More on the Honda Fit (including video)
The Auto Channel has an extensive article on the Honda Fit, which recently went on sale in the U.S. It delves a little deeper into the five-door subcompact: a summary of its main features; in-depth discussions on the vehicle's exterior, engine and transmissions; an overview of the chassis; a look at the interior with its "Magic Seat"; safety features; and, finally, an overview of all available accessories.
Of even more interest are three videos showing the Fit on the road, a tour of its interior, and the car gettin' dizzy on a turntable.
[Source: The Auto Channel]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Michael 5:37PM (3/02/2008)
I know this article is a couple years old - I've got a 2008 Fit Sport and it rocks! Very tossable, handles incredibly well - makes my old Volvo S60 seem like an oil tanker.
The paddle shifters make it fun. More room than you need. Acceleration is a bit on the slow side, but once you accumulate enough speed (and it keeps up with traffic) it keeps up with the best. I have never felt like it was too slow, and the handling is first rate.
The most fun car you can get for the price.
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Michael Karesh 5:21PM (4/04/2006)
I'm having a hard time warming to the styling--did the same studio that designed the new Civic have a hand in this car?. But I like smaller, agile cars so will definitely test drive this one. Maybe it'll feel the way Civics used to before they got so big and refined.
The base price doesn't look so good until you perform a feature-adjusted comparison. Then it's about two grand below a Civic.
Price comparisons: http://www.truedelta.com
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Fabulo 5:28PM (4/04/2006)
I'm not familiar with "the auto channel" but this "article" reads like a press release. The videos are not very useful either. It's all rosy and great.
Where are the journalists?
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bernie 5:40PM (4/04/2006)
"Where are the journalists?"
They all disappeared in 2001, when Bush took office.
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Hank 6:20PM (4/04/2006)
What I like about the Fit is that it seems to get back to the original soul of Honda cars way back when.
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Tom Design 6:24PM (4/04/2006)
I love these concept drawings! The bulging fenderlines look great, and strike an aggressive muscular stance. Too bad the real picture in the Autoblog post below, shows a smoothed out, flat sided doorstop look, with some tacky cladding at the bottom and front end. The real car looks like another Chevy Aveo, Kio Rio5 or Ford Focus warmed over, nothing so daring.
These are important little cars, cheap entry level vehicles, last about 4-5 years until their 1.6L engines hit 60k, need a valve job and cam chain. Along with the body parts rattle and jangle, they become too expensive to repair, and the car gets tossed. It's cheap econo transportation, and good for the wallet. Not really the enthusiast's car, but light and tossable if you rev the crap out of the anemic engine.
Unless, of course, you're in Bangkok or Rome where these are the standard family sedan!
I sometimes wonder if buying a more substantial vehicle, like a Buick or BMW or Camry or Accord, and driving it 8 years isn't really better for the environment? With the cost and energy of producing new cheapo disposable cars, wouldn't it be better to have something that is very reliable and can be driven 100-200 miles? Just a thought. Still thinking of the article claiming that a Hummer H3 is more eco friendly in the real world away from MPG, than the high tech Prius, with it's toxic batteries and high use of energy to construct. Sad if true.
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LuboDuboLoL 6:25PM (4/04/2006)
LoL @ bernie. You made my day!
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MarkWeb 6:41PM (4/04/2006)
The more I think about it, the more I like the idea that we are getting the existing Fit, introduced in 2005, and not the "refresh" Fit which is due out soon. Based on many reports on edmunds.com , the new 2006 Civic is buggy. (As was the last generation Civic during its first year, but now more people post on the web.)
Even without the risk of introducing bugs during a refresh, there are issues with "federalizing" and "americanizing" the Fit, presently sold only in Asia and Europe. For example, EVERY fit here gets the 1.5, which is gargantuan compared to the small displacement engines which are stock in Asia and Europe for fuel economy and taxation reasons. Over here, the Fit gets the Civic (apparently) 5 speed auto instead of the CVT. The USA Fit also gets a 1.5 VTEC engine instead of the dual spark plug engine used overseas. Etc.
When I bought a Scion xA in 2004, it had a few issues that Scion fixed very quickly in 2005 and 2006 - a weak aircon, excessivelyl harsh ride, and giant rear seat headrests that blocked the view. I suspect some similar, albeit minor, issues will emerge with the USA Fit.
Honda "desperately" (is Honda ever desperate about anything?) needs the Fit, since the new Civic, although selling well now that MPG are fashionable again, is priced in nose-bleed territory (it doesn't hurt that the Civic looks suspiciously like that trend-setting Hollywood car, the Prius). Also, the Fit got RAVE reviews for handling from Car and Driver, something the Scion xA never got. Maybe Honda, at least a little, is returning to its "driver's car" roots.
Meanwhile the Scion xA is much cheaper than the Fit, after taking into account equipment levels, and is much easier to find and buy. Look for (my bet) a freshened Scion xA based on the Yaris this fall. Same puny engine, but maybe a better wheelbase and hence ride.
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Lithous 6:50PM (4/04/2006)
"Price comparisons: http://www.truedelta.com"
The look and feel of truedelta is getting better.
But, please, could you give a link directly to what ever you are writing about at a given time? That is to say, everytime you state something I might actually go there if the link was specifically to what you are writing about (i.e. a price comparisons of the Fit for instance) instead of to your homepage. It gives me a head ache thinking about why you can't just link to it so I don't have to go walking through the whole store to get a carton of milk. I concede, you are a great marketer and you know how to market, but your homepage is already available with your name as a link so be more specific with your links please.
