The 2010 Honda Fit(s Like a Glove)

Vancouver is a terrible place to put a city. Sandwiched between the Coastal Mountain Ranges and Pacific Ocean, it may have proven an oceanfront paradise in decades past, but has become a city under compression in recent years. Inviting Canadians from the frozen east and new immigrants from points west, the city’s population has swollen to untold heights, now housing 27% of metro Vancouver’s total population on just 4% of its land mass. This is a bad thing if you want to park anywhere.

Of course, if you find yourself comfortably behind the wheel of Honda’s recently revised subcompact five door Fit, you probably don’t know what I’m talking about. With a footprint approximately that of a large dog, finding a place to leave your Fit in even the busiest of Vancouver neighbourhoods is surprisingly easy. And should no space be available, rest assured that even the most jaded Vancouverite will express none of the usual distaste for your cutesy ride as you repeatedly circle the block. Borrowing numerous styling cues from the previous model, the new Fit boasts a slipperier shape that brings the previously foreign-market-only vehicle further in line with Honda’s new image. Out front, a significantly revised fascia houses a more heavily styled grille and front air dam; all sculpted to provide maximum visual effect with minimal aerodynamic drag. The headlights, although a familiar shape (and still possessing the previous model’s unique blister), dominate the front fascia, and seem to occupy the majority of the short prow and are only slightly smaller than the fenders their share space with. Moving rearward, a pair of familiar three-quarter windows open up the greenhouse nicely, and give way to tall, large windows for both front and rear seat passengers. Out back, the new Fit is finished nicely with a well sculpted hatch and nice details like a chrome exhaust tip and nifty wing.

Inside is, as one would expect, familiarly Honda-esque. With a bunch of buttons scattered about in a stylish manner, it’s not the most intuitive small car on the planet, but it does pay dividends in the looks department. Furthermore, although there are arguably too many plastic finishes and surfaces throughout, the fit and finish is quite good; easily that of Ford’s class-leading Fiesta. Soft touch surfaces are limited, however, and some passengers objected to the, ahem, unique cloth patterning on the doors’ interior panels. All comers did enjoy the ridiculous number of storage spaces though, with the dual gloveboxes and passenger-side dashboard tray all earning many compliments. A quick trip to the local hardware store for some non-skid would help immensely, however, since none of the various pockets come so equipped, leaving your personal effects to slide hither and thither with each jerk of the wheel.

And jerk the wheel you will, especially if you find yourself behind the controls of a manual transmission-equipped Honda Fit Sport. Although equipped with a relatively low powered 1,497 cc inline four, the 117 horsepower motor proves adequately peppy, revving quite freely all the way to 6,800 rpm. Like most Hondas, it’s a powerplant that loves the upper regions of the tachometer, and works perfectly with the five speed transmission. But even more importantly, it’s the perfect motivational force to pair with the Fit’s feisty suspension setup. Taking just under two and a half rotations of the wheel to go from lock to lock, the Fit’s steering is both quick and precise; conducting full u-eys in just 34.4 feet. Trading the stock 15” wheels for 16” wheels and slightly wider rubber, the Fit Sport does handle slightly better, but doesn’t do anything to alter the standard Fit’s soft and squishy suspension, and is all the better for it. Thanks to the Fit’s short wheelbase and softly sprung suspension, every corner can turn into a lesson on weight transfer; a dab of left foot braking on corner entry is usually all that’s required to send the light rear end around, while the quick steering keeps the whole process from feeling rushed. The best part? Since it only wears 185-series tires, all this can be practiced at wholly legal speeds. To hot hatches as a Mazda Miata is to sports cars, the Fit’s low performance threshold allows even the most ham-fisted of drivers to explore its upper limits in an attainable and safe manner.

And much like the Miata, the Fit does all this without imposing upon its owner. There are no uncomfortably sporty seats, no harsh ride, and no untoward noises... unless you count overly annoying passengers. Still possessing some of the most versatile seating in the market, the Fit’s cabin can be converted from people carrier to stuff hauler in a manner of minutes, and does both tasks enviably well. People will enjoy the downright shocking amount of legroom to be found, as even my six foot frame left more than a few inches to spare between my kneecaps and the front seat’s back. In fact, taking a quick jaunt down the highway in the rear seat proved as comfortable as the front, thanks mostly to an excess of leg and headroom, a comfortably reclined (and adjustable) rear seatback, and large windows that keep the rear compartment from feeling airy and open. Should the need arise, the 60/40 split rear seat can be folded up quite easily to make room for cargo, as can the front passenger seat. A low load-over height, shallow bumper, and wide-opening liftgate all make loading easy, while the flat load floor, deep cargo well, and tall ceiling keeps all the but the largest of objects well contained.

