Blount Honda in Leesburg
 

WOW!!! Just got off the phone with a salesman at Blount Honda in Leesburg after giving them a deposit on Sept. 27, 2014 for a new Honda Fit. Haven't heard from them about picking it up so I called them today and he told me it would be another week. Wow, that's it....take it or leave it. No, "I'm sorry, let me see what I can do, Let me call around." Nothing. I guess I am used to having a dealership WANT my business. He did not even try to lie about feeling bad. He is giving me our deposit back and said," go ahead and blog away there is nothing I can do about it." There was no mention about a 2 week wait when he took my deposit, I guess Honda dealers think the Fit is in such demand they can do what ever they want.

If you followed up with a call to the sales manager and again left with the impression they could care less then I would cancel my order and go elsewhere

If i where you i would reconsider and get a different car, the honda fit has a terrible crash rating. I would value my life and well being above a few extra gas miles. May want look at the Honda Civic , it gets almost 4o mpg and is rated one of the top in safety tests. I have had several civics and ran them in the ground with over 25o,ooo miles and did nothing but change the oil and tires. Just a suggestion, would not hurt to test drive one you may buy it.

Last year I wanted to buy a car that was new on the market, a Turbo Veloster and only 700 were brought over from Japan on the first ship and dealers were only get one or none at all. Jenkins Hyundai wasn't getting any and I didn't care if the dealer was a little ways away. So I went on AutoTrader.com, I typed in the make, model, engine, transmission, and a 100 mile distance from this zip code. I didn't want black or red, only silver or white. After two weeks a silver model popped up at Red Hoagland Hyundai in Winter Haven. I called them on the phone, the internet salesman walked out to the car with the phone and answered any questions I had. I then told him to hold it, I'll be there in two hours.

Autotrader also gives the price of what your present car is worth on trade and what I should pay for the new car. After arriving at the dealer, I drove the car, told the salesman what I would pay and how much I wanted for my trade. After he left the room, he returned in 30 seconds and said we have a deal. I drove the car home that day, this is what it looks like, I paid $22,600.

https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/64...0/856/z4dc.jpg

What's your hurry? It'll get here when it gets here.

That's simply old news and no longer true. The front bumper DID have a safety problem but Honda fixed them on the newer 2015 Fits and has done a recall on all the other Fits already sold. I have a Fit that we took possession of in June and I can honestly say that I have never loved a car more. I am not a car person and think of them only as transportation, but this little car is so spectacular and I am thrilled that I have it. It is large enough inside for my very large borzoi (Russian wolfhounds) and accommodates my husband who is a big guy and yet fits my petite frame perfectly when I drive. If you haven't seen it up close or driven it you can't know what you are missing. I would buy another one in a heartbeat if anything happened to this one. We got one of the first ones in production and we had to hunt for it. Blout didn't have one for us either and we went to Clermont for ours. You have to hunt one down but they are worth it. Good luck finding your Fit. If you have to wait I hope you do.

I have done business with Blount Honda ever since moving to The Villages. They are very professional and Honda products are excellent. Their service department is outstanding. Wouldn't most buyers who are in genuine "rush" simply asked about projected availability when plunking down their deposit? This smells like a case of "buyers remorse" after finding someplace else offering some small price advantage .

You can't find a more rigid business attitude than The Villages real estate sales ("NO negotiating!") but we still buy plenty of new houses anyway. Car dealers want to sell cars, not be the target of smear campaigns. Sounds like there is more to the story than we've heard here.

Why not the 4 cylinder accord? I hand 2012 that gets 37 mpg on highway and 28 around town. Honda of Ocala seems to have better ratings that one Leesburg.
I going to have pick one for servicing. Trying to figure out which one better?

Honda has people lining up to buy their products. I guess what I am saying if you can't find something on the lot, it's probably going to wait no matter where you go.?

I've found Blount Honda to be excellent to deal with. Their prices are competitive and they have an excellent service department.

I'm all about auto trader and cars.com! So much easier doing the research online and getting the vehicle of choice!

