Review........( Finally ).......2007 Honda Fit
07-22-06, 08:15 PM
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Review........( Finally ).......2007 Honda Fit
http://automobiles.honda.com/models/...?ModelName=Fit
In a Nutshell: A worthy successor to the old entry-level Civics, but somewhat overpriced and not quite the "sport " image painted in the auto press.
Well, friends....finally, as promised, I was able to review / test-drive a Honda Fit. This car has been on my Review list for some time but they are exceedingly hard to find in an unsold state, even with all the people I know in the auto sales buisness. High gas prices and the reputation of Honda quality have stirred up a lot of interest in this car ( as it has with the Yaris as well ) .....including some of my neighbors.
Dealerships typically get only a few each month of both Base and Sport versions, and virtually all of them are pre-sold. ( My own policy, for several reasons, is not to test-drive a car that has already been sold or promised to someone unless it is going to be a specific car for someone I am shopping with or advising. Many dealerships, also, not surprisingly, also have that policy as well...it is not fair to the person who is waiting for the car and can risk damage to it ).
Anyhow.....so much for the morals and sermon. On with the review: Finally, after a number of weeks, I got a call saying two Fits were available for test-drives...a Red Sport version 5-speed and a Silver Sport version. Well, by the time I got ready and got there the Silver Sport
one was sold, ( no surprise, really ) but the red Sport model was still there.....still wrapped up in the protective tape and wheel covers installed at the factory for the transporter trip. I took the plastic wraps off the seats, tried them out, took the shipping clear wheel covers off so the brakes would get airflow, checked the engine fluids as usual, had them Xerox my drivers' license ( an insurance requirement at many dealerships ) and then proceeded to review the car. Even though it was still shrink-wrapped, it had been through State Inspection at the dealership and was now legal for a test-drive. Unfortunately, while reviewing the car on the lot before the test-drive, I had to spend some time with a nasty fingertip cut first....more on that in a few minutes.
Honda's first entry-level car in the U.S. in the early 1970's was the miniscule Honda 600, which was esentially a motorcycle on four wheels
( Honda was......and is......a well-known motorcycle firm too, so that was not surprising ). Anyway, the first Honda 600 featured something that had not been seen in the U.S. before, except for the famous British Austin Mini Cooper of the 1960's...a sideways-mounted engine with front-wheel-drive. This basic configuration went on to become the universal platform among auto manufacturers for almost all of the small cars that followed it, and for many medium-sized and larger ones as well.
The original 600 was replaced by the ubiquitous Civic in 1973, with the Accord being added in 1976. Hondas, even then, were showing signs of excessive demand and short supply ( partially due the the gas shortages of the 70's ) and were commanding dealer premiums as well.....the beginning of what was to be the famous arrogance of Honda dealerships for many years.
The Civic, of course, was Honda's American-market entry-level car for decades after that. Its history is so well-known that I won't go into it here in detail.....I don't have time to, and that is not the purpose of this review. But gradually, the Civic, like the Accord, grew in size, weight, and
features.....to the point that it is now simply too large to serve as Honda's entry-level car here any more.
So, by the mid-2000's, It was clearly time for Honda to get a new starter-car for the American market, especially as arch-rival Toyota had already introduced several new vehicles, including the Scion xA, xB, and Toyota Echo and Yaris to replace the Tercel and undercut and underprice the also-growing Corolla. So, like Toyota with the Yaris, instead of spending the time, money, and resources to develop another an all-new mini-car ( Honda had already just got done spending a pretty good sum developing the all-new 2006 Civic ), they took a cue from their own parts bin, looked at their own European Jazz subcompact, spent a few bucks to Americanize it to safety and emissions standards, renamed it the Fit, and.......Presto......not only an instant Scion / Yaris-fighter but also good, credible ( if somewhat higher-priced ) competition to the growing popularity of the Koreans....the Hyundai Accent, Kia Rio, the Daewoo / Korean-made Chevy Aveo, and the upcoming Nissan versa.
Fine....except for two things. First, you have to have cars AVAILABLE to sell, and Honda clearly is not building and shipping enough of them here to meet present demand. Second, the price has to be competitive, and, unfortunately the Fit falls a little short here, too, with prices even in the base version somewhat closer to the Civic / Corolla class than to the Accent / Rio / Aveo. Perhaps Honda's reasoning, in their somewhat traditional arrogance, is that if you can make money on each car, why not price them at what the market will bear, and never mind trying to give people a deal. As long as people are willing to line up to buy these cars at a base price of some $15,000-plus while the Koreans are competing at $12,000-$14,000, there is little incentive to lower the price, even considering that dealerships don't have a lot of room to bargain on these cars even WITHOUT the almost-mandatory second sticker. But that still does not excuse some of the things I saw today on that second sticker.....$2000 Additional Market Adjustment, $75 State Inspection fee ( I have NEVER seen a separate inspection on a new car in a Virginia dealer's lot before...that is included in the car's delivered price ) several hundred dollars for " floor mats " ( don't remember how much ), and various other rip-off fees for questionable things at best.
The final dealer asking price for a car that listed at $15,720 was over $19,000.... This, in my opinion, is clear price gouging and possibly manipulation as well, and is obviously done to try and profiteer as much as possible on a car that gets good gas mileage and is well-built....exactly the kind of car many people are looking for in this day of high gas prices. But.....that is capitialism, and if people are willing to stand in line and pay it.....what can you say?
