2009 Honda Fit: Fitter Than Before
I briefly drove the redesigned-for-'90 Honda Fit last night, a Sport version with the five-speed manual. First I subjected it to my six-mile, 0-to-20-to-0 (repeat countless times) commute and then got to stretch its legs when I went over my girlfriend's house (about 10 miles away) later on. So though I didn't get into any twisty roads, I was still able to form some impressions. It's the old good news / bad news. But it's mostly very good news and only a little semi-bad news...
First the semi-bad news: The Fit's clutch take-up could be more progressive -- the pedal has a fair amount of dead travel until it catches near the top of its stroke, which takes some getting used to in order to pull away smoothly. Not a big deal once you've acclimated, however. And the interior styling, specifically the dash, is rather jumbled. It looks as if the designers had an outline of the dash against the studio wall and played pin-the-climate-controls-on-the-dash. Notice the three knobs and the small box of controls scattered around the nav screen. Functionally, it works just fine. It just isn't as aesthetically pleasing to me as the previous dash.
The rest is all very good news. The 1.5-liter engine apparently hit the gym and though the power increase (117 hp versus the previous 109, torque is up by one pound-foot) may not impress you, the increased driveability should. Numbers don't tell the whole story -- there's now a broader power spread. Coupled with the manual tranny's shorter-for-'09 overall gearing, you can feel the increased 'oomph' down low and through the midrange, so it's no longer necessary to take each gear to the "buzz the screws outta the dash" threshold to battle traffic or get up to speed on freeway on-ramps. It still could use a sixth gear, as cruising at 60 mph has the engine spinning at nearly 3,000 rpm.
Other notes based on my brief seat time include, yes the (front) seats. They're firmly supportive and have plenty of side bolstering, which hints at the Fit's sporty personality. The steering feel and response is fantastic, it feels more like a sports sedan's than an econobox. And though the newest Fit is about four inches longer than the outgoing one, it still has a little footprint, so the Fit's maneuverability is still trumps for negotiating rush hour traffic and nabbing small curbside parking spots.
Overall, Honda took a fun little economy car and made it better in a few key ways. I'd still like to see a hybrid version though...
John DiPietro, Automotive Editor
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- John DiPietro September 4, 2008, 2:43 PM
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- 2009 Honda Fit Sport
Well this is great! I am such a fan fo the current Fit and it is wonderful to hear all the great reviews this car has been getting!
As an '07 Honda Fit owner I've been watching this redesign with a mixture of fascination and envy. In particular, I'm intrigued by the "buzz the screws out of the dash" comment. In my Fit, it revs nicely (i.e. it's "rev happy") and yet it does seem to get a bit wheezy. How can they boost the numbers so marginally and get that much out of it. Or are you just going to say, "That's Honda for you!"
Phillip,
Yes, like the last gen, the newest Fit's engine spins up willingly, gotta love Honda engineering. But even in normal workaday driving it's a noticeable improvment as you don't have to rev it up as high to get some meaningful thrust.