The best outdoorsy car I could have bought

I recently bought a new car.  Well, it’s a used car but it’s new to me. I traded in my F150 and got a small Honda fit. That’s right it’s a Honda Fit. Many people might find this out of character for me, but it’s perfect for my outdoors-y lifestyle,  and I’ll tell you why.

A lot of times when I tell people that I’m a hiker/backpacker/renaissance man they picture me out in wilderness wearing flannel and carrying a huge canvas bag. They picture the kind of man that chops down trees using only his mustache and only cried once and that was the day Johnny Cash died.  Well… that’s mostly true.

Anyways, I used to own an F150. It was big and super ‘murica. It had a 4.6l V8  (0r 280 cubic freedom inches) linked up to a 4 speed automatic and a solid live rear axle, no power locks, no power windows and vinyl floor. It was pretty well… Truck like.

And for doing truck stuff it was awesome.

However 90% of the time I was just driving to and from school or going to work by myself and getting 14-15 mpg.  So I began trying to determine what I actually needed in my life.

I needed:

1. All the MPG’s (80 mile round trip commute for school)
2. Seating for 4 adults/2 adults and a baby
3. Room for gear (for adventures, but also my future dad supplies)
4. Safety (I’m having a baby people)
5. Decently fun to drive (my truck was like piloting a barge)
6. Inexpensive (I’m having a baby people!!)

As I started looking at cars, I looked at 4 wheel drives, all wheel drives and smaller trucks.  I began to think about how many times I had needed that in the past. In the last 3 years, I have needed 4 wheel drive about 3 times.  I know that Crossovers and tiny SUV’s are the hottest thing right now (my wife even has one) but I really don’t need that extra “extreme ground clearance” most of the time.  I needed a car that would be reliable, fun to drive and most important of all, get good gas mileage.  You see, it kind of takes away from the fun of going on an adventure if I spend $100 in gas to go on a weekend trip.

Enter the Fit:

The Fit is Honda’s small car. It’s a hatchback.  Since most of the adventures that I go on involve me driving to a trail head and parking in a asphalt parking lot, I realized I really didn’t need some crazy 4×4.  Sometimes, the best outdoorsy car is simply the one that can take  you to the outdoors.  Don’t get me wrong, I continue to dream about owning my very own family adventure truck, but that’s a whole different story.

My point is, take what you got, try hitting up a state park close to you and see what kind of adventure you can find.