I, however, would never advise someone to pay that high over list, even for a good small car like this one. However, to be fair, the starting price of the base version is a little closer to its competition....between 13-14K....and, without dealer price gouging, I could clearly recommend the base version as an alternative to the Accent, Rio, or Aveo.
OK...so much for the whining about dealer pricing. Let's get to the car itself....a good small car with a few flaws in it, one of which cost me a slashed finger....fortunately not serious.
Model Reviewed: 2007 Honda Fit Sport
Base Price: $15,170
Major options: None
Destination/Freight: $550
List price: $15,720 ( before the second add-on sticker )
Exterior Color: Milano Red
Interior: Black Cloth with Beige seat-cushions
Drivetrain: Front-wheel-drive, Transverse-mount, in-line 16-valve VTEC 4, 109 HP @ 5800 RPM, torque 105 ft.-lbs.
@ 4800 RPM. 5-speed manual transmission.
PLUSSES:
Good EPA fuel economy ratings.
Typical Honda Swiss-Watch quality and workmanship....with one or two exceptions
New Honda 5-60 Powertrain warranty finally competitive with other Japanese automakers.
Easy-folding rear seats and good seat hardware.
Some nice paint color choices...but Blaze Orange unfortunately not available on base model.
Interior color choices actually better on base model than on Fit Sport.
Slick-shifting, easy-to-use manual transmission and clutch, with excellent ball-shaped shift handle.
Relatively good ride by small Honda standards, even with Sport series 55 tires.
Engine easily fits sideways into underhood compartment and has plenty of room to reach things and work on.
Plenty of headroom inside, front and rear, for tall people.
Durable, precise-feeling interior and exterior hardware....with one exception.
Superb outside mirrors.
Nice interior packages, though somewhat flashy, available on Fit Sport.
High-quality cloth upholstery.
Killer stereo for a car in this size and price class.
Well-designed, slick-feeling gauges and controls....in my opinion MUCH better than its bigger brother Civic.
Good agility and handling response for a relatively high center-of-gravity vehicle with small wheels and tires.
Reasonably good cargo space for a vehicle its size.
MINUSES:
Gross dealer markups with several questionable or dishonest charges on second sticker.
Honda not building and shipping enough to dealers to meet demand.
Typical Honda 4-cylinder lack of torque at low RPM's....not well-suited for an automatic transmission.
Relatively weak air conditioning slow to cool down and saps a lot of engine power.
Brakes OK.....adequate but rather unimpressive, a trait of many small Honda products.
Interior door panels too plain-looking.
Rear-seat legroom not bad by small-car standards but still rather tight.
Small, 15-inch wheels and 55-series tires don't provide much grip for cornering and braking even on Sport version.
High center-of-gravity allows some body roll.
Some road noise but not excessive
Slightly overboosed power steering for my tastes.
Drop-away wedge-shaped nose not visible from the driver's seat for help in parking.
Ugly, triangular-shaped, back-sweep headlights typical of many new vehicles.
Flimsy-feeling exterior door handles very unusual for Honda product.
The first impression you get of this car as you walk up to it is that of a slightly puffed-up Chevy Aveo (one of its prime competitiors) with a droop-nose and those ugly triangular headlights becoming so common nowadays. The rear of the car is very similiar to the Aveo hatchback, while the front end looks much like a miniature Sienna / Odyssey minivan. The sharply-drooped nose permits a nice view of the road close in front of you but prevents you from seeing where the fenders are for parking. The shoebox-shaped rear end may look frumpy but is quite space-efficient for a car of this size, permitting a fair amount of rear-seat headroom and / or cargo to be carried ( within the car's modest payload limits, of course ).
The outside was the usual Honda outstanding quality in hardware and paint. though I did not get a really good examination of the paint because we had to peel the car's shrink-wrappers off , it had dirt on the uncovered areas, and of course had not been washed. From what I COULD tell of the paint, though, it was the typical Honda well-done paint job free of unevenness, overspray, and orange peel.
The outside mirrors were marvelous.....they not only swiveled but were quite large for a car of this size, and the hardware that they were attached with felt like something off of an Army tank. All the rest of the outside hardware was typical Honda, with a solid feel and attachment,
the only exception being ( somewhat unusual for Honda ) somewhat flimsy-feeling door handles.
I found a potentially serious problem, however, under the front hood latch...I don't know if it was unique to this sample car or an inherent assembly problem with all Fits. Right at the base of the latch hardware, on top of the sheet-metal plate that supports the radiator, was a rather poorly-finished weld seam with a fairly sharp edge, and as I ran my finger along it, that damn sharp edge sliced right into the side of my first pinkie...felt like a kitchen knife going through it. It was significant but fortunately not serious....about 15-20 minutes to wash it out in the Men's room with soap and hot water, get the bleeding stopped with pressure and a lot of paper tissue, and an excellent bandage supplied by the first-aid kit there at the dealership, and I was ready to continue the review.
