<p>I buy a new car every 10 years or so and it’s time. My head is fighting with my heart over this one. The Fit is practical - great mileage, extremely flexible hauling space, and great price - but small and the interior is more of the “starter” car grade. It does have all of the bells and whistles though. The Forester is much more than I would usually spend, but it is so comfortable. It is larger than I am used to and gets much lower mileage. I really like the styling. Any experiences or thoughts?</p>
<p>I love my 2010 Forester!
My (adult) kids prefer its back seat to the back of their dad’s Passat.</p>
<p>The Fit has such a great layout but when we test drove it, it just didn’t seem to have enough pick up for freeway driving. With the very unforgiving short on ramps around here, that seemed like a safety concern.</p>
<p>How about the Impreza Sport? It’s a little bigger (2 cu ft more passenger and cargo), AWD (well, more useful here in New England than Texas) and comparable gas mileage for about $5k more. The Outback is nice too - much bigger. The official gas mileage numbers of 19/27 but we did much better than that on a recent long trip with mileage around 33. I think that the CVT was a help there.</p>
<p>Subaru. You will love the Forester. I would say that our (H’s) Subaru has never had any problems, but it broke down today! (105,000 miles)</p>
<p>What about going to a slightly larger Honda rather than the Subaru?</p>
<p>I know a lot of people who love the Fit… great car, but it is tiny! Have you looked at the Civic?</p>
<p>We have many Subarus in our parking lot with well north of 300K miles.</p>
<p>Can you see yourself in the Fit’s “starter car grade” 8 or 9 years from now? If you’ll be in your 50’s, you might want to splurge for the Forester and get a few more creature comforts.</p>
<p>Love my very old subaru!!!</p>
<p>Love, love it!</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>Well, I’m in my late 50’s now so… I like the styling of the Forester over the CRV. I’m just afraid I will regret my purchase of a Forester every time I pull up to the pump. I’m a long time owner of both a Subaru and a Honda, so I have confidence in them both. Seems like there are a lot of Subaru enthusiasts here. I haven’t looked into the Sport, but I will.</p>
<p>I’m replacing my old Civic and really would like a small SUV or hatchback, and after a lot of research into reliability and so on, I’ve narrowed it down to these two models.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Small on the outside, relatively large on the inside. I.e. easy to fit 
in small parking spaces, but you can fit all of your stuff in it.</p>
<p>Another car that does this well is the Kia Soul.</p>
<p>Subaru owner here, and very happy. But…the Forester was not comfortable for my knee. The Oubtack was fine. The local Subaru dealer was happy to give me a loaner car for a full 8-5 day so I could make sure that it was comfortable. (I can’t tell with just a fifteen minute test drive.) It does not have great acceleration uphill, though learning to use the lower gears (I have an automatic) is a big help on that front.</p>
<p>We bought the Fit and a CRV last spring and love both. The Fit is our kid car - pickup is actually quite good, but reminds me of the Civic Hatchback I had when I was a kid. Definately compact in that back seat - but do-able. It is much more comfortable to drive and has a really good view of the road because of the way the front window is. I like it alot. Mileage is great. </p>
<p>I looked at the Forrester but couldn’t get the price within the CRV - the back seat on the Forrester seems smaller than the CRV - the middle is quite uncomfortable and since this was going to be the family car - needing seating for 5, this was a deal breaker. </p>
<p>The Forrester is much more like a CRV size (and looks very similar) - I wouldn’t exactly compare Forrester to a Fit.</p>
<p>What about a 2013 Ford Fusion? Great gas mileage, super practical and the styling of a luxury car.
[2013</a> Ford Fusion Car | The All New 2013 Ford Fusion. Redefining Your Expectations Of What A Car Should Be | Ford.com](<a href=“http://www.ford.com/cars/fusion/2013/?intcmp=fv-hpbb-2013-fusion]2013”>http://www.ford.com/cars/fusion/2013/?intcmp=fv-hpbb-2013-fusion)</p>
<p>Impreza sport drives and sits you low to the ground like a sports car feel. I prefer the lifted seat on the Outback and the Forester. Have owned Outback and Impreza sport. I drove a Honda Fit and loved it. Do you need AWD? BCEagle - what is CVT?</p>
<p>I have an old Forester (165,000 miles) and a 2009 Outback. Both have been good cars for us. If you do consider the Impreza, check the impact on your car insurance cost. I was thinking about the Impreza last time I bought, but it was much more expensive to insure than the Outback. Something you might want to check between the Forester and Fit as well.</p>
<p>Are you limiting your choice to just those 2 vehicles? There are lots of other choices available.</p>
<p>Another 2010 Forester owner here. We didn’t look at the Fit, but compared it the Toyota RAV and the Honda CRV. A big issue for us, was the ability to see out the back window when backing up.</p>
<p>Since I keep cars for so long, I’m being extremely careful about reliability ratings. You just can’t beat Hondas in that regard. What I really want is a Civic wagon, but those don’t exist anymore.</p>
<p>The models are so different because I’m waffling between what would be more practical (Fit) versus what would be more desirable but less practical (Forester). I could find models in both categories but that is what I’ve narrowed down to after research.</p>
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<p>The current Honda Fit is pretty close to the dimensions of the last Honda Civic wagon that was offered in the US.</p>