Former AutoWeek scribe Jeff Sabatini is now driving a keyboard for The Wall Street Journal. While our own JL loved the Honda Fit, Sabatini sees the model as the motorist’s Messiah. “While conventional wisdom says that cheap gas should damp enthusiasm for a compact fuel-sipper, I’m not going to be deterred. The Fit is unquestionably my favorite car, a vehicle that’s the best all-around transportation available from any auto maker at any price.” Wow, talk about showing some love! “Well equipped Fits may just outdo the Mini Cooper for the cheap to buy, fun to drive, feel good drive of the year. Move over BMW, the new kid is strutting his stuff. While the iconic BMW 2002 remains a cult classic because it does much with little, today’s BMWs are porkers best suited to poseurs. The Fit has recaptured the cheap to buy, cheap to run, fun to drive crown in part by being ‘nearly 1,500 pounds lighter than, say, a BMW 5-Series, that perennial best-car-on-the-road contender.'” Jeff then takes both the Big 2.8 and Honda to task for not building more Fit-like whips…
“One of the reasons good small cars are so rare is that auto makers have long assumed that small equals cheap; that makes for diminished expectations. Even Honda, known for building good small cars, has recently been guilty of pandering to the bigger-is-better paradigm, supersizing its lineup top to bottom.” But, the sins of those backsliding brethren haven’t sullied Junior, and in these sobering times Sabatini declares “the Fit is the automotive change we need.” While the Fit is certainly fit, it appears that falling gas prices have done little to damage the MSM’s “anyone who doesn’t build, sell or drive a small car is a selfish bastard” meme.
…today’s BMWs are porkers best suited to poseurs.
Enough with the cheap shots already at BMW. They are enjoyable to drive!
They drive well but the efficiency is not very impressive IMHO.
My old Saturn (with a 4sp automatic) gets 33-34 mpg every tank. That’s what the Fit is rated at.
@indi500fan: there is no way you can compare any part of the driver/passenger experience of driving a Saturn to a Fit. The Saturns were cheap, nasty, and designed to penalize the buyer visually and aurally for not buying a Buick.
I know, we had three. And I was SO glad to finally get out of the last one.
To get 30+ mpg in a car that gets great crash test results, is extremely utility-friendly, and is easy on the eyes on the inside is awesome.
The old Fit was lighter on its feet the new one, which actually feels bloated compare to the original.
The Honda Civic is a much better vehicle than the Fit and gets similar fuel economy. The only reason to buy the Fit, is price.
If the Corsa was sold in the states would anyone buy it?
I’d like to see more cars like the Fit–relatively frugal while still being fun to drive. In a few years when I’m ready for a new (or new-ish) car, I’ll be giving cars like these a look, especially since I’m not expecting gas to remain under $2/gallon for very long.
I hope Ford survives long enough to bring the Fiesta to the US–from the little I’ve read, it just might be able to give the Fit a run for its money.
BMW rents 60% of their new vehicles to American drivers or poseurs depending on how one equates them. Perhaps poseur for this brand means the pretension of having money?
Would these same people pretend to be homeowners with interest only mortgages and no money down?
Hmmmm.
Finally learned to drive stick in my wife’s 2008 Fit. Love it, love it, love it. Only three things I don’t like about the car.
1) We were cheap and bought one without cruise – not really the car’s fault.
2) It would be nice to cruise at 80 without having to wind the motor to 4K RPM
3) I rarely get to drive it by myself, and my wife has this bizarre aversion to my more, spirited, driving.
A great car, but wouldn’t get one with the auto. Mazda 3 is also fun, if you want a bit room (cabin and cylinders).
The Fit is more practical than the Civic in a number of respects. Its fold-away rear seats are really quite neat.
As for its mileage, it’s important to remember that, starting this model year, the EPA began including several additional cycles in their test regimen, including cold starts, more aggressive acceleration, higher speeds, and the use of air conditioning. Many vehicles are now rated lower than before, even though they’re unchanged.
The Fit probably won’t get as good freeway mileage as the Civic because of its taller profile and shorter gearing, which at steady highway speeds are a bigger factor than the Fit’s somewhat smaller engine and lighter weight. In real-world around-town driving, it’s very difficult for me to see a Fit not getting better mileage than an identically driven Civic; it weighs more than 300 pounds less, if nothing else.
I haven’t driven a new Fit yet. The old one isn’t an outstanding freeway cruiser (the engine is many things, but it ain’t quiet, and at 70 it’s spinning away), but it’s an agreeable, highly practical car that’s a lot more satisfying than any of its like-priced competitors.