Overall, it’s incredibly hard to find fault with the new Fit. While the old one may have been practical and efficient, it did so at the expense of some comfort, and would never be confused with anything other than a basic runabout thanks to questionable build quality. This new one feels like a scaled down version of Honda’s wildly successful Civic or Accord, with a huge helping of amiable driving ability tossed in for good measure. Consuming just over seven litres of fuel for every hell-bent-for-leather kilometre I put it through, it’s the veritable picture of efficiency, and after a very active week with it, I have the undeniable sense that I’d only just scratched the surface of the Fit’s capability. Truth be told, while I may have been squarely located in the hotly-anticipated Ford Fiesta’s camp prior to this test, I can’t help but come away wondering if the best small car on the market isn’t already here.

Source;
http://www.carguideweb.com/articles/8171/

MotorTrend: Comparison: 2011 Ford Fiesta SES vs 2010 Honda Fit Sport vs 2010 Toyota Yaris vs 2010 Nissan Versa 1.8 SL

Fourth Place: 2010 Toyota Yaris
Though it doesn't earn any gold stars against this group, for many people simply being a steal could be the only one it really needs.

While the Yaris placed last in this group, we're suspecting it's first in the hearts of plenty of money-strapped folks for whom heaven itself would be a car with double-digits on the odometer and a rearview mirror without a dangling pine-scented air freshener.

And despite a base price that's $2605 less than the second cheapest sled here (the not-exactly extravagant Versa), the Yaris still has a nice little list of virtues to crow about. For instance, it accelerates step for step with the Fit Sport to 60 mph, stops 13 feet shorter than the Fit, and -- get this -- arrives with stability and traction control, ABS, electronic brake force distribution, and brake assist, all as standard equipment. Take note, parents of college-bound road warriors. And if that oboe scholarship comes through, consider popping for the $1705 Power Package (which our tester had) that populates the car with the usual power goodies (door locks, windows, AM/FM CD player), but also important packaging flexibility via 60/40 split and tilting rear seatbacks and a bottom cushion that slides 4.5 inches. It matters in such a small car.

On the road, just about everything the Yaris does gets tempered with "but you know, it's base price is only fifteen grand." A lack of gear ratios (there are only four) -- rejoinder: "fifteen grand." Worst figure-eight time? -- "fifteen grand." Noisy? -- "fifteen grand." Which, if you say it enough times, starts to sound pretty attractive.

Third Place: 2010 Nissan Versa
The best argument we've seen yet for eventually coaxing big-car-loving Americans into smaller cars. But it's going to need more engaging styling to seal the deal.

Given all the recent talk about Americans needing to downsize their automotive expectations, the Versa was the only entrant here to offer a plausible template for how this might actually happen.

Nissan's littlest offering is a quantum mechanics-grade illusion. It simply has to be larger inside than out. While its exterior seems only modestly bulkier than the Fit's -- indeed, the box it would fit in is a mere 5.3 percent bigger than the Honda's -- it's a relaxing boudoir within. I refer you immediately to the nearby insightful information revealing accommodations in which a foursome of double-double-fed Americans could luxuriate in true trans-fat stupor. For instance, with a six-foot driver at the helm, his clone in the rear seat would still enjoy 0.9 inch of spare headroom and a ridiculous 4.8 inches of spare kneeroom.

And if this showdown focused purely on commuter duties, the Versa would be sipping the bubbly already. According to our sound meter and four miles of beautifully irregular roadway, the Versa was the quietest by a substantial margin, inflicting a mere 23.8 sones of interior noise, while simultaneously agitating its driver with the group's second-best-recorded ride quality.

The Versa's downfall came in two stumbles. Although its cornering attitude proved unexpectedly amenable to throttle probing on the skidpad, it was flummoxed by the oddball cambers of Mulholland's pavement. On the other hand, its 122 horsepower rendered it swiftest to 60 mph (taking 9.1 seconds) while the CVT's deft work with its infinite ratio options seemed positively clairvoyant in the real-world traffic tussle.

