Small car for the small bike racer

[Matthew Strongin]

Sorry for the dumb question, but if I were to use this in the back of my Fit, I could just lay it in there, no need to screw it down?

Yep. I use one in the back of my FJ. It floats freely to push it out of the way, but it's pretty stable once a bike is mounted. Just try not to slam on the brakes.

[AngryScientist]

Yep. I use one in the back of my FJ. It floats freely to push it out of the way, but it's pretty stable once a bike is mounted. Just try not to slam on the brakes.

yea, i just have a simple fork mount on a length of 2x6 in the back of my jeep. i did put some rubberized material on the bottom, but it stays put without any other restraint. many thousands of miles of travel on this set-up.

[Blue Jays]

My fork-mount device is similar. It is of overall better quality than retail racks.
I used a very heavy piece of polished maple with countersunk stainless steel screws.

Mine has velcro hooks taped to the underside to make it removable yet very stable.
You can build yourself a truly great interior rack using nice high-quality Rocky Mounts.

[Diablo de Acero]

dogrange


"Sorry for the dumb question, but if I were to use this in the back of my Fit, I could just lay it in there, no need to screw it down?"

Mine isn't bolted down. I keep it behind the backseat when I have them in the up position. I just mentioned that because a friend of mine does in back of his pickup. Sorry if I wasn't more clear.

[dogrange]

My fork-mount device is similar. It is of overall better quality than retail racks.
I used a very heavy piece of polished maple with countersunk stainless steel screws.

Mine has velcro hooks taped to the underside to make it removable yet very stable.
You can build yourself a truly great interior rack using nice high-quality Rocky Mounts.

Good idea on the velcro - would latch on to the fabric stuff on the back of my folded-down seats. This project sounds so easy that even I can do it!

[GonaSovereign]

The Fit is a great little car for carrying stuff. It truly is surprising how much you can put inside.

If, however, you like driving cars, putting your bike in the back of a Golf GTI will make the drive as much fun as the race you're going to.

[hidayanra]

I have a Mazda3 hatch, and it worked fine for years -

THAT SAID, it was the compromise car for the wife and I.
I really really wanted a Fit, such a great car, but such is life.

[defspace]

Bumping this one back up. The Fit really does check all my boxes except for some of the crash testing scores. Anyone have any suggestions for a safer alternative?

Why oh why can't Honda USA bring the Civic tourer into the states?!

[dogrange]

Bumping this one back up. The Fit really does check all my boxes except for some of the crash testing scores. Anyone have any suggestions for a safer alternative?

Why oh why can't Honda USA bring the Civic tourer into the states?!

Aargh, are you telling me that my Fit is dangerous?

[defspace]

218 Honda Fit

Depends on the year, I guess. The small front overlap scores had me a bit worried.

[dogrange]

218 Honda Fit

Depends on the year, I guess. The small front overlap scores had me a bit worried.

Legitimately so, it seems. Hope that's not where I get hit!

[jclay]

I was an accident reconstruction engineer for a couple of years in the late 80s. I'm way out of date with respect to current crash safety technology and crash testing methodology & data interpretation. In my day the test results really only gave relative rankings wrt cars of closely matched mass. If a 3000# car with excellent crash test results collided with a 5000#?car having poor test results the occupants of the heavier car were more likely to survive. I don't know if current testing has progressed to the point of adjusting for that or if safety devices have leveled the playing field enormously. If not then no small car will fare well in a big car collision regardless of its safety score. You might benefit from running that particular issue down to see if the Fit crash test results are as relevant as one might think.

[ides1056]

Toyota Matrix / Pontiac Vibe.
No longer in production so used only, inexpensive, cheap to run (Corolla derived), decent mileage, plenty of room with the rear seats folded.
Of the first generation I think the Vibe looks better, with the Matrix looking better from the second generation.
My 2005 Vibe cost me $9K with 40K miles, I now have 125K miles on it and it's barely cost me anything outside of routine maintenance.
Not as fun to drive as a VW Golf but it'll get you where you're going just fine.

I have a 2003 Matrix with 180K, and it rivals my wife's Audi in the snow. Goes most anywhere you'd care to take a car, and pretty cheap to maintain past 130K if you don't use OEM parts. Also have Golf from the same year- not as much room, but it's also a very cheap car to own if it has the 2.0 motor. Interior doesn't hold up as well as the Matrix.

[jclay]

Fixed barrier testing mimics two cars of the same mass colliding. But conservation of momentum dictates that you'd rather be in a somewhat lower scoring car that is significantly heavier than a lighter car that scores extremely well; just off the cuff, a thousand pound difference between the two cars would make a substantial difference in outcome; one of the documents I read considered 250# to be a meaningful difference as it relates to collision results. That sounds a little low to me. All of this assumes cars with similar safety technology but my hunch is that an older, heavier car having older safety technology would fare better than a newer, lighter car; the type of impact would also be expected to bear on the results, say, side curtain airbags in one vs not in the other. But generally speaking, the occupants of a 3500# car are going to have a real bad day if in a serious collision with a 4500# car, never mind a pickup truck!