Inside the car,( which I might add was quite easy to get in and out of with the tall roof ), the dash and gauges were a welcome change from the Space-ship look of now-bigger-brother Civic. None of that split-level / digital dash nonsense, just good, honest, well-designed analog, conventional three-circle gauges done in the usual Honda / Acura blue / white with red pointers. The rest of the interior was well-done also....good solid hardware, quality-feel and easily-operated controls, and a killer stereo by economy-car standards. The seats obviously were not primarily designed for super-large people but were generally supportive, well-crafted, easy to adjust despite the lack of power controls, and covered with a durable and attractive black upholstery with lighter-color cushion semi-ovals.The 60 / 40 rear seats folded down quite easily in two stages, again with well-done hardware and releases.
The high roofline allowed plenty of headroom, front and rear, for even me and my trademark ubiquitous baseball cap. Legroom in the rear seat was somewhat tight for tall people , as is to be expected in a car of this size and short wheelbase, but not unreasonably so. The inside door panels were covered in a durable but plain-looking and feeling material....one of the few apparant cost-cutting moves in this car.
The rest of the dash, like the gauges, was generally well-done too. A solid-feeling round **** in the center of the dash controlled several music and accessory functions ( No, It's not an I-Drive or MMI by any stretch ), the round climate-control ***** below it had the typical Honda slick, Swiss-Watch feel.
The side dash air vents were the typical Honda, square pattern with the slick-feeling adjust *****, while the two center-dash vents had the Nissan / Infiniti cylindrical roll-up-and-down feature. The glove box......a cost-cutter on many vehicles.......had a reasonable mount of room, was well-shaped, and closed with ( what else ? ) the usual Honda solid-feeling hardware.
Visibility out the car is pretty good all around, except for the previously mentioned tendency of ther droop-nose to prevent you from seeing where the front edges of the fenders are for parking....in fact, you can see NOTHING on the front end of the car past the windshield wipers even if you are as tall as me ( 6' 2" ).
OK....start her up. The little 4-banger settles into a typical-Honda smooth idle without the usual 4-cylinder vibration, but also suffers from the also typical-Honda 4-cylinder lack of low-end torque. Even with a manual transmission and a light load in this car, with the A/C on you have to give yourself plenty of room to pull out in traffic. This car is not going to win any drag races....it is obviously built for gas mileage, which it does deliver if the EPA mileage ratings can be believed.
Max HP on this engine, again typical of Honda 4's, is at very high RPM, and of course, being a new engine, as usual I did not take it over 4000 RPM. ( Hey, I figured these cars are hard ENOUGH as it is to get....why overrev a new unbroken-in engine so the the poor person who does buy it risks getting an oil-burner?....that's not fair to them and I don't believe in that )
Fortunately the 5-speed front-drive transmission, also in the Honda tradition, was a gem. It was the usual Honda-slick, snick-snick fluidity and precision that I can tell just by feel alone. Blindfold me and I can tell a Honda manual transmission ( especially a FWD one ) from just about any other one without even being told what kind of car I'm driving.....the feel of the linkage and clutch is THAT unique and distinctive. The entire auto industry should take lessons from Honda manual-transmission engineers. The only snag I found with it is that when you are in 4th gear and bring the large, comfortable, ball-shaped shift lever up, you have to be careful to make sure you're in either 3rd or 5th, as desired, before letting the clutch out. ( If I'm not sure I let out the clutch very slowly and see what the tach does for an instant....I push it quickly back in if the RPM starts to jump too much. I wish that automakers would put a light on the dash to show you what gear you are in with a manual tranny ( it would prevent a lot of transmission abuse and missed shifts ) but I don't know of any automaker ......not even Honda.....that does that.
The auto enthusiast magazines really like the Sport version of this car....they consistantly rank it quite highly compared to other small cars.......but I myself didn't see a lot of " Sport " in this car. I've already mentioned that the engine is low on torque, ( the Fit Sport has the same engine as the Base with no added power) and the 15-inch, 195 / 55-series tires give a pretty good ride / handling compromise by minicar standards but are not well-suited for getting the car around the Nurburgring. The tall roofline and econocar chassis allows significant but not excessive body roll. The Fit Sport has slightly lower-profile and wider tires and slightly stiffer underpinnings than the Base car ( 14", 65-series ); that probably improves the steering response and handling some....but as usual ( and you can call me Grandpa if you want ) I would probably prefer the somewhat softer ride of the Base version as long as it does not allow extreme body roll....but the Sport version is not uncomfortable-riding at all. So it is safe to say that the enthusiasm of the auto mags for the Sport version's handling would probably not be carried over to the Base car. I also found the power steering a little too overboosted for my tastes, but this is a problem I have with a lot of cars, and of course that does not mean that is overboosted for someone else.
The amount of road and tire noise was significant, but not excessive, and not unreasonable considering the car's econobox status and relative lack of sound insulation.
Brakes, as expected from both the relatively small wheels and tires and the past tendency of Honda to use too-small rotors on their smaller cars, were OK but rather mediocre. The pedal was reasonably firm but unresponsive. Brake modulation and stability felt good....the car stopped in a straight line, and there was evenness of response, but once again, like with past Civics, it feels to me like Honda might have again used too-small rotors that just don't have enough swept-area of brake-pad contact, even on a small, light car like this.
