I headed out in the Honda Fit one night to meet some friends for dinner. Both of these two friends happen to drive pickup trucks and, up until the moment I pulled in, probably didn’t realize cars like the Fit existed. The jokes started flying immediately, comparisons to women’s shoes and roller skates. “Where do I put the AA batteries?” one asked.
I tried to point out the Fit’s fuel economy was twice that of their trucks. That gave them a little pause. Then I made the mistake of opening the hood to show them the tiny power plant.
“Oh, someone is without their hair dryer tonight.”
Ouch.
What is it?
The Fit is Honda ’s leap into the ever-flooding B-segment pool. This sub-compact has actually been around in other parts of the world since 2001, but Americans didn’t get the chance to plunk down a few of their hard-earned dollars for a blaze orange metallic Fit until the spring of 2006. Fall of 2008 brought us the second generation Fit with major revisions to the chassis and updated styling. If you want a brand new car chock full of airbags and only want to spend around $15,000 this car should be on your short list.
What’s it up against?
Quite a lot these days. With the sub-compact market exploding much like the SUV market in the ’90s, you’ve got a lot of choices. First, you have Chevy’s Aveo, a vehicle sporting quite possibly the most questionable front fascia on the market. Then you have Nissan’s Versa and Scion’s xD, a pair of small cars that, to this writer, scream “appliance” more than “car.” Rounding out the fleet is the Suzuki SX4 with its exceptionally odd A-pillar and greenhouse and the Toyota Yaris that, well, looks like a gumdrop on wheels. From a strictly visual standpoint, the Fit leads by leaps and bounds.
For the most part, all of these 5-door cars can be had for starting prices between $12,500 and $15,500. Only the SX4 comes in a few dollars short of 16 grand, though the few extra dollars do buy you a few extra horses and features. While most of this sub-compact field has a rating between 106 and 128 horsepower, the SX4 trumps them all with 143hp.
Look for the B-segment competition to heat up even more in the coming year or so as Ford and Chrysler introduce their small car offerings.
Any breakthroughs?
Technology-wise, no way, mostly because a car this inexpensive is inevitably devoid of any especially cool features or techno-gadgets. The input jack for your MP3 player is as high as the Fit goes on the “bells & whistles” scale. Unless, of course, you opt for the fully loaded Fit Sport that includes satellite navigation. Mind you, at that point, you’re paying $18,000, or more with the automatic transmission, for a very small car. Sensible thing to do? Probably not.
How does it look?
Small cars don’t have to look quirky or odd. No one told this to most of the automakers, but Honda got the message. The Fit’s exterior design is easily the classiest in its segment. It has a much edgier look than the previous Fit, with a front end that is angular and sporty with sweeping character lines leading to a bold pair of taillights that anchor the rear of the car. All good things.
If you opt for the Sport model, the Fit starts to look even more, well, sporty with a lower body kit, 16-inch alloy wheels, a chrome exhaust tip and a small spoiler on the rear roofline.
And on the inside?
The nicest way to describe to the interior would be to say that it’s about what you’d expect in a brand new car with a MSRP in the $15,000 neighborhood. If you’re looking for wood and leather, you’ve lost touch with reality. So, yes, hard plastic abounds throughout the interior. It’s all black, gray or silver as are the fabrics on the seats and door panels. The plastic doesn’t look nearly as cheap as it feels, which brings the Fit a big step above small cars of the very recent past.
One big improvement from the first Fit to the new Fit is the switchgear. The first generation had controls with a lovely ’80s era look and feel to them. Fast forward to the 2009 Fit and the dials and switches are much better with a higher quality “fit” and feel to them.
Comfort-wise, the Fit is a toss-up. It’s a very big car on the inside that never left me feeling confined and neither did the 6’3 passenger I drove around. There’s plenty of headroom and plenty of legroom. The new Fit is four inches longer than the previous one and Honda clearly optimized every one of those inches.
Unfortunately, the Fit is still a $15,000 car with what feel like $5 seats. Obviously at this price point, Honda, or any automaker, has limited room to spend more money on better seats without invading their profit margins and jacking up the price. Honda, can we get some seats in there that won’t give me a sore back after two hours behind the wheel? That, or a lifetime supply of pills that bear my last name, though I suspect the latter would be preferable in the long run.
But does it go?
The Fit is actually pretty fun to drive in the same way that a classic Mini Cooper is a lot of fun. Both are like crazed go-karts that are overly maneuverable, only they don’t require crash helmets or fire suits. Most of the time.
Push the Fit into a corner at a brisk speed, and it immediately goes hunting for the outside of the corner. You could just slow down, but that’s hardly the sporting thing to do. The agile Honda gives you room to fight back against that understeer, and it’ll only cost you some moderate body-roll. Is the Fit a little too nimble? Maybe. If you really give it the beans, the Fit can become downright squirrelly.
Honda’s tagline for this car is “Fit is go.” The reality of that marketing depends on your personal definition of “go.” In several higher-end cars, it’s not uncommon to feel like you’re going 70, when, in fact, you’re going 95. It’s sort of the opposite in the Fit. You’ll be flying along in third gear with your foot to the floor, the buzzy 1.5L inline four-cylinder screaming at the top of its lungs, and you’re certain that you’ve hit 75.
Guess again.
No you’ve reached the blistering speed of 53 mph. Don’t get me wrong, the Fit is quick off the line and will continue with sufficient rowing of the gears to 60. Once you reach 60 though, things slow down. Passing anything on the highway requires a downshift or two, or three on an uphill grade. Even with Honda’s 1.5L I-VTEC happily revving to 6600 rpm, the upper end power just doesn’t seem to be there.
Of course any lack of power is all in the name of exceptional fuel economy. This is an economy car at its heart, so it’s a little silly to talk about performance for too long. With a manual transmission, the EPA has the Fit pegged at 27 mpg city and 33 on the highway with a combined average of 29. During my week of mostly highway driving, the Fit exceeded the EPA goals handily, with the computer readout telling me I’d averaged 39 mpg! Sound a little too good to be true? I thought so and calculated it by hand. A 35 mpg average is the number I got. It’s true that fuel economy computers are an imperfect science, but an entire four miles per gallon sipped over seems awfully optimistic.
Why you would buy it:
You want something inexpensive that gets great mileage that ISN’T a moped. It’s the best looking small car out there for around $15,000. It’s got 6 airbags, actual legroom for your friends in the back seat and will cost about $30 bucks to fill up on the rare occasion you stop for gas.
Why you wouldn’t:
You’re the starting center on one of the NBA’s 30 teams. Or you’re just a regular person who feels as if they need more space, power or amenities. Though if any of those apply to you, chances are you never looked at a Fit in the first place.
The gearhead side of me (admittedly a rather large side) would love to see something along the lines of a Fit Type R. You could never cram the Civic Si motor into the Fit’s engine compartment, but maybe the regular 1.5L four-banger could be turbocharged? Tweaked? How about a motor from one of Honda’s sport bikes?
The look on the face of the Volkswagen GTI driver would be priceless.
What we drove:
2009 Honda Fit 5 Door Sport, $16,060. As tested, $16,730.
Destination, $670.
Words and photos by Chris Doane.