The Versa's second fault is its blindness to design. It's not that it's bad looking. It's that it simply doesn't look like...anything, really. Al Gore might have sketched this thing. Technically, Nissan has a gem on its hands here. Next time, they need to style it too.

Second Place: 2011 Ford Fiesta
Ford's gambit to sell a high-quality small car just might pay off. We're just not convinced it hasn't traded too much its sexy design.

You know that solid CRACK a baseball makes when it meets an oak bat, sweet spot to sweet spot? The Fiesta does that in two significant areas: styling and build quality.

Everywhere we took the Fiesta, eyebrows rose and admiring glances caressed the car. This is clearly a good-looking automobile, a shot glass brimming with European taste.

On the other hand, the Fiesta's triumph of styling comes with the defeat of a whole lot of practicality. That fashionable sloping roof? It pinches the view aft such that the main thing you perceive of the car following you is a hood. Open a rear door for a prospective passenger and he'll start googling Yellow Cab on his smartphone (see our interior measurements).

But slam that door, and you'll pause. Now there's a THUNK you certainly don't associate with this realm of car. And although the logic of the center stack's controls is rather scrambled by the stylist's hand, the quality of the soft-touch dash is simply superb (shocking, even, after years of miserable-grade plastic dashes in entry-level Fords). Crazy as it sounds, Dearborn's small-car gambit of charging a little more and then overwhelming you with quality just might work.

The car is also an impressive juggler of vehicle dynamics balls, simultaneously delivering authoritative handling, our group's highest lateral grip and ride quality, and second-best acceleration punch AND interior noise suppression. Many of these pairings generally represent zero sum games. Ford's somehow has turned them into win-wins.

As I mentioned, our car arrived with the optional ($1070) six-speed double-clutch Powershift transmission. Completely controlled by electrical instead of hydraulic actuation (a first), it's a helluva technological feat in this price range; remember, the Yaris is still stuck with -- forehead slap -- a geriatric four-speed automatic. Impressively, it actually affords better mileage than the Fiesta's standard five-speed manual (30 mpg city, 40 mpg highway versus 29/38-even trumping Honda's five-speed automatic). Moreover, with the lever slipped into Low, it functions magnificently as a Sport mode as it always strives to hold onto the lowest possible gear (downshifting as necessary entering a corner, while usually getting the upshifts timed right and done snap quick). Who needs paddles when the transmission reads your mind.

But if it's telepathy is working during normal driving, the Fiesta may get a migraine. Our example shifted uncertainly and sometimes inappropriately. Ford's response was that it was a preproduction unit not completely to production spec. That's probably so, but until we have a chance to resample this innovative transmission, Nissan's CVT is our top-cog dog of the two newfangled trannies here.

First Place: 2010 Honda FIT
Despite hitting road bumps with interior noise and ride quality, the Fit is an unbeatable combination of driving fun and interior packaging.

Swiss Army Knife

As speckled with warts as it is, you kind of wonder how the Fit wound up eclipsing the Fiesta. Perspective: Only the $5365 CHEAPER Yaris saves it from being the noisiest car of the quartet, as well as the worst riding (with just a bit less pitching motion than the stubby Toyota). Worse, it came within a whisker of being beaten down the dragstrip by the 106-horsepower Yaris, stopped in the longest distance from 60 mph...and for that,

First Place?

Resolutely, the Fit defies its measured performance deficiencies with subjective real-world handling that's kart-like enough to make it the offering here voted most constantly entertaining. As opposed to the Fiesta's peak-a-boo outward vision, the Fits' windows provide a fishbowl view. The Sport version offers paddle shifters to play Sebastian Vettel with (though you'll likely do so only once). And then there's the interior.

If any car company has acquired the original Mini's mantel of space-efficiency fanaticism, it's Honda. The maker has been pondering every automotive nook and cranny for some time now (I have evidence in an old '87 Civic Wagon), and the Fit is its latest manifesto on the subject. The architectural keystone that makes all the difference is its relocation of the fuel tank from beneath the rear seat to under the front. And from here proceeds a ripple effect of packaging opportunities of which Honda has taken full advantage, resulting in a cargo floor that's nearly flat with the rear seat folded and the unusual flip-up "magic seat," that provides room for tall objects.
And in the end, a winning checklist in this category necessarily needs the box labeled "insane space efficiency" boldly X'ed -- and the Fit is about as space crazy as they get.