So.....the verdict? I feel that this is basically a good, well-made small car....a worthy successor to the Civic in the entry-level market, and IMO handily beats the Civic in a couple of areas like headroom and dash / gauge design. It has the usual Honda excellence in hardware, paint, assembly quality ( if they can deal with that problem in the hood latch ), gas mileage, and its superb manual transmission. The Sport version, however, as mentioned earlier, especially with dealer markups, is somewhat overpriced compared to its rivals, and even with the new 5 year 60,000 mile Honda Drivetrain warranty that is now competitive, that has to be taken into consideration. Greedy dealerships only make the problem worse by asking way over list for trivial things, which of course makes the price even less competitive. It needs more low-RPM torque, better brakes, and maybe something out on the edge of the front fenders to help you park. Ordirinarily I recommend automatics, especially for urban / city use, but this car is much better-suited to the superbly-designed manual transmission. The optional Sport-Shift automatic, despite the fun paddle-shift levers on the steering column, would just sap too much power from an already low-torque engine, especially with the slow-to-cool-down A/C.....another one of the car's weak points. So get the manual tranny and enjoy its superb shifting characteristics, better though still not impressive acceleration, and gas mileage.
In a Nutshell: A worthy successor to the old entry-level Civics, but somewhat overpriced and not quite the "sport " image painted in the auto press.
Well, friends....finally, as promised, I was able to review / test-drive a Honda Fit. This car has been on my Review list for some time but they are exceedingly hard to find in an unsold state, even with all the people I know in the auto sales buisness. High gas prices and the reputation of Honda quality have stirred up a lot of interest in this car ( as it has with the Yaris as well ) .....including some of my neighbors.
Dealerships typically get only a few each month of both Base and Sport versions, and virtually all of them are pre-sold. ( My own policy, for several reasons, is not to test-drive a car that has already been sold or promised to someone unless it is going to be a specific car for someone I am shopping with or advising. Many dealerships, also, not surprisingly, also have that policy as well...it is not fair to the person who is waiting for the car and can risk damage to it ).
Anyhow.....so much for the morals and sermon. On with the review: Finally, after a number of weeks, I got a call saying two Fits were available for test-drives...a Red Sport version 5-speed and a Silver Sport version. Well, by the time I got ready and got there the Silver Sport
one was sold, ( no surprise, really ) but the red Sport model was still there.....still wrapped up in the protective tape and wheel covers installed at the factory for the transporter trip. I took the plastic wraps off the seats, tried them out, took the shipping clear wheel covers off so the brakes would get airflow, checked the engine fluids as usual, had them Xerox my drivers' license ( an insurance requirement at many dealerships ) and then proceeded to review the car. Even though it was still shrink-wrapped, it had been through State Inspection at the dealership and was now legal for a test-drive. Unfortunately, while reviewing the car on the lot before the test-drive, I had to spend some time with a nasty fingertip cut first....more on that in a few minutes.
Honda's first entry-level car in the U.S. in the early 1970's was the miniscule Honda 600, which was esentially a motorcycle on four wheels
( Honda was......and is......a well-known motorcycle firm too, so that was not surprising ). Anyway, the first Honda 600 featured something that had not been seen in the U.S. before, except for the famous British Austin Mini Cooper of the 1960's...a sideways-mounted engine with front-wheel-drive. This basic configuration went on to become the universal platform among auto manufacturers for almost all of the small cars that followed it, and for many medium-sized and larger ones as well.
The original 600 was replaced by the ubiquitous Civic in 1973, with the Accord being added in 1976. Hondas, even then, were showing signs of excessive demand and short supply ( partially due the the gas shortages of the 70's ) and were commanding dealer premiums as well.....the beginning of what was to be the famous arrogance of Honda dealerships for many years.
The Civic, of course, was Honda's American-market entry-level car for decades after that. Its history is so well-known that I won't go into it here in detail.....I don't have time to, and that is not the purpose of this review. But gradually, the Civic, like the Accord, grew in size, weight, and
features.....to the point that it is now simply too large to serve as Honda's entry-level car here any more.
So, by the mid-2000's, It was clearly time for Honda to get a new starter-car for the American market, especially as arch-rival Toyota had already introduced several new vehicles, including the Scion xA, xB, and Toyota Echo and Yaris to replace the Tercel and undercut and underprice the also-growing Corolla. So, like Toyota with the Yaris, instead of spending the time, money, and resources to develop another an all-new mini-car ( Honda had already just got done spending a pretty good sum developing the all-new 2006 Civic ), they took a cue from their own parts bin, looked at their own European Jazz subcompact, spent a few bucks to Americanize it to safety and emissions standards, renamed it the Fit, and.......Presto......not only an instant Scion / Yaris-fighter but also good, credible ( if somewhat higher-priced ) competition to the growing popularity of the Koreans....the Hyundai Accent, Kia Rio, the Daewoo / Korean-made Chevy Aveo, and the upcoming Nissan versa.