One more thing, (and I hope you take all this constructively), you should have your write-ups on your own site. Maybe it is because you get paid by epinions (I don't know or care) but it makes you look bush league if you link to other company's site for things (especially that you wrote). Are you allowed to copy the epinion write-ups to your site?
Your getting there. The only other thing I am shaky about with truedelta is that 25 examples is very small. When a Camry sells over 450K examples a year and only 25 are needed to allow judgement to pass by the users of your site, I don't know.
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Steve B. 7:45PM (4/04/2006)
"That is to say, everytime you state something I might actually go there if the link was specifically to what you are writing about (i.e. a price comparisons of the Fit for instance) instead of to your homepage. "
That's because he doesn't want you to see the data. He wants to you subscribe.
There is a Volvo ad on this page, which brings in money to support the free service. Guess who is scamming Autoblog for free advertising space?
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Strom 8:18PM (4/04/2006)
The most recent issue of Car and Driver tested the Fit along with other econo hatchbacks. Interestingly enough, the Fit had a better (faster) slalom speed than a Z06 Corvette! Sounds like a fun little ride.
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Jose Grinon 9:58PM (4/04/2006)
kinda lame that it doesn't get any better fuel economy than a civic.
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Jason Chan 10:46PM (4/04/2006)
storm,
you should check out the Spoon Fit in japan, Spoon stuck in a k20 honda engine in the fit and it kept up with a regular s2k on the track.
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Jason Boston 12:38AM (4/05/2006)
If this econobox is faster than a Corvette Z06 through a salom, they must be launching it from a two mile running start!
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Tim 3:13AM (4/05/2006)
It didn't beat the Z06 in the slalom, it had a faster speed in the Car and Driver lane-change test with 71.4 mph.
For comparison that's 6 mph better than all the the other $15k cars in the comparison test. I looked up the numbers for some of the other cars they tested recently: the Z06 did 65.8, the Viper 65.9, M5 65.6 and a Miata 65.7.
The Fit smoked them all. Amazing!
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Tim 3:15AM (4/05/2006)
The Fit didn't beat the Z06 in the slalom, it had a faster speed in the Car and Driver lane-change test with 71.4 mph.
For comparison that's 6 mph better than all the other $15k cars in the comparison test. I looked up the numbers for some of the other cars they tested recently: the Z06 did 65.8, the Viper 65.9, M5 65.6 and a Miata 65.7.
The Fit smoked them all. Amazing!
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Howard Kerr 9:10AM (4/05/2006)
To Tom Design (#5), have you ever owned one of these small cars? I have owned 3 Honda products, 2 Civics and an Acura Integra, and they didn't require " a valve job and cam chain " at 60k. It did require a cam BELT at 90k miles. My '89 civic went 130 thousand on it's original engine, original clutch, and as far as brakes, it required new pads at 50 thousand mile intervals. I didn't "throw it away", my insurance company did after it was totalled. My next Civic was bought used/abused? with 70k on it. It did develop some kind of oil leak that required an early engine replacement. I replaced it's 1.5 liter fuel sipper engine with a modded 1.8 Integra engine. This engine now has 130k miles on it, gets 40+ miles per gallon on trips, and can propel the car to over 130 mph (as indicated on the speedo). These cars aren't what I would consider to be "throwaway"...they become throwaway when they aren't properly maintained. But any car not properly maintained will be worthless in short order. Is a Fit therefore, a better or worse hit to the environment than, say a much heavier and less fuel efficient Camry or Accord? For starters, last time I checked, Camry and Accords also had timing chains/belts.
If you are biased AGAINST Japanese cars, just say so.
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Tom Design 2:05AM (4/06/2006)
Kerr => Yep, I've had a Peugeot, an Alfa, and a Corolla, a Shelby Shadow, and a Supercharged Regal, 2 Chevys, and 3 Volvos, my current car. I've had a car since I was 15, and have worked under cars on weekends a lot. I'm early 30's. And have done speed driving weekend classes at 3 Nascar Tracks. Driven Type-R, BMW M3, and Neon Rally. I know a lot about these little econo buzzers and how they aren't generally maintained properly by poorer, young owners. I have a teen with a Prius, and she thinks it needs no maintenance because it's electric...groan. You just don't see a lot of older accord/civics, for some reason where i live. many more camrys and corollas. lots of vw bugs, but hardly any old golfs. seems like these cars aren't maintained properly, or driven more than 4 years, around the 60-90k mile mark. That's just what i notice, and i am a pretty smart and observant guy when it comes to cars. so that's my take on it.
you are a good car owner and extended the cars life replacing your belts and engines and happily driving the your vehicles into the ground. i do the same. but it is not the trend. i don't know people who keep cars more than 2-4 years.
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Toyotaguy 8:59PM (4/06/2006)
Hey Tom Design #5- You are without a doubt a complete moron. Try not to compare the Honda to some junk like Ford ro Chevy. These engines are designed to last 250K. And you are not a idiot American and really change oil and filters and take care of the car, it will last that long easy!
I had a 84 Honda Civic....lasted 276K until it went bad. Try to figure it out before you make such idiot staements.
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Bruce Waldschmidt 5:11PM (4/07/2006)
I also agree that the Honda Fit looks like an Aveo. I am troubled by the Honda's placement of the gas tank. It is closer to the engine and transmission (and the driver) during a wreck. If the tank leaks, the fumes are closer to a heat source. I am not an engineer, but I still have doubts. The mainstream press seems to be passing over this issue.
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