Toyota showed the Yaris in Los Angeles a few days ago, now here is Honda's offering for the North American small car segment - the Fit. With Honda's formerly-small Civic moving upmarket, the company is targeting the Fit at first-time and cost-conscious buyers.
Aimed primarily at young buyers (the ones Mark Fields hopes to target with Ford's B-segment concept at the Detroit show), the Fit hits all the hot buttons: iPod capability, versatile cargo space, and fun driving dynamics.
Erin reports that the 1.5L 4-clinder VTEC engine puts out 109 hp/105 lb./ft of torque and is mated to a 5-speed manual transmission or an available 5-speed AT, which Honda claims is first-in-segment. The Fit Sport will have wheel-mounted paddle shifters with the AT selection and a 160-watt six speaker audio system. Fuel economy is rated at 33/38.
The Fit is expected to hit dealerships in April. More pics after the jump...
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Frank @ Jan 8th 2006 8:57PM
The Fit's MPG numbers are incredibly dissapointing. 33/38 just doesn't cut it. What happened? This car get's astounding MPG's elsewhere, but not here? Must be all the federal mandates, emissions...yadda, yadda, yadda.
But seriously, what a dissapointment.
distantbody @ Jan 8th 2006 8:58PM
Echo...echo...Where is everyone?
voice of reason @ Jan 8th 2006 9:03PM
I love these "B-series" cars. Really. The Scion xA and xB are awesome, if in need of an update. The Civic has moved upmarket to compete with small-midsize cars, and larger compacts . . . Honda really needs a true compact car to compete with the Yaris, Rio, etc., which are all getting better and better.
Also, the tall, thin profile is a great idea for urban areas in America, especially on the east coast, where parking is difficult to come by. Sit upright and act like somebody!
Frank @ Jan 8th 2006 9:13PM
I will say though. The styling looks much better in these photos then the pictures I've seen. It actually looks a little bigger than I thought it would look. I noticed Honda is not stating the MPG's on the 1.3L. This is interesting, they must be holding their cards close to their chest with the 1.3L. BTW, what happened to the CVT? Wasn't there a CVT scheduled for production?
One last thing. I called the dealership, Lundgren Honda(Auburn, MA) today about this vehicle. I talked to the salesman who "handles" phone calls for sales about this vehicle. Shockingly, he began to tell me that the car was a concept vehicle and that they would not be seeing them for some time. Huh?? You got to be sh*tting me! Clueless!!
Peter @ Jan 8th 2006 9:21PM
I totally don't get this either. I was on a site looking at the new Yaris Mileage, it was actually less than the Corola. Now the Fit has about the same as the Civic. Kind of defeats the purpose of the super tiny engine.
About mileage elsewhere, they often have smaller engines or more economy oriented engines as well they are often quoting imperial gallons. But still this is dissapointing.
starlightmica @ Jan 8th 2006 9:38PM
More info:
http://hondanews.com/CatID2150
http://fit.honda.com/
Looks like Toyota (Yaris) and Honda will need to bring over smaller engines, CVT, or both for better economy. I wouldn't mind ESC, either. Trying to figure out if a 14k car is a good enough commuter or to spend a bit more to get a compact.
2Suave @ Jan 8th 2006 10:03PM
Saw Fits everywhere in Japan when I was there in November. Didn't drive nor sit in one, but they looked like useful cars.
Because it's been on roads overseas for a time, the Fit should be fully tested and reliable, too. Great entry-level car IMO.
Peter @ Jan 8th 2006 10:10PM
They won't bring over a smaller than 1.5 engine. This is as small as they will get in North America. Both the Yaris/Fit have better city mileage but highway is no better than Civic/Corolla so for me that does mostly highway I think a Civic/Corolla would be better, but they don't have hatchbacks...
Alex Zhao @ Jan 8th 2006 10:11PM
looks like the last gen si...
Brian @ Jan 8th 2006 10:14PM
To me sometimes in these small cars like the Fit and Yaris too small of motors are put into the vehicle. If they put just a little more powerful motor in the vehicle, the motor would not have to work so hard to keep the momentum of the vehicle. Therefore, I think sometimes too small of a motor hurts your fuel economy just like too big of a motor.
Peter @ Jan 8th 2006 10:14PM
Fit vs Yaris. I think the Yaris is better styled, but the Fit is much more versatile, has available Cruise control, and has the instruments in the right place.
I think it would have to be the Fit.