Fine....except for two things. First, you have to have cars AVAILABLE to sell, and Honda clearly is not building and shipping enough of them here to meet present demand. Second, the price has to be competitive, and, unfortunately the Fit falls a little short here, too, with prices even in the base version somewhat closer to the Civic / Corolla class than to the Accent / Rio / Aveo. Perhaps Honda's reasoning, in their somewhat traditional arrogance, is that if you can make money on each car, why not price them at what the market will bear, and never mind trying to give people a deal. As long as people are willing to line up to buy these cars at a base price of some $15,000-plus while the Koreans are competing at $12,000-$14,000, there is little incentive to lower the price, even considering that dealerships don't have a lot of room to bargain on these cars even WITHOUT the almost-mandatory second sticker. But that still does not excuse some of the things I saw today on that second sticker.....$2000 Additional Market Adjustment, $75 State Inspection fee ( I have NEVER seen a separate inspection on a new car in a Virginia dealer's lot before...that is included in the car's delivered price ) several hundred dollars for " floor mats " ( don't remember how much ), and various other rip-off fees for questionable things at best.
The final dealer asking price for a car that listed at $15,720 was over $19,000.... This, in my opinion, is clear price gouging and possibly manipulation as well, and is obviously done to try and profiteer as much as possible on a car that gets good gas mileage and is well-built....exactly the kind of car many people are looking for in this day of high gas prices. But.....that is capitialism, and if people are willing to stand in line and pay it.....what can you say?
I, however, would never advise someone to pay that high over list, even for a good small car like this one. However, to be fair, the starting price of the base version is a little closer to its competition....between 13-14K....and, without dealer price gouging, I could clearly recommend the base version as an alternative to the Accent, Rio, or Aveo.
OK...so much for the whining about dealer pricing. Let's get to the car itself....a good small car with a few flaws in it, one of which cost me a slashed finger....fortunately not serious.
Model Reviewed: 2007 Honda Fit Sport
Base Price: $15,170
Major options: None
Destination/Freight: $550
List price: $15,720 ( before the second add-on sticker )
Exterior Color: Milano Red
Interior: Black Cloth with Beige seat-cushions
Drivetrain: Front-wheel-drive, Transverse-mount, in-line 16-valve VTEC 4, 109 HP @ 5800 RPM, torque 105 ft.-lbs.
@ 4800 RPM. 5-speed manual transmission.
PLUSSES:
Good EPA fuel economy ratings.
Typical Honda Swiss-Watch quality and workmanship....with one or two exceptions
New Honda 5-60 Powertrain warranty finally competitive with other Japanese automakers.
Easy-folding rear seats and good seat hardware.
Some nice paint color choices...but Blaze Orange unfortunately not available on base model.
Interior color choices actually better on base model than on Fit Sport.
Slick-shifting, easy-to-use manual transmission and clutch, with excellent ball-shaped shift handle.
Relatively good ride by small Honda standards, even with Sport series 55 tires.
Engine easily fits sideways into underhood compartment and has plenty of room to reach things and work on.
Plenty of headroom inside, front and rear, for tall people.
Durable, precise-feeling interior and exterior hardware....with one exception.
Superb outside mirrors.
Nice interior packages, though somewhat flashy, available on Fit Sport.
High-quality cloth upholstery.
Killer stereo for a car in this size and price class.
Well-designed, slick-feeling gauges and controls....in my opinion MUCH better than its bigger brother Civic.
Good agility and handling response for a relatively high center-of-gravity vehicle with small wheels and tires.
Reasonably good cargo space for a vehicle its size.
MINUSES:
Gross dealer markups with several questionable or dishonest charges on second sticker.
Honda not building and shipping enough to dealers to meet demand.
Typical Honda 4-cylinder lack of torque at low RPM's....not well-suited for an automatic transmission.
Relatively weak air conditioning slow to cool down and saps a lot of engine power.
Brakes OK.....adequate but rather unimpressive, a trait of many small Honda products.
Interior door panels too plain-looking.
Rear-seat legroom not bad by small-car standards but still rather tight.
Small, 15-inch wheels and 55-series tires don't provide much grip for cornering and braking even on Sport version.
High center-of-gravity allows some body roll.
Some road noise but not excessive
Slightly overboosed power steering for my tastes.
Drop-away wedge-shaped nose not visible from the driver's seat for help in parking.
Ugly, triangular-shaped, back-sweep headlights typical of many new vehicles.
Flimsy-feeling exterior door handles very unusual for Honda product.
The first impression you get of this car as you walk up to it is that of a slightly puffed-up Chevy Aveo (one of its prime competitiors) with a droop-nose and those ugly triangular headlights becoming so common nowadays. The rear of the car is very similiar to the Aveo hatchback, while the front end looks much like a miniature Sienna / Odyssey minivan. The sharply-drooped nose permits a nice view of the road close in front of you but prevents you from seeing where the fenders are for parking. The shoebox-shaped rear end may look frumpy but is quite space-efficient for a car of this size, permitting a fair amount of rear-seat headroom and / or cargo to be carried ( within the car's modest payload limits, of course ).
The outside was the usual Honda outstanding quality in hardware and paint. though I did not get a really good examination of the paint because we had to peel the car's shrink-wrappers off , it had dirt on the uncovered areas, and of course had not been washed. From what I COULD tell of the paint, though, it was the typical Honda well-done paint job free of unevenness, overspray, and orange peel.
The outside mirrors were marvelous.....they not only swiveled but were quite large for a car of this size, and the hardware that they were attached with felt like something off of an Army tank. All the rest of the outside hardware was typical Honda, with a solid feel and attachment,
the only exception being ( somewhat unusual for Honda ) somewhat flimsy-feeling door handles.