Side impact testing involves a striking car of about 3000#. A lot of cars (most?) weigh more than 3000# these days!

IIHS side impact testing that mimics an SUV t-boning the subject car sounds like a good improvement particularly wrt over-ride. Same comment wrt the IIHS rear impact testing. I'd place value on higher scores in head/neck support. Rear end collisions even at relatively low speeds can easily change your life wrt neck injuries.

I like good roof strength and rollover protection. I don't know if it's still the case but when I was doing accident reconstruction the SUVs of the time didn't have to comply with passenger car standards for rollover crush resistance. I investigated more than a few SUV rollovers involving belted occupants that ended up quadriplegic or dead. What with the extremely raked windshields and A-pillars these days, cars aren't as structurally efficient at rollover crush protection. I don't know if they're better but if so then it's because there's more steel in the A-pillars and they're fatter (hence A-pillars completely obscuring other cars at times...never mind a bicycle!).

I briefly reviewed the 2018 IIHS and 2017 NHTSA Honda Fit results; they looked very good to me.

Summary: In a collision with a significantly heavier car every smaller car is at a disadvantage with respect to the mass differential as well as over/under-ride; and I think the lighter weight is generally the dominant attribute related to injury severity rather than minor differences in crash test scores between your suite of candidate small cars. Airbags help mitigate the results but there's no way of getting around the inherent disadvantage due to lower mass.

Aside: I wish Toyota or Honda would reintroduce the Volvo 240! They really put structural issues (and visibility from within the car with skinny but strong A & B-pillars) front and center back then.

And another aside: Which company was it that, a couple of decades ago, had the ad that read something like "when the roads get slick, our AWD blah blah blah...." and then showed the 5-O'clock shadow faced stud muffin expertly piloting his car (with attractive wife and kids) around whatever the danger was? You know what, when the roads get slick, slow the hell down or pull into a fast food joint until the squall line passes. Don't depend on tech to save you; depend on good judgement, better situational awareness and not effing around with your phone or whatever. That works a lot better. A little time at a high performance driving school would be money well spent, too.

[jclay]

Bumping this one back up. The Fit really does check all my boxes except for some of the crash testing scores. Anyone have any suggestions for a safer alternative?

Why oh why can't Honda USA bring the Civic tourer into the states?!

That was a lot of blather that I should have reduced to this: If you want a small car the current model Fit looks like a good choice from a safety perspective; I'm sure there are others. You'll be at a disadvantage in a collision with a larger car but that's the case with any small car. I'd suggest a higher visibility (non dark) color, too. Be careful out there and secure you bikes well; you don't need them flying around if trouble comes.

If you're not current on tossing a car around then a half day of performance driving training can go a long way towards being effective at evading potential collisions.

[defspace]

That was a lot of blather that I should have reduced to this: If you want a small car the current model Fit looks like a good choice from a safety perspective; I'm sure there are others. You'll be at a disadvantage in a collision with a larger car but that's the case with any small car. I'd suggest a higher visibility (non dark) color, too. Be careful out there and secure you bikes well; you don't need them flying around if trouble comes.

If you're not current on tossing a car around then a half day of performance driving training can go a long way towards being effective at evading potential collisions.

John, that was very informative blather. Thank your for sharing your knowledge.
I'll have to do some digging to understand the test results a bit better. It's a bit sobering to think that there's not much you can do to overcome mass. I don't remember much from high school physics, but F=MA stuck with me.

[dogrange]

That was a lot of blather that I should have reduced to this: If you want a small car the current model Fit looks like a good choice from a safety perspective; I'm sure there are others. You'll be at a disadvantage in a collision with a larger car but that's the case with any small car. I'd suggest a higher visibility (non dark) color, too. Be careful out there and secure you bikes well; you don't need them flying around if trouble comes.

If you're not current on tossing a car around then a half day of performance driving training can go a long way towards being effective at evading potential collisions.

THanks for the info John. It sucks that those of us who attempt to drive with at least a smaller footprint are subject to extra danger because of the prevailing culture of bigger for no reason cars. I guess as bike riders on the road we are in even more danger because of this than when I am wearing my small-car-driver hat!

[jclay]

^^^It does suck. Europe got it right by taxing on displacement, hence most folks driving smaller cars and the tax proceeds being plowed into serious mass transit systems. We could learn a thing or two from that and them.

In your research be looking for anything that attempts to quantify the degree to which air bags and belt tensioning devices mitigate against being the lighter car. I want to think that someone is looking into that question.

[jclay]

Yeah, we don't get that segment here in the states. It's really too bad. I'd *love* a ford B Max. No b-pillar!



But we can't have nice small things here in the states it seems...

Fixed B-pillars are your friend in a side impact collision....big friend!

[rec head]

I've seen a fair number of car wrecks and the number of people that walk away from them is almost miraculous. Modern safety features are fantastic.



Oh, and my '08 Fit just turned 37,000 miles, luckily without any accidents.