Honda Fit 2007

By Bruno Bouchard

Finally available in Canada

It’s today; the 3rd of April 2006 that the Honda sub-compact named “Fit” makes its first appearance in the showrooms. When it hit the market in 2002, Fit was only available in Europe and Japan under the name “Jazz”. In that same year, it became car of the year in Japan. Nothing less. Since then, enthusiasts have clamoured for it in Canada. Well, after four years of waiting, it’s finally here.

A remarkable interior

The Fit’s exterior won’t win any prizes. The car is “cute” but fairly conservative. But one look inside and you’re impressed. My first thought was: “This interior is Acura class; never would I expect this in a $ 14,980 subcompact!” The displays are situated in front of the driver contrary to the Yaris sub. Furthermore, their bluish lighting is practically the same as Acura’s TL or RL. The dash information is easy to read on top of being pleasing and restful. The central console has an engaging avant-garde design. Often, this type of design doesn’t rime with ergonomics but not in this case. The materials are quality and so is the assembly.

Although the dash and console are great, there not what’s best about the interior. The prize goes to a mouldable space called ‘Magic Seat’. The Honda engineers decided to locate the fuel tank under the front passengers thus creating a lot of space for the rear passengers and the trunk. This feature allows interior configuration in four totally different ways. Cargo space? The rear seats disappear into the floor creating plenty of room. The loading area has a depth of 1168 cm, yielding a volume of 878 litres. Remember that the useable space in the Honda Accord is 369 litres...a huge difference. You got heavy objects to transport? No problem because you’ve opted for the height configuration. By collapsing the back seat on itself, you can haul things 1280cm high. The following day, you’re at the hardware store with long stuff to haul. So you fold the front passenger seat and you’ve gained 2400cm. Finally, drive-in enthusiasts can get in the airy mode by folding the front seats which creates a lot of forward room.

Driving impressions

The Fit is equipped with a 1.5 litre VTEC motor developing 109 hp, according to the new SAE norm. Sounds puny? Appearances can be deceiving...the car’s weighs only 1091kg. This and the automatic or manual five speed transmission zooms the Fit along nicely. In fact, I managed 0-100 km in 9.86 seconds with the automatic transmission. Now that’s more than respectable; it’s more than a second faster than the Yaris! On take off, the motor is responsive and accelerates quickly. But the 80-120 zone is average. Also, during passing manoeuvres one quickly reminded that it only has 109 horses. The Fit is no exception to Honda’s reputation for fuel economy . The five speed automatic transmission has a final ratio of 4.563. Translation: the motor is only turning at 2350 revs/pm at 100 km/h 2750 revs/pm at 120 km/h. Add the low motor capacity and the Fit has a fuel consumption rate of 5.6/100 km on the road and 7.8/100 km in the city.