I found a potentially serious problem, however, under the front hood latch...I don't know if it was unique to this sample car or an inherent assembly problem with all Fits. Right at the base of the latch hardware, on top of the sheet-metal plate that supports the radiator, was a rather poorly-finished weld seam with a fairly sharp edge, and as I ran my finger along it, that damn sharp edge sliced right into the side of my first pinkie...felt like a kitchen knife going through it. It was significant but fortunately not serious....about 15-20 minutes to wash it out in the Men's room with soap and hot water, get the bleeding stopped with pressure and a lot of paper tissue, and an excellent bandage supplied by the first-aid kit there at the dealership, and I was ready to continue the review.
Inside the car,( which I might add was quite easy to get in and out of with the tall roof ), the dash and gauges were a welcome change from the Space-ship look of now-bigger-brother Civic. None of that split-level / digital dash nonsense, just good, honest, well-designed analog, conventional three-circle gauges done in the usual Honda / Acura blue / white with red pointers. The rest of the interior was well-done also....good solid hardware, quality-feel and easily-operated controls, and a killer stereo by economy-car standards. The seats obviously were not primarily designed for super-large people but were generally supportive, well-crafted, easy to adjust despite the lack of power controls, and covered with a durable and attractive black upholstery with lighter-color cushion semi-ovals.The 60 / 40 rear seats folded down quite easily in two stages, again with well-done hardware and releases.
The high roofline allowed plenty of headroom, front and rear, for even me and my trademark ubiquitous baseball cap. Legroom in the rear seat was somewhat tight for tall people , as is to be expected in a car of this size and short wheelbase, but not unreasonably so. The inside door panels were covered in a durable but plain-looking and feeling material....one of the few apparant cost-cutting moves in this car.
The rest of the dash, like the gauges, was generally well-done too. A solid-feeling round **** in the center of the dash controlled several music and accessory functions ( No, It's not an I-Drive or MMI by any stretch ), the round climate-control ***** below it had the typical Honda slick, Swiss-Watch feel.
The side dash air vents were the typical Honda, square pattern with the slick-feeling adjust *****, while the two center-dash vents had the Nissan / Infiniti cylindrical roll-up-and-down feature. The glove box......a cost-cutter on many vehicles.......had a reasonable mount of room, was well-shaped, and closed with ( what else ? ) the usual Honda solid-feeling hardware.
Visibility out the car is pretty good all around, except for the previously mentioned tendency of ther droop-nose to prevent you from seeing where the front edges of the fenders are for parking....in fact, you can see NOTHING on the front end of the car past the windshield wipers even if you are as tall as me ( 6' 2" ).
OK....start her up. The little 4-banger settles into a typical-Honda smooth idle without the usual 4-cylinder vibration, but also suffers from the also typical-Honda 4-cylinder lack of low-end torque. Even with a manual transmission and a light load in this car, with the A/C on you have to give yourself plenty of room to pull out in traffic. This car is not going to win any drag races....it is obviously built for gas mileage, which it does deliver if the EPA mileage ratings can be believed.
Max HP on this engine, again typical of Honda 4's, is at very high RPM, and of course, being a new engine, as usual I did not take it over 4000 RPM. ( Hey, I figured these cars are hard ENOUGH as it is to get....why overrev a new unbroken-in engine so the the poor person who does buy it risks getting an oil-burner?....that's not fair to them and I don't believe in that )
Fortunately the 5-speed front-drive transmission, also in the Honda tradition, was a gem. It was the usual Honda-slick, snick-snick fluidity and precision that I can tell just by feel alone. Blindfold me and I can tell a Honda manual transmission ( especially a FWD one ) from just about any other one without even being told what kind of car I'm driving.....the feel of the linkage and clutch is THAT unique and distinctive. The entire auto industry should take lessons from Honda manual-transmission engineers. The only snag I found with it is that when you are in 4th gear and bring the large, comfortable, ball-shaped shift lever up, you have to be careful to make sure you're in either 3rd or 5th, as desired, before letting the clutch out. ( If I'm not sure I let out the clutch very slowly and see what the tach does for an instant....I push it quickly back in if the RPM starts to jump too much. I wish that automakers would put a light on the dash to show you what gear you are in with a manual tranny ( it would prevent a lot of transmission abuse and missed shifts ) but I don't know of any automaker ......not even Honda.....that does that.
The auto enthusiast magazines really like the Sport version of this car....they consistantly rank it quite highly compared to other small cars.......but I myself didn't see a lot of " Sport " in this car. I've already mentioned that the engine is low on torque, ( the Fit Sport has the same engine as the Base with no added power) and the 15-inch, 195 / 55-series tires give a pretty good ride / handling compromise by minicar standards but are not well-suited for getting the car around the Nurburgring. The tall roofline and econocar chassis allows significant but not excessive body roll. The Fit Sport has slightly lower-profile and wider tires and slightly stiffer underpinnings than the Base car ( 14", 65-series ); that probably improves the steering response and handling some....but as usual ( and you can call me Grandpa if you want ) I would probably prefer the somewhat softer ride of the Base version as long as it does not allow extreme body roll....but the Sport version is not uncomfortable-riding at all. So it is safe to say that the enthusiasm of the auto mags for the Sport version's handling would probably not be carried over to the Base car. I also found the power steering a little too overboosted for my tastes, but this is a problem I have with a lot of cars, and of course that does not mean that is overboosted for someone else.
