Honda Fit and Off Roading
- July 2016
- Van Living Hi Steph
Hi Steph!
First I wanted to say I have been thoroughly enjoying your van life posts! My boyfriend and I are on a 5 year plan to save enough, buy a van, and head out on the road for a year, and your posts are excellent inspiration/education. I was wondering though, I saw you used to have a Honda Fit. When you were living out of your Fit, were you able to get to all the locations you wanted? I too have a Fit and although I will push the limits of its minimal clearance, I don’t think it would make it into some of the campsites at Indian Creek or down the rocky roads of Last Chance Canyon or Enchanted Tower. I’d love to hear how you dealt with the clearance issue.
Thanks!
Diana
Hi Diana,
The Fit is such a wonderful vehicle, but sadly it is seriously lacking in offroad capability 🙁 You’ll be fine on groomed dirt roads, but definitely not on anything that requires any type of clearance (as you know…..)
I was briefly wondering if you could put a lift kit on it, but was quickly informed by all that this is a completely ridiculous idea, and also that part of its great fuel performance comes from being very low to the pavement. Oh.
Your only choices are to put a bike rack on the roof and bring a mountain bike, or to join forces with others and get a ride into the really rough areas. The good news is there are tons of amazing places that don’t require 4wd access, so it’s not like you’ll run out of good places 🙂
The way I ultimately solved the clearance problem was that I kept my Ford Ranger. I bought the Fit used in 2012 because I had to get a second head replacement done on the Ranger at 180,000 miles, and the mechanic told me not to expect much more than 200,000 out of it at all. This was a pretty rude shock to me! I decided that rather than replacing the Ranger with something more expensive like a Tacoma, I’d get the Fit and save the Ranger for when I really need 4WD to get somewhere or to haul something. When you live in Moab, there are times you need a truck, like it or not.
Since I don’t drive it much, I’m expecting the Ranger to last me forever now. But this has also shown me that 95% of the places I go are accessible with the Fit 🙂
Steph
