I've had a chance to go over the car, and it's in surprisingly decent condition.
It's got a few issues... but how many $800 cars don't?
The bad:
- Very minor exhaust leak [muffler itself]
- An occasional rattle in the front end over bumps [sounds like a sway bar link]
- Occasional low RPM hiccup when getting on the gas after coasting [this may be EOC-related]
- The winter tires have good tread, but are old and dry rotted -- wouldn't pass inspection.
- Alignment is slightly off
- Front brake rotors are pretty crusty rusty around the outsides. Questionable whether they'd pass inspection. Pads are at about 40%.
- AC doesn't work [I knew this ahead of time]: the compressor clutch doesn't even click when I press the AC button. Personally, I don't care about AWOL AC, but it will make it a bit harder to sell next year.
The good:
- Engine fired right up after sitting for over almost 2 weeks with no valvetrain rattle [the Mirage does this] or other weird noises
- Race car suspension! [compared to you-know-what]
- Race car steering! [compared to you-know-what]
- Steering is tight [tie rods, ball joints]
- Cruise control works
- Summer tires have decent tread and are newer [no dry rot]
- Cosmetically decent inside - full set of OEM "Weathertech" style Honda rubber mats
- Original paint all around - the questionable appearance of the corner of the front bumper in the top pic was just a reflection/shadow.
The ugly:
- RUST! The rear wheel arch HondaRust. I haven't decided how much effort I'll put into repairing it... because it's always worse than it looks. A proper repair on the driver's side will need metal cut out, patches made & welded in.
Overall:
I think I got a great deal on this fixer-upper!
I'm honestly not sure why my friends priced it so cheaply. I think the car could sell for ~$1500 without doing anything aside from tidying it up. With a valid inspection, it'll fetch over $2k easily.
Funny: my friends told me they
junked another '08 Fit last week because the clutch was shot and it had 100k higher kms [so, ~350k kms = 217k miles]. They only paid the Honda dealer $100 for it, and the junkyard gave them several hundred more than that!
I didn't ask them what they paid for mine.