The amount of road and tire noise was significant, but not excessive, and not unreasonable considering the car's econobox status and relative lack of sound insulation.
Brakes, as expected from both the relatively small wheels and tires and the past tendency of Honda to use too-small rotors on their smaller cars, were OK but rather mediocre. The pedal was reasonably firm but unresponsive. Brake modulation and stability felt good....the car stopped in a straight line, and there was evenness of response, but once again, like with past Civics, it feels to me like Honda might have again used too-small rotors that just don't have enough swept-area of brake-pad contact, even on a small, light car like this.
So.....the verdict? I feel that this is basically a good, well-made small car....a worthy successor to the Civic in the entry-level market, and IMO handily beats the Civic in a couple of areas like headroom and dash / gauge design. It has the usual Honda excellence in hardware, paint, assembly quality ( if they can deal with that problem in the hood latch ), gas mileage, and its superb manual transmission. The Sport version, however, as mentioned earlier, especially with dealer markups, is somewhat overpriced compared to its rivals, and even with the new 5 year 60,000 mile Honda Drivetrain warranty that is now competitive, that has to be taken into consideration. Greedy dealerships only make the problem worse by asking way over list for trivial things, which of course makes the price even less competitive. It needs more low-RPM torque, better brakes, and maybe something out on the edge of the front fenders to help you park. Ordirinarily I recommend automatics, especially for urban / city use, but this car is much better-suited to the superbly-designed manual transmission. The optional Sport-Shift automatic, despite the fun paddle-shift levers on the steering column, would just sap too much power from an already low-torque engine, especially with the slow-to-cool-down A/C.....another one of the car's weak points. So get the manual tranny and enjoy its superb shifting characteristics, better though still not impressive acceleration, and gas mileage.
Last edited by mmarshall; 07-23-06 at 04:18 AM.
07-23-06, 08:40 PM
#2
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Great review! A few of my friends are looking at sub compacts. I will defintely shoot this review to them.
Out of all the subcompacts in the market today, I would get a Fit, you can't beat the standard safety features and standard Honda reliability!
Out of all the subcompacts in the market today, I would get a Fit, you can't beat the standard safety features and standard Honda reliability!
07-23-06, 09:45 PM
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That's really something about the sharp metal piece behind the hood latch. This car's been out in Japan for a while now - I wonder why it's not fixed.
Anyway - great review. It turns me off a little bit that the aircon requires so much of the tiny 1.5 liter's power. Honda should have done something innovate about the power problem; I would have suggested designing the Fit from day-one as a hybrid. But I'm sure that would have boosted the development costs and therefore the price far beyond its entry-level target ... blah blah blah. And then we'd never hear the end of Honda's whining about it not selling.
Oh well.
May still be my next car.
M.
Anyway - great review. It turns me off a little bit that the aircon requires so much of the tiny 1.5 liter's power. Honda should have done something innovate about the power problem; I would have suggested designing the Fit from day-one as a hybrid. But I'm sure that would have boosted the development costs and therefore the price far beyond its entry-level target ... blah blah blah. And then we'd never hear the end of Honda's whining about it not selling.
Oh well.
May still be my next car.
M.
07-24-06, 01:06 AM
#5
Great review. I test drove a Honda Fit last month and a Nissan Versa several weeks ago. I prefered the Versa over the Fit. Yaris wasn't even in the running because for some odd reason they decided not to bring the 5-door into the U.S. market when I see them running all over Seattle from B.C.
I had a serious second sticker shock when I found the Fit configured as I liked to be around $17.9K. The dealer had the second sticker at $22.9K. Needless to say, people are paying those prices up here.
Cheers,
Kermee
I had a serious second sticker shock when I found the Fit configured as I liked to be around $17.9K. The dealer had the second sticker at $22.9K. Needless to say, people are paying those prices up here.
Cheers,
Kermee
07-24-06, 01:07 AM
#6
Originally Posted by videcormeum
... I would have suggested designing the Fit from day-one as a hybrid. ...
Cheers,
Kermee
07-24-06, 03:05 AM
#7
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by Koma
Great review Marshall!
Have you tested the Yaris yet? I honestly do agree that the FIt is overpriced for it's category but it's got the best style out of any entry level compacts.
Have you tested the Yaris yet? I honestly do agree that the FIt is overpriced for it's category but it's got the best style out of any entry level compacts.
The Yaris is coming up. It's on my list.
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07-24-06, 03:17 AM
#8
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by videcormeum
That's really something about the sharp metal piece behind the hood latch. This car's been out in Japan for a while now - I wonder why it's not fixed.
Anyway - great review. It turns me off a little bit that the aircon requires so much of the tiny 1.5 liter's power. Honda should have done something innovate about the power problem; I would have suggested designing the Fit from day-one as a hybrid. But I'm sure that would have boosted the development costs and therefore the price far beyond its entry-level target ... blah blah blah. And then we'd never hear the end of Honda's whining about it not selling.
Oh well.
May still be my next car.
M.
Oh well.
May still be my next car.
M.