Unfortunately, that's just the box that Ford's solidly built, nice-driving-but style-over-practicality Fiesta, has chosen to leave empty.

Check out this link for the spec comparison chart;

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/hatchbacks/1006_ford_fiesta_honda_fit_toyota_yaris_nissan_versa_comparison/specifications.html

Source;

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/hatchbacks/1006_ford_fiesta_honda_fit_toyota_yaris_nissan_versa_comparison/index.html

Autoblog: Utility Review: 2010 Honda Fit Sport actually does "fit" it all in

In the past couple of years, Honda has gotten no end of grief about the styling of models like the Pilot, Crosstour and, of course, the entire Acura lineup. One car has remained largely immune to criticism: the Fit. Since its introduction to the U.S. market several years ago, the Honda Fit has become one of our favorite small cars... and for good reason. It offers a great balance of handling dynamics and fuel efficiency, a reasonable price and, most importantly, utility.

During the first half of 2008 when fuel prices ran up in the United States, a lot of people gave up their SUVs in favor of smaller vehicles. Since then, many of those same people have had buyers remorse, in part because they felt their new smaller vehicles were just too cramped. The Fit clearly demonstrates that down-sizing doesn't have to mean giving up so much space and cargo hauling ability. It's certainly smaller than a typical crossover or SUV, but it's by no means tight. To demonstrate that, we borrowed a Fit from Honda recently while out in Los Angeles.

A few of us on Autoblog team still have other jobs besides writing to keep us busy. In this writer's case, this involves a lot of video production and webcasting work. Getting the work done requires a fair amount of gear, which is packed into four flight cases. On this trip we weren't able to scrounge up a larger vehicle like we usually do because of some late scheduling, but when Honda offered up a Fit Sport with navigation, we went for it.

Most automakers in Europe offer "van" versions of their B- and C-segment small cars, which are popular among small businesses like florists, messengers and plumbers. These are typically three-door hatchback bodies with solid metal where the rear side windows would be and the rear seats removed, much like a Chevy HHR panel van. These small vans are popular because they offer ample storage and easy access through the hatch.

We reviewed the current second-generation Fit about a year ago and also have personal experience with a first-generation model in the family fleet, so we knew it had far more usable space inside than is apparent from the outside. Nonetheless, we still thought we might have to pile some stuff up toward the roof. As it turns out, after folding down the back seat, we were easily able fit four large cases plus a couple of backpacks into the 57.3-cubic-foot cavity without extending above the window line. Another advantage of the Fit is a relatively low lift-over height compared to your typical SUV or crossover, which is a very handy thing when loading heavy boxes.

The best part is that we did it all without having to slide the front seats way forward. Even with some 300 pounds of gear in the back, the Fit still felt nimble and had no problem climbing the surprisingly steep roads up into the Hollywood hills above the Sunset strip. Because of the nature of our kit, we didn't need to use the Fit's "Magic Seat," but if we had needed to bring our own 50- inch flat panel display along, we could have folded the rear seat cushions up against the seat back and slid it inside through the rear door opening. Even with the rear seat in its standard position, the Fit can swallow over 20 cubic feet of stuff and carry four adult passengers in comfort. See if you can do that with your Lexus LS600h!

Source;
http://green.autoblog.com/2010/06/07/utility-review-2010-honda-fit-sport-actually-does-fit-it-all/

Car and Driver: 2010 Honda Fit - 2010 10Best Cars

2010/2011 Honda FIT Hybrid

Adding a hybrid version of the popular and 10Best-winning Fit seems much like putting a second layer of icing on an already tasty cake. But in his press conference, Fukai is quoted as saying the premium for the hybrid over the conventional Fit cannot exceed $2000. The current price of a Fit ranges from $14,585 to $16,705. The hybrid reportedly would go on sale by 2015 with the third-generation of the B-segment car.
While Toyota gets most of the credit for the burgeoning hybrid market, Honda was actually first on the scene in the U.S. with the Insight in 1999. But consumers have not snapped up its subsequent hybrids, forcing the automaker to drop its Accord hybrid from the 2008 model line due to slow sales.