Steve B. @ Jan 8th 2006 10:31PM
The Honda Jazz, as the fit is known in the U.K., is available with a 1.2L or 1.4L engine,
1.2L I4
76hp @ 5700 rpm
51.4mpg combined mileage
0-60mph: 13.7
1.2L I4
82hp @ 5700 rpm
48.7 mpg combined mileage
0-60mph: 13.2
Converting those imperial gallons to US gallons gives us 42.7 for the 1.2L, and 40.5 for the 1.4L. Bear in mind that is for miniscule engines in a country where gas costs $6/gallon and a V6 is a luxury; the 2.4L I4 is the top Accord engine over there, and far more driving is puttering around in crowded cities and villages than driving large freeways from one side of a metroplex to the other.
As for the mileage, the following are figures for the competition in the subcompact market class:
Kia Rio (manual): 32/35
Kia Rio (auto): 29/38
Chevy Aveo (manual): 26/35
Chevy Aveo (auto): 24/34
Scion xA (manual): 32/37
Scion xA (auto): 31/38
THe issue here is that Honda is merely meeting the bar on fuel economy, not exceeding it as we've become accustomed. We have come to expect miracles from Honda (and I'll say that the 1.8L, 140 hp Civic pulling 30/40 with an automatic is pretty freakin' awesome)
If GM makes a car that is passable, there is great jubilation (like the shoddy 25mpg Cobalt). If Honda makes one that is mediocre in the slightest way, it gets skewered. But of course the media is biased against the domestics, right folks?
Jason Chan @ Jan 8th 2006 10:44PM
i believe the mpg numbers are lower than other small cars becuase of the way the US tests cars. since our highway speeds are higher than most european and asian countries, smaller engines struggle more at higher speeds. so small engines do not equate better gas milage across the speed spectrum. this is the reason why people in hybrids get less than 40mpg on the freeways while cars like civics could get over 40mpg on the freeway with real driving. i think honda decided not to use the cvt in the US cuz it used more gas at higher speeds, unlike the slower driving patterans of the other countries. if you havnt noticed, cars with cvts usually runs near redline all the time under acceleration.
Peter @ Jan 8th 2006 11:14PM
"THe issue here is that Honda is merely meeting the bar on fuel economy, not exceeding it as we've become accustomed. We have come to expect miracles from Honda (and I'll say that the 1.8L, 140 hp Civic pulling 30/40 with an automatic is pretty freakin' awesome)"
Yeah I guess you are right I expected them to beat the civic, having about 30 less HP you would expect more economy. I bet the civic design is more aerodynamic than the fit and that probably tips balance in highway mileage. I really expected them to pull out all the stops to get this to be the best non hybrid gas mileage car for bragging rights if nothing else. Wasn't the old Echo over 40MPG on the highway? Now the new Yaris gets less.
If I was a conspiracy theorist I would think they didn't want plain old small engines showing EPA numbers to close to flashy hybrid technology.
Paul @ Jan 9th 2006 12:54AM
Honda sucks, dunno why anyone would waste money on this Euro-Jap piece of trash.
Jay @ Jan 9th 2006 12:56AM
It's packaged well and likely will be popular for buyers in this class. The interior looks sharp and likely the Honda name will be attractive. However, the exterior styling is already dated. Very boring on the outside and it screams "econobox," which can be dangerous in this segment. These smaller cars tend to attract younger buyers who want something stylish, and they can find that from about everyone else. The Scions are much edgier and the Yaris looks much more current (though in my personal opinion I think it's in dire need of nose job), as do the new Rio and Accent and the upcoming Nissan Versa. I was interested in seeing if the Fit would get some fairly major styling tweaks before coming over to the USA, and it's a bit disappointing that it didn't get much, if anything...
DCX85 @ Jan 9th 2006 2:00AM
I like it imma be in the market for my first new car this fall. I like small cars I thinks in black with 16in wheels maybe 17 to fill the space between it wouldn't look half bad.
Russ @ Jan 9th 2006 2:44AM
The other thing that tips the scale as far as fuel economy goes when converting the figures from Europe is that "regular" gasoline/petrol in Europe is generally the equivalent of super/premium here in the US (around 93-95 octane), and you need a little less of it to achieve the same performance, since the engine timing is a little different to compensate. Therefore, with this, and taking into account the slight difference in volume of a gallon, slightly higher MPG from the other countries.
Honda doesn't offer a diesel option on the Jazz/Fit in Europe, but maybe they should. Other cars in the B-segment in Europe with diesel engines achieve close to (or, in some cases, more than) 60mpg.
Tom Castle @ Jan 9th 2006 7:59AM
I miss the gen-4 Civic's excellent driving dynamics, light weight, and tossability. I thought the Fit might recapture some of that lost magic. It still sounds like it might, but christ what a terrible interior. The Honda train has come off the tracks in a number of ways, but this crap interior looks like something you'd expect in a 95 Nissan, not a 2006 or 2007 Honda.
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