Last weekend, having legally acquired reasonable amounts of legal tender, i decided to ditch matatus and opt for a car hire to travel upcountry. I needed something small and inconspicuous but with enough comfort, acceptable legroom and a reasonably sized boot. I eventually settled on a not so inconspicuous Honda Fit in a not so attractive but decent yellow at a reasonable 3500 per day.While Honda outdid themselves in terms of comfort (at least in comparison to a Vitz or a passo) i was appalled at the fuel consumption, the journey all the way was mostly a descent and i had 3 passengers with negligible luggage onboard but the fuel consumption was horrendous at best in spite of the fact that i’m always light on the pedal and i rarely go past 80 unless overtaking and no i did not use the cruise control function, i didn’t feel like it was really necessary, it was a normal highway with crazy overlapping matatus and slow-moving traffic (by no means an autobahn) making the use of that function untenable.To put things into perspective, my dad’s 1.8L fielder makes the journey to and fro and usually consumes just under 4k worth of fuel with 5 occupants and the boot full to the brim with luggage and returns with the fuel gauge needle slightly above E yet he drives like a lunatic but this bloody fit with it’s 1.3L engine had the audacity to burn through 5,400Ksh Worth of fuel for the journey to and fro. To add insult to injury, i got a flat tyre on my way back in the middle of nowhere at 4.00 A.M and to my surprise and much to the chagrin of my passengers, the spare tyre provided was also flat and a wheel spanner was non-existent. We had therefore to endure the indignity of sleeping in the car until dawn since the owner had conveniently refused to answer any of my calls.
A group of unsavoury women also attempted to break into the car and relieve us of our bags of potatoes, green peas and some fresh milk thinking there were no occupants inside but we swiftly intervened chasing them off (can the GOK Please fix the bloody economy).At sunrise, we flagged down a bodaboda operator who lent us a wheel spanner that he conveniently happened to be carrying and ferried our blown tyre to the nearest town for repair after which we set off again on our return trip. On returning the car, i expressed my displeasure at the owner with unpalatable expletives since he had checked all these items as being available on the agreement form and therefore i had seen no need to countercheck. In my ineptitude, i simply signed and provided the necessary documents, grabbed the keys and drove off without a care in the world. I also expressed my reservations regarding the horrendous fuel consumption citing possible mechanical issues stemming from a possible lack of much-needed service to which end he promised to look into so that his next customer won’t have his hard-earned legal tender summarily vaporized courtesy of the thirsty engine.In spite of the string of misfortunes i had to endure in my brief sojourn with a hired car that seems to have backfired spectacularly and was a far cry from what i imagined it would be, i must add that the Honda fit was a pretty decent car on the road. It was also decent off the beaten path thanks in part to it’s virtually non-existent front and rear overhangs and short wheelbase though i would not recommend anyone go into muddy or overly extreme terrain that is the preserve of properly equipped SUVs.
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