Vibiant

This would be OK if I lived in Lake Forest, Illinois, because if I lived in Lake Forest, I would be used to this sort of thing.  It was also mean that I was filthy rich, flat towed a Porshe 928 behind my Prevost coach for use as a dinghy, and 5 months after my trip to Maranello, my Scag would be showing up on the transporter. 

However, I live Someplace Else, I do not own a Scag, Prevost or even a crummy 928 I can flat tow behind things, but I did order a Honda Fit.  A Fit that might actually show up sometime soon.  I think.  Maybe.  I have a window of dates sometime in March that it may appear, like some kind of last-minute Celine Dion concert for the President, but since it has been five months already, I have sloped down to grim resignation that at some point, like the Bataan Deat6h Marchm, it will be over. 

I am automotively aware in ways that most people could only hope to be aware of their spouses.  This might perhaps explain why I have no spouse, but we’ll leavbe that for a different installment under a different category.  When the Fit came out in 2003, in Japan, and in Europe labelled as the Jazz, I was taken by the size; smaller than the mutating Civic but not actually K-class.  Since I’ve already owned a K-class car, [a 1971 Honda AX600], I knew that I at least stood a chance of fitting in a Fit, and there was a small possibility that they might axctually import it here.  It looked like a fun car by dint of being small, and hence, light, and the British auto press loved it, and generally speaking their car dynamics priorities are in line with mine.  Small and nuiimble rule the day, even without huge horsepower.  Yes, I would buy an Elise if I could afford one, and drive it every day. 

Next, the waiting game; I had heard rumors of the Fit coming Stateside, and waited, I needed another car, the Rust Fairy had spanked me good on my SE-R ,to the point where the radiator was in danger of actually falling out of the car, so another vehicle was in order. , not that I want to get rid of my SE-R, but I am simply running out of car to love; little bits of it keep falling off.  I was at one point almost prepared to buy a Chevy Aveo, simply because it was roughly the same size and shape as the Fit.  Not to offend friends of mine who own them [and for some reason there are several], but the Aveo is to a Fit as an inflatable fuck toy is to Kate Beckinsale; it offers roughly the same features but the experience is totally different.  But I have to admit there was a several month period where I was ruthlessly combing back issues of Car to try and find some a d find any articles at all about the Daewoo Kalos, which is what the Aveo actually is, though even overseas the Daewoo name has evaporated and they’re all Chevys now. 

Nevermind.  Fast forward a year or two, and the Fit comes to America, as does the Versa, the Yaris, the new Rio and Accent, so I test drive them, all except the Fit, which is in such great demand [apparently, I wasn't the only one buying Tamiya Fit kits and hoping] that test drives were essentially impossible. Car and Driver really liked it, found the handleling excellent, and generally gushed about it.  Of the rivals, the Yaris came pressy close, but the center-mounted instruments anny me to death, to the point where I would have to set aside money to immediately buy a compact Stack dash to place infront of me, and include a tach, which for some reason is nonexistent on the Yaris Hatch.  The early Previas had no tach, either, the reason from Toyota being that Previa buyers were mostly women and that women were confused by tachometers.  Yup, that’s what they said. 

So, I was set on the Fit.  I ordered one.  Put my deposit down and waited, since they were saying in November, when I was doing this, that the wait would be until February,, maybe end of January, depending on demand.  they’re all made in Japan, one of the few Hondas that actually are, and bought every magazine I could find that had any Fit coverage at all.  I called i

I called in mid December.  They told me to not even bother for a while, the car wasn’t built yet.  I waited.

 I called in mid-January, and was told the same thing.  I bought more magazines.  They sell the Fit in 70 countries or so, and demand is high.  And, since this is a hip car meant for hip people [just look at the broschure if you don't believe me] they have fallen under the spell of the Madison Avenure myth that there are only hip people, buyin’ their lamas, and watching , drive in movies, they only live on the coasts, not the Mdwest, so the Fit supply is even tighter here.  this was the point wherre I was told that I shouldn’t expect my car until March. 

 I called in mid Feb, and discovered one truism of the automotive buying experience:  You know you’ve been waiting a long time for your ordered car when the salesman youy placed the order with no longer works at the dealership.  Long waits are not especially unusual, in the high-end sprts car world, you kind of expect to wait for your Ferrari.  The Fit is many things, but it is no Ferrari.

Once I diid finally find someone to talk to, I did discover that my car had finally been buit.  Some time during the week of February 15th.  It was getting there, or getting here.  Checking the internet told me that a 14 to 19 day transit time across the Pacific is typical, then there’s Customs, the various important Homeland Security kinks, then rail trransit across the country to Chicago, Honda’s main distributuion point, then by truck to here, which this past Friday means some point between March 16th and March 20th.  Finally!

 At some point this category will be filled with interesing Fit-ness, once I actually have the car.