as an armrest needs to give their head a serious shake.

I realize you are desperate to try to find anything to whine about but this is really sad.

BTW My Subaru is 18 years old, 243K miles and aside from an altenator has never needed a non -wear related repair.

16,000 miles and 12 months with a 2009 Fit Sport non-Nav and never a thought about the arm rest
Works perfectly. Rears seem the same as the fronts.

In the picture your elbow sits on the textured section on top of the sloping gray part. In the car it's just about level, not sloping down.

One's size and how one sits in the car probably determines if the armrest works.

Also, hundreds of presses of the knob for the trip odometer/mpg/oil use % display and never a thought that it's an ergo problem. A straight through, 2 second stab through a very wide open steering wheel. Just don't do it when you think you might have to turn.

If that's a challenge, how do you manage to work the NAV systems?

"16,000 miles and 12 months with a 2009 Fit Sport non-Nav and never a thought about the arm rest
Works perfectly. Rears seem the same as the fronts."

I have owned my Fit Sport with nav for the same period of time but I only have 12,000 miles on mine. However I do agree with the author of this blog, the door armrest is not the most accommodating out there. I don't think it's bothered me much because I always drive with both hands on the wheel except for when I'm sitting in stop and go traffic. I do also agree with you the size of someone's arm also plays a part. I don't have especially big arms so the door armrests work for me, but I can see how someone would find them uncomfortable.

@firstwagon: hey, there are Yugo owners who claim that aside from regular maintenance their cars were trouble free, too. (And if you don't believe me, look it up on Car Survey.)

All the fit reviews and comparisons that edmunds has done and this is the first time someone has used the arm rest?

mikeolan

Interesting thought.

I guess that's why Yugo has a reputation for being bulletproof, has vast numbers of loyal fans and you see older high mileage examples everywhere while Honda and Subaru are considered a joke and have disappeared from the market.

Oh wait... that sounds backwards.

Enjoy your Yugo, I'm sure you'll find friends in the Pinto, Pacer and Vega clubs.