2009 Honda Fit Sport - Test Drive First Impressions

My wife and I started using Craigslist a few months ago to start ridding ourselves of some clutter. One of the items we sold was a vanity, a rather large piece of furniture. I asked the buyer if she had a car big enough to transport the vanity and she assured me she did.

Imagine my surprise the next day when she showed up driving Honda's smallest car, the oddly named Fit. I looked at the woman and said, "Are you sure it's going to fit in there? It's pretty big?" She assured me it would. She folded the back seats down, folded her passenger seat down, and the little car swallowed the furniture whole.

"Pretty cool," I said.

"I love my little car," she told me.

As my 2000 Nissan Craptima begins to make different scary sounds every day, I have been investigating the latest in compact models to determine what my next purchase will be. In my search process, I've driven a Nissan Versa (huge for a compact car, with a nice interior and a snooze to drive) and a Ford Focus (ugly on the outside, nicer on the inside, but distinguished only by the cool Sync system), and just today, the completely redesigned 2009 Honda FIt. The Honda Fit is clearly the winner, hands down.

Exterior

The Honda Fit has been redesigned for 2009 to make it a larger and accommodate some issues consumers had with the previous generation. I'm not as fond of the exterior styling this year as I was for the previous model. Gone is the cool mini hatchback look, replaced with something that looks more like an anorexic minivan. But the more time I spent with the car, the more I found the styling of the Honda Fit appealing. The paint looks clean, the spoiler on the higher end Sport Fit is attractive, and Honda wisely replaced the flip open fuel door with a remote release one. Colors available are Milano Red, Taffeta White, Blackberry Pearl, Crystal Black Pearl, Tidewater Blue Metallic, Storm Silver Metallic, Orange Revolution Metallic.

Interior

The interior has been redesigned to give the Fit a pinch more space in several areas. The attractive dash is a huge expanse of high quality plastic, including an attractive and expensive looking gauge cluster with silver accents and blue LED lighting. The air conditioner controls and radio are well placed and feel substantial, although I would have liked for the controls to adjust the audio to be a bit closer to the driver, instead of being dead center. There are ten cup holders and numerous storage bins throughout, including two glove boxes. One is a traditional glovebox, and the other hides a USB port (in the Sport model) for plugging in (and protecting) your Ipod. This USB port integrates nicely with the stereo. The car has a real time fuel consumption indicator and an average MPG display, as well as a maintenance minder system.

The front driver seat was large enough to comfortably accommodate my 6 foot, 270 pound frame, and the steering wheel tilts and telescopes to fit you better. The passenger side is much tighter, with the glove boxes intruding into the leg room. Adding to the spacious feeling is the large expanses of glass in the car, which greatly enhance visibility.

The "magic" rear seats flip up to allow for placement of large objects into the floor of the backseat. The rear seat also easily flips forward to open up a huge floor for hauling large items. With all seats up, the car can comfortably seat four (assuming the people in the back aren't both six footers, and still have room in the back for some groceries.

The 160 watt factory stereo sounded good, better than those I've heard in my wife's CRV and my mother's Accord. Unfortunately, the base model stereo does not have steering controls. New for this year is navigation, which is bundled with stability/traction control.

Driving

The Fit is truly a pleasure to drive. While nowhere near a quick car, acceleration was adequate for a small engine, and the accelerator had a nice feel that made it easy to maintain speed. . The Fit's handling, even without stability control, was fun and felt like an extension of me as I easily navigated tricky curves. The steering wheel mounted paddle shifters, do work to give you a bit of extra oompf from lower gears when driving the automatic, but the lag between tapping the paddle and feeling the car drop a gear makes it feel more like a gimmick than a useful addition. The visibility and small size of the Fit make it easy to pull in and out of parking spaces. Interior ergonomics (with the exception of a radio with buttons that are too far away to reach easily) are top notch as well.

Conclusion

The Honda Fit is by far the top of the line in today's subcompacts. It has a decent amount of passenger space and an incredible flexibility that allows you to haul passengers or large amounts of cargo with ease. Additionally, its driving characteristics, interior and available options don't make the car seem like a penalty box for entry level buyers. Beware that a fully loaded 2009 Honda Fit can close in on $20,000 (and may indeed do so with dealer options added), and that because Honda cannot keep them on the lots, your ability to deal on the cars is limited. The Honda Fit is a perfect car for a small family or college student who needs a lot of flexibility in a car on a limited budget.

To find out more about the 2009 Honda Fit, visit the Fit Website.

Special thanks to Ron Towles of Sam Swope Honda in Louisville, KY for letting me take the extended test drive.