So I bought a 2020 Honda Fit Sport CVT brand new as my first car ever right out of college. I drove it across the country about 2000 miles when I moved from Florida to Oregon, and man let me tell you, the problems I experienced on this car has been horrible. Enough that I do not trust Honda anymore. Problems I've had are:
Fuel rail and fuel injectors failed at 12000 miles
Fuel rail and fuel injectors failed again at 14000 miles
Fuel injectors failed again at 16000 miles
VTC actuator failed at 18500 miles
CVT transmission is currently failing at 25000 miles
I'm really curious if you've ever seen a newer model year Honda with so many issues in such a short timespan. I almost had a lemon law claim on this car for the injectors, but sadly the injectors failed about one month past the expiry of the 24 month period for a lemon law claim in my state.
I've only owned this car for 3 years and only have 25k miles on it, and my bumper to bumper warranty ends at the end of this month, but I have 2 years left on powertrain. At this point Honda has probably spent half the value of the car at the time of purchase on warranty claims alone for all the powertrain issues I've had. I am thinking about trading it in after getting the transmission replaced to get a 2023 Hyundai Elantra, since Toyota's prices near me are absolutely bonkers (7k-9k over MSRP for every model and trim), and that 100k/10 year powertrain warranty from Hyundai would make me feel a lot better after this horrendous experience with Honda.
Also would love to know if you could identify what this issue is since I'm waiting to take it to the dealership at some point, but they have no loaners available right now and I'm dying to know what the issue is with the transmission.
Symptoms are slipping on uphill during harder acceleration moments, but it catches itself after about a half a second. And the sound I'm hearing which sounds kind of like a bad serpentine belt but quieter, which it only happens when I'm stopped (brake depressed), and is worse with the AC compressor on and worse when in drive. I can hear the sound when shifting from neutral to drive as well, and the sound doesn't occur when in park at least from what I could tell.
Heres a YouTube video of the sound I took in the McDonald's drive thru as well as one with me shifting through park neutral reverse drive and cycling the AC on and off in the parking lot at home.
McDonald's:
https://youtube.com/shorts/i9yEQ818hlQ?feature=share
Parking lot with cycling:
Thanks!
- In case anyone cares, this Monday I ended up going for a 2023 Mazda 3 Hatchback Preferred trim. Got a good deal for 28k and traded in the Honda Fit for 17,700. Not bad at all and I'm super happy with the new car. Thanks for the recommendations guys.
I am thinking about trading it in after getting the transmission replaced to get a 2023 Hyundai Elantra
That would be jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. Maybe literally. Your experience with Honda is not typical, but today's Hyundai products (at least the ones sold in the U.S.) are very prone to serious problems. You'd be better off looking at Mazda or Subaru if Toyota is not feasible.
https://carkiller.com/scottykilmer/qa/hmg/
Subaru and Mazda are just as bad as Toyota, if not worse in terms of pricing in my area, unfortunately. Pretty much my options right now are a Hyundai, Kia, or VW. Hyundai I don't mind if there are issues that pop up because the warranty is so good, and the same goes for Kia, though I don't like Kia nearly as much in terms of the style of the cars.
You'll likely find their much-advertised warranty is not all it's cracked up to be.
Consider going for a used Toyota
Used prices where I live are quite literally 1-2k off the insanely inflated prices they're charging for new ones. 100k miles on a 2021 or 2022 Corolla and they're charging close to MSRP for a new 2023. It's insanity out here.
ever seen a newer model year Honda with so many issues in such a short timespan.
Nope. And not any brand either.
A close friend of mine had a 2020 Jazz (outside of the US, 1.3L CVT) and although he drove the car extremely hard, I do not think I have ever seen him drive it normally, it has and has had absolutely 0 issues at 60,000km (37.5k miles)
2023 Hyundai Elantra
I do not recommend it.
Although the G4NS seems to be a sweet engine (decent power, economy, and is port injected), it's mated to a horrible tranny!
(Even worse than what you've had on the Fit, the Hyundai-Kia iVT doesn't seem to hold up)
Your Honda CVT lasted 25,000 miles - by Hyundai-Kia iVT standards that's like 25 times over some!
https://www.hyundai-forums.com/threads/2020-elantra-cvt-failure.662453/
I wish I was kidding, the SELTOS is also equipped with the iVT, read testimonies at complaints -> powertrain.
https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2021/KIA/SELTOS/SUV/AWD
It has famously blew up (had a catastrophic failure with the housing breaking, parts flying and fluid spilling on the road) when a reviewer was testing a brand new car and has to test it on a dirt trail (the kind an automatic gearbox wouldn't have any issues traversing) to see if the CVT in these is really that bad (language may be foul, use captions -> auto translate -> English)
https://youtu.be/lDnRPwV_2qQ?t=1500
So yeah, avoid the iVT like wildfire.
The Blue Hybrid variant is not recommended either, it's not too bad - I have the same engine, hybrid system and DCT on the Kia Niro now with over 105,000 miles and although it has held up not terribly, it did have undergo repairs, and the DCT transmission is really not great (not too terrible either).
Toyota's prices near me are absolutely bonkers
Consider going to distant dealerships - Toyota reliability, especially on the 1.8L Hybrid powertrain, is just great. (with some exceptions)
identify what this issue is (...) slipping on uphill (...)
Well some of these used a clutch instead of a torque convertor and an overheating / worn clutch can cause that kind of behavior.