I have ordered a Honda Fit for when I return to the States in December. I love it and Honda has greatly upgraded their safety on it. I put a downpayment on it and they said it would be in by the end of October ( I don't need it until December, so no problem), but they did say that it is in high demand and they are having trouble keeping them in stock. I bought mine in New Hampshire. I wanted exactly the color and extras that I desired, so ordered it special. It will be waiting for me when I get off the plane. They didn't want to haggle on the price at all because they are in such demand, but they did come down a couple of hundred in the end.

Really happy to hear this. There is nothing worse than dealing with incompetent service dept. staff.

Has nothing to do with the deal. It was a good deal and will be hard pressed to find the same one. Remarks were stated because HE DID NOT CARE! Nothing about this man told me he cared about my business. It was like, "so what if you leave another one will be right here." Maybe he made a wrong deal with me and was hoping I'd walk so he could get more from the next guy. He was not sorry.

Great post John. That's exactly what I will do next time I buy a new one. Thanks!

Bought a car from Blount Honda this year and they were great to deal with and their service department is great to deal with.

Very unfortunate, all my dealings with Blount have been positive and their service dept is wonderful.

I was just notified by email with pictures that my FIT has arrived and is waiting for me when I get off the plane in December. Yay, can't wait. A new car, a new house and Florida sunshine. It's especially nice to hear mostly positive remarks about Blount snce I'll have to be using their service department.

think you will love it
 

you won't need the service dept. much. We have one of the 1st Honda Fits available from 2007, about 140,000 miles on it right now. Plan to get another in a year or two. It "fits" in our CYV garage with 2 golf carts (and 3 bikes, 2 storage cabinets, a workbench and numerous other stuff hung on the walls.

Only 2 drawbacks that we see - passenger seat gets uncomfortable on long trips but that's partly because we usually have so much in it that we can't recline the seat. Hoping they improved the seat padding on the new ones. I'm going to investigate seat pads or something before the next long trip. We do go 3-4 hours between stops, and that doesn't help either.

Also, be careful pulling in to parking spaces with a curb in front - it is low and you can damage the understructure.

Good to know, thanks. I'll be driving down from Boston in January, so I'll let you know how comfortable the seat is. I'll be driving so Mom will be the one sitting in the passenger seat and we will have a lot of stuff in the car (including my cat), so she probably won't be able to recline either. I did notice that it looked a bit low in the pictures, that concerns me a bit.

John:

Good Morning! I have some questions concerning your Turbo Veloster. The car looks great, did you get the 6 speed or the automatic transmission and are you still happy with your purchase? Looking for my retirement car and something fun to drive.

Thanks for your help.
Randy

The car turned two years old on Oct 10th and it has just over 15,000 miles. The only maintenance has been the normal service, which I had done at 3750 miles, 7500 miles and 13,000 miles. I usually get about 26 -27 mpg around town and 30 on the highway. It's an automatic, my wife can't shift gears so that was the reason for that.

Last two times I was in the dealer (Jenkins of Ocala) they didn't have any turbos, the salesman at Jenkins said they were limited. I wouldn't buy the regular version, I hear it's a real dog. They are 138 HP compared to 201 HP on the turbo. The only thing I didn't care for was the 3 doors, I don't know why they didn't put a 4th back seat door on the drivers' side, I guess to be different. You can't be a big person and drive one of these, I'm 5'9" and have no problem but if you're over 6' then probably forget it.

Mine is Ironman Silver, I thought white looked good as well, they also make black, red, blue, silver (matte finish) and aspirin (orangish). The matte finish is very unique but I hear it's difficult to keep looking right. Everything is standard including the leather seats, the only option is the moon roof/naviation package and that's about $3500. I've had moon/sun roofs before and didn't really use them and don't care for more bright light shining down through. When I bought mine the base price was $23,925 but as my post above states, I didn't pay that amount. I read that some dealers were charging full list plus more. I've read lately that Hyundai might discontinue making the Veloster due to poor sales, only 30,000 sold in North America since it's introduction in 2010. I think the regular engine is the reason for that, why not make all of them turbos?