It essentially reinvents the formula of the highly successful 1988-1992 Civic Si with new technologies and some really clever packaging ideas.
“My old Saturn (with a 4sp automatic) gets 33-34 mpg every tank. That’s what the Fit is rated at.”
The EPA’s ever changing fuel economy standards make comparing personal experience to recent ratings hard to do. With our family cars I am consistently able to meet or beat the old 2005 style EPA ratings. Sabatini reported 32 mpg in mixed driving and 40 mpg for his highway runs.
“The Honda Civic is a much better vehicle than the Fit.”
Not if you want to carry anything with you. The hatchback/miniwagon format is much more useful and flexible than a sedan or coupe.
I bet that Honda’s glad nobody has told this guy about the Mazda3.
Also, when did the MINI become cheap to buy?
We have a 1st generation MINI Cooper S — the comment about people being willing to buy small cars that are NICE is spot on. MINI does a good job of balancing economy and performance.
We also have a Honda Odyssey which I plan on replacing with a Honda Fit when the time comes (we’ll keep the MINI indefinitely). I was disappointed to see our local Honda dealer had zero new Fits on the lot. The two used ones (about 25,000 miles) were both priced at about $3,000 over MSRP for the new ones.
Hopefully by the time I’m ready to buy a Fit they will have some more upscale options available; for now the option list is mostly glue-on trim pieces. Seriously, and I hope Honda is listening, I will happily run a $16,000 MSRP Fit up another 50% in price if you let me buy the right goodies: leather, high-end audio, suspension package, etc.
I agree that it’s hard to compare the Fit to the Civic. They are different beasts. You would have a much easier time carrying a big-screen TV in the back of a Fit than you would in a Civic. I would wager that it’d even be easier than doing it in an Accord.
Our #1 car is an ’07 Accord EX and the Fit made an excellent #2. It’s much more fuel efficient (even though the Accord isn’t bad at all) and it’s more flexible in terms of the sorts of cargo that it can haul. Also, the passenger space is pretty comfortable considering the small size of the car.
There are other good small cars but none feel as well built as the Fit does. It really is a great second car for people who can afford something good but don’t necessarily want to be drinking the gas that that normally requires.
@ netrun
beauty is in the eye of the beholder
personally I think my 97 Saturn SC coupe is one of the best looking small cars on the road
and after 12 years and 135,000 miles still looks nearly showroom new due to the plastic panels
In regards to the Fit and it’s gas mileage I have talked to several people who own them and they are getting 40mpg or better on the highway.
I’ll start by saying that I just bought a 2009 Fit Sport manual. I cross shopped this car with pretty much everything in the price range, including: Mazda3, Focus, Yaris, MINI Cooper, MINI Clubman, Miata, Mustang, Saturn Astra (though I didn’t drive one), Suzuki SX4, Versa, various Scions…
I needed a 4-door hatchback as I’m a bassist and it’s hard to fit an upright bass and a bunch of gear into a sedan, so that ruled out numerous things right off the bat. For my needs, the Fit was a clear winner. The interior packaging is very clever and useful, and I’m getting between 37-40 MPG on every tank (not much city, but plenty of mountain driving — I live in the Wasatch Mountains).
I’ve had it on some windy roads too, and it was fun. Couldn’t care less if other cars would be faster, but it was entertaining in the twisties, while still being good for the daily thrash to work.
Everything I drove wound up being compared back to the Fit. I went into the process with an open mind, just needing adequate space for my needs and good value. A little fun-to-drive was a nice plus. The Fit did what I asked at a fair price, so I bought one.
On another level, it was the only one of the cars I tested that I really *wanted*, not just that would work. The last 5 years my daily driver was a Hyundai Accent, and I’ve had enough of boring-but-functional; go ahead and laugh, but the Hyundai never failed to do what I asked it to do, and it was cheap to own and run even with depreciation. Just not fun at all.
Is a Fit the answer to everyone’s vehicular needs? No. Does it show that a small, reasonably inexpensive car can still be fun and of good quality? Yes.
The engine noise isn’t that bad.
You can tell its on, but eh. But then I drive with the stereo on 30, so what do I know.
The Fit is a great utility vehicle; I have shipped lawnmowers and dishwashers in the back with room to spare; very fuel efficient. .
When comparing the Fit to the Civic, I prefer the Fit no only for it’s utility but it has a real instrument panel – no more disco dashboards please.