But considering the well documented issues with the HR-V's CVT, it's also likely to be a stretched drive belt, scuffed cones, or any other kind of internal failure.
sounds kind of like a bad serpentine belt
That's generally a common issue on failing CVTs, There's a TSB for Nissans but the guide on page 4 is applicable to most cars.
If that's not failing power steering / alternator / whatever - it's probably the CVT's input shaft / oil pump.
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2018/MC-10141438-9999.pdf
I'd recommend getting it diagnosed while you have bumper-to-bumper coverage - the noise can end up being not the CVT.
Realistically probably the fluid is already dirty and that's what's causing it - Honda's CVTs are extremely sensitive to fluid quality, the slightest amount of dirt causes the cones to "misalign" and that wears down the internals even faster.
@dan Very much agree with going to a distant dealership. The cost of a plane ticket and maybe a couple of nights in a hotel while on the way home could be well worth it. I usually rent a car one way when traveling to get a car, but the plan was if things didn't work out for some odd reason, I just drive back.
Honestly, I've already priced it out and I'd maybe end up saving 800$ or so. That's not even mentioning the mess of selling my car before I even leave to be able to put trade in amounts forward to the next car I buy. Distant dealerships in terms of driving distance are also out of the question since west coast dealerships are all charging around the same plus or minus 500$. It sucks but is what it is. Not sure what I'm gonna do at this point.
I agree with @nlord , renting a car one way to a distant dealership sounds like a great idea.
Also, consider that a Corolla's MSRP is a bit cheaper then that of the Elantra, so even if the best dealer you can find adds a grand or two, you're still coming up on top.
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(Corolla 1.8L Hybrid LE FWD is $23,050 MSRP, while a Hyundai Elantra 1.6L Blue Hybrid is considerably more at $24,550. And you can't really compare Toyota's lack of a traditional CVT [there's no belt, no nothing, just two electric motors and two differentials! it's brilliant and bulletproof] to Hyundai's awful decision to use a dry clutch dual clutch automated transmission that does wear out and does have issues
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The conventional non-hybrid Elantra is a bit cheaper but it's just so much worse that paying even a few grand more for a Corolla would make sense. The DynamicForce engine and DynamicShift launch gear CVT can actually be used to drive fast and sit in traffic jams! not a thing you can do on a conventional CVT.)
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The same 1.8L and eCVT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzJaFR9xlhM
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If you're looking for additional alternatives, the Subaru CrossTrek (2.0L, CVT, $24,995 - Subaru quality isn't great and it's kind of expensive for how basic and not refined it is) is decent,
and the Mazda3 / CX-30 are also not bad at all (2.5L, conventional automatic, $22,550 / $22,950 - much more luxurious and fun to drive although in recent times there are reports of engine issues on these and there were known transmission issues in the past) and they're more of a driver's car.
Both are considerably better than an Elantra - and yet a Corolla is likely to outlive these by far.
I have heard people getting deals in places like Colorado, that is a much shorter trip than the one you took with the Fit across country. Perhaps even work out a trade in deal, and that way you can drive the fit there and get rid of the thing, if you think it can make a longer trip.
I'm looking to get the Limited for the Elantra, so I would need comparable feature packs for other cars (this trim is 27,300 out the door in my area) for a comparable trim with a Corolla, anywhere within 500 miles of me it costs 2-3 thousand dollars more and even with that there are still some features missing (passenger side power seating, full leather upholstry, fully digital dash, etc). Also, from my research it looks like most of the issues with the iVT that Hyundai has on the Elantra have been fixed and the vast majority of the issues they've had on their iVTs were on the 2020 model since it was their first iVT. This is akin to the issues that Honda had with it's CVTs back in the day as many of you remember. Based on the research I've done of the 2022 model and the 2023 model, it doesn't look like many people have had issues with the tranny, so I think I'm willing to take the risk on it considering the powertrain warranty will cover me for any issues regarding the tranny for 10 years (I don't drive a lot, so I will hit the 10 years well before the 100k miles). I'm still open to getting a Toyota, but I haven't found one within a reasonable distance, and taking 2-3 unpaid days off work, plus the cost of renting a car and flying to a dealership where I could get a good price, then getting a hotel for at least 1 night on the road trip back to Oregon, is totally out of the question for me financially.
$27,000 for an ELANTRA? for a car that's a questionable value at $20k? what...
That's even too much for a Sonata - a much better car in the new gen, although definitely ain't no Camry.
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Also it's Hyundai warranty they don't honor it, see forum member experiances.
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They have not fixed the CVT - I have that on good information from a friend who works at a Korean car import business.
I've been dealing with Hyundai CVTs for over a decade (am outside of the US) and nothing has improved, where currently in the 2nd generation with the C0GF1 and it's worse than the original.
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That's a 2021, completely typical - also the warranty experience is 100% typical.
The reason you don't see 2022 models have these issues in large numbers quite yet is low millages, after the SOFTWARE (not hardware) improvements I'm hearing it's 20k-25k miles.
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anyhow,
good luck.
In case anyone cares, this Monday I ended up going for a 2023 Mazda 3 Hatchback Preferred trim. Got a good deal for 28k and traded in the Honda Fit for 17,700. Not bad at all and I'm super happy with the new car. Thanks for the recommendations guys.
Glad to hear you rid yourself of that 'headache' and got yourself a new Mazda, hope it serves you well!