It's a nice small car...no question about it.....and doesn't have the quirky dash / gauges of either the Yaris or Civic. The A / C power drain, though, is typical of small, low-powered engines....and It was a typical summer Washington, DC steam-bath day as well, which adds to even more power drain from low air density. I noticed more or less the same thing on the Hyundai Accent and Kia Rio. It takes a certain amount of HP to overcome compressor drag on any engine. Obviously, the less HP you have to start with, the greater the percentage of the engine's available reserve power will be used up with the compressor running....and the more it will affect mileage as well.
07-24-06, 10:56 AM
#10
Lexus Fanatic
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Great review as always. I've seen a couple of Fits on the road (sounds funny) and overall I think they're very ugly. Tall, small wheels,the 'sport' trim looks tacked on, um, no thanks. That and the gutless engine are turnoffs. Like you mmarshall, I love Honda's manual transmissions have had a blast driving a new 6 speed Civic Si not too long ago. Even that 'sporty' car though was almost devoid of low end torque.
You mentioned road noise - I've noticed a clear pattern with Honda - that they just don't like putting sound proofing in their vehicles. I noticed it with a Civic, an Accord, a Pilot, and an Element - they're all pretty noisy, if not when new, then as they get a few miles on them. I think Honda's philosophy is to try to keep the car lighter without as much sound deadening materials as competitors perhaps, and keep the drivetrain as smooth and quiet as possible, but that only works so far because of road noise coming through the tires, wheels, and suspension.
Subjectively I've found comparable Toyota models to be much quieter than Hondas.
Acuras on the other hand, may have more sound deadening... they tend to be pretty quiet.
You mentioned road noise - I've noticed a clear pattern with Honda - that they just don't like putting sound proofing in their vehicles. I noticed it with a Civic, an Accord, a Pilot, and an Element - they're all pretty noisy, if not when new, then as they get a few miles on them. I think Honda's philosophy is to try to keep the car lighter without as much sound deadening materials as competitors perhaps, and keep the drivetrain as smooth and quiet as possible, but that only works so far because of road noise coming through the tires, wheels, and suspension.
Subjectively I've found comparable Toyota models to be much quieter than Hondas.
Acuras on the other hand, may have more sound deadening... they tend to be pretty quiet.
07-24-06, 12:51 PM
#11
Road noise was definitely an issue when I test-drove the Fit. It was almost unbearable once I was past 60 MPH. The Versa on the other hand surprised me. The engine is extremely muted/quiet inside the cabin and I'm sure the tires helped a lot too. (The OE tires on the Versa are ContiProContact 185/65HR15's).
Cheers,
Kermee
Cheers,
Kermee
07-24-06, 12:58 PM
#12
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Several comments about road noise here. This car did have some road noise...more than usual for a brand-new car, but not excessively so considering its econobox class, lightweight construction, and lack of insulation. A couple of the new Hyundais I've driven also had noticeable road noise...I noted that in reviews.
Also, this car had the Fit Sport 15", 55-series tire and wheel package. The base car, with 14" wheels and slightly taller, narrower 65-series tires with a different tread, may be a little quieter....don't know, couldn't drive one. ( I was lucky to get a review of this car alone )
Also, this car had the Fit Sport 15", 55-series tire and wheel package. The base car, with 14" wheels and slightly taller, narrower 65-series tires with a different tread, may be a little quieter....don't know, couldn't drive one. ( I was lucky to get a review of this car alone )
07-24-06, 02:18 PM
#13
Originally Posted by mmarshall
Several comments about road noise here. This car did have some road noise...more than usual for a brand-new car, but not excessively so considering its econobox class, lightweight construction, and lack of insulation. A couple of the new Hyundais I've driven also had noticeable road noise...I noted that in reviews.
Also, this car had the Fit Sport 15", 55-series tire and wheel package. The base car, with 14" wheels and slightly taller, narrower 65-series tires with a different tread, may be a little quieter....don't know, couldn't drive one. ( I was lucky to get a review of this car alone )
Also, this car had the Fit Sport 15", 55-series tire and wheel package. The base car, with 14" wheels and slightly taller, narrower 65-series tires with a different tread, may be a little quieter....don't know, couldn't drive one. ( I was lucky to get a review of this car alone )
I feared for my life driving it on the highway at 60mph. It didn't pick up quickly enough to merge smoothly, and the wind felt like it was pushing the car back and forth. TONS of body roll. But had tons of unhelpful storage compartments.
07-24-06, 03:55 PM
#14
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by Koma
Worse car I ever drove... Toyota Echo 4dr.... RENTAL.
I feared for my life driving it on the highway at 60mph. It didn't pick up quickly enough to merge smoothly, and the wind felt like it was pushing the car back and forth. TONS of body roll. But had tons of unhelpful storage compartments.
I feared for my life driving it on the highway at 60mph. It didn't pick up quickly enough to merge smoothly, and the wind felt like it was pushing the car back and forth. TONS of body roll. But had tons of unhelpful storage compartments.
Last edited by mmarshall; 07-24-06 at 05:39 PM.
07-24-06, 04:20 PM
#15
Originally Posted by Kermee
Road noise was definitely an issue when I test-drove the Fit. It was almost unbearable once I was past 60 MPH. The Versa on the other hand surprised me. The engine is extremely muted/quiet inside the cabin and I'm sure the tires helped a lot too. (The OE tires on the Versa are ContiProContact 185/65HR15's).
Cheers,
Kermee
Cheers,
Kermee