The fit is the better city car, the civic the better highway car. Really I would prefer the Civic Hatch that we don’t get over the fit. I will only do without a hatch if it is a convertible. Otherwise I want that extra practicality.
I plan on getting a new car in 2010 and I will go with the new Mazda3 wagon before the fit. Or perhaps a Diesel Golf if it is here. The fit probably won’t be high enough on my list to warrant a test drive.
I really hate the current fetish with high revving top gear, just because some people are too lazy to downshift.
I do long road trips. 10 hours at 4000rpms is enough to hate any car.
Bytor
Just as an FYI the 2009 Fit (Auto) runs about 2500RPM’s at 65mph on the highway.
Myself I’ve got 45mpg on a trip where I was going 70mph on average. Around town i’ve been hitting about 37mpg. now that the temp is dropping in MN it’s dropped a couple of degrees.
I picked the Fit because of it’s awesome interior packaging. It’s frugal, fun to drive and nicely practical.
Yeah, I know the Autos have better cruising gears, but I am diehard manual shifter.
I recently purchased an ’08 Fit Sport auto for my first car. Coming from an ’89 4-cylinder Camry to the Fit was pretty amazing: cars can actually be *fun* to drive!
I’m going to second tony-e30’s comment about the Mazda 3, and perhaps even the Astra sport Coupe, and the Rabbit too. I imagine those hatches are far more exciting than the Fit to drive, but they were out of my price range at the time I looked, so I resisted the test drive. Of course, now that auto sales are down, you can probably get into a Mazda 3 or Astra for less than the MSRP that Honda will probably demand for the new Fits.
@shrique
It should be noted that the 2009 Fit’s trip computer inaccurately measures MPG and should not be relied upon when quoting fuel economy figures. I’ve firsthand seen a trip computer exaggeration of +5-8 MPG.
Would anyone besides me be interested in a Fit SI?
The Clubman does seem to show that sporty, practical and efficient can all exist in the same car. A Fit SI could beat the Clubman at its own game, for a lot less money.
Has anybody photochopped this idea yet?
@tweezy:
I did notice the inaccurate MPG meter — my numbers (37-40ish so far) were from hand calculating the MPG based on gas used and miles driven. I’d love to find the Honda engineer who designed that MPG meter and slap him/her — make it correct or don’t make it!
@sheepsimulator:
The current Mazda3 (2008 model) didn’t really knock my socks off. It was nice, but more cramped inside than I wanted, had lower MPG, and didn’t drive any better than the Fit (in my opinion, others may rightly disagree). A nice car, for sure, but I didn’t think it was worth the extra coin.
A Fit SI, or even Type R, would be awesome. For America, though, a Civic SI wagon with those nifty Fit rear seats would be even better..
The Fit is an above average econobox. Engineering, materials and construction are better than that of the competition. However, it’s still an econobox. If that’s what you want, the Fit is an excellent choice. But, if you want more performance, luxury or cargo capacity, you need to look elsewhere.
But, if you want more performance, luxury or cargo capacity
If you want more cargo capacity than the Fit, you’re looking either at a pickup truck, a small crossover, or an older Saab. The Civic is useless by comparison: a tiny trunk with an even smaller opening and a miniscule pass-through. Even the Accord, with it’s unsplit bench, is a waste.
And then there’s the back seat: it’s Fit’s is raised quite high and offers good thigh support and lots of headroom; the Civic’s stupid sloping roof and angled seat-bottom are awful for long trips. If the Fit came with a sixth gear, I’d be hard pressed to think of a reason why anyone should buy a Civic.
For America, though, a Civic SI wagon with those nifty Fit rear seats would be even better..
That descibes the European Civic: it has the Fit’s under-the-front-seats gas tank and torsion-beam suspension (our Civic has a full IRS), both which allow the use of Fit-like rear seats. The problem with the Euro Civic is it’s actually less commodious for the same reason: the low roof and raked rear window eat space.
My old Saturn (with a 4sp automatic) gets 33-34 mpg every tank. That’s what the Fit is rated at.
And your old Saturn is a deathtrap. A slow deathtrap, at that. And one that spewed more pollutants while sipping gas.
I call this “Geo Metro Syndrome”; people are forever comparing new cars to the Geo Metro and it’s amazing mileage, forgetting that it, and cars like it, were thin on safety and emissions regulations, not to mention features, power and packaging.
If the Corsa was sold in the states would anyone buy it?
Not if GM kneecaps it the way they did the Astra.