Filed at 5:49 a.m. ET
Go figure. Even in a bad economic year like 2009, Honda surpassed its original sales projections for its compact Fit hatchback.
Maybe it was the fact the five-door Fit ranks second-best in government gasoline mileage among hatchbacks while offering more cargo space than many larger cars. Perhaps it was the Fit being a consistent ”recommended buy” by Consumer Reports magazine. Or was it the fact the Fit is ranked as the best entry compact car in retaining its value after three years of ownership?
The Fit also has been cited as one of the ”10 Best Cars” by Car & Driver magazine for every one of the four years that the car has been sold in the United States. And it has higher crash protection ratings than two major hatchback competitors — one from Nissan, the other from Toyota.
Whatever the reason, the unassuming-looking Fit continues to endear itself to buyers even though its starting retail price is higher than many competitors’.
Starting manufacturer’s suggested retail price, including destination charge, is $15,610 for a base, five-passenger, 2010 Fit with 117-horsepower, four-cylinder engine and manual transmission. The 2010 Nissan Versa hatchback starts at $13,870 with 122-horsepower four cylinder powerplant, while the 2010 Toyota Yaris hatchback has a starting retail price of $13,405 with 106-horsepower, four-cylinder engine. Both the Versa and Yaris base prices include manual transmission.
Note that the Versa and Yaris also are sold as sedans, while the Fit only has one body style. So every one of the 67,315 Fits bought last year was a five-passenger, tallish hatchback. Honda officials had projected annual sales of 50,000 when they introduced the Fit to the United States in 2006.
From the outside, the Fit looks pleasant and short in length. It’s one of the few cars where small wheels and tires — they’re 15- or 16-inchers, depending on which Fit you get — look OK. Just 13.5 feet in length from bumper to bumper and 5.5 feet wide, the Fit is, well, easy to fit into small parking spaces. It makes U-turns without fuss and obviously doesn’t need a lot of room to maneuver.
Best of all, visibility for the driver and passengers is good. Everyone sits up on seats that are positioned higher than those in a regular car. Using the manual height adjustment for the driver seat in the test Fit Sport model, I even had my legs extending downward in a more bus-like fashion, rather than merely extended forward.
Large windows all around the Fit plus a roofline that’s 5 feet off the ground add an open feel. I appreciate that Honda installed small, rectangular glass sections at the lower edge of each side of the windshield, rather than building a thick metal pillar there. It meant I could more readily spot pedestrians in crosswalks as I made turns.
The Fit has more headroom in its two rows of seats than does a Cadillac Escalade sport utility vehicle. The Fit’s tallish roofline also is key to the 57.3 cubic feet of cargo space that’s available with rear seatbacks folded own. This kind of storage is akin to that of some SUVs.
Anyone who’s short in stature will love the low floor height and negligible liftover at the back hatch opening. Tall items don’t always have to be laid down back there. The Fit’s innovative rear seat cushion can be moved upward with one, swift lift motion, exposing the second-row floor for large items that can be left to stand upright.
The Fit’s seats are no-nonsense and could use some lumbar support, and the ride is not plush. I felt road vibrations through my seat cushion and large road bumps jiggled more than just the cushion.
The Fit interior isn’t particularly insulated against sound, either. I heard the engine all the time as I drove, and there was wind noise at highway speeds.
But textured plastic on the dashboard was attractive, wipers were sized correctly to sweep clear the whole windshield, controls for heater and air conditioning were easy to understand, and the bright blue lighting for the tachometer and speedometer was pretty.
I prefer a Fit with five-speed manual transmission, rather than the five-speed automatic that was in the test car. The manual creates a more hands-on feel for the driver that fits this entry-level car and makes for a spunkier feel. The tester with automatic, however, felt more like it was going through its paces, and even the paddle shifters on the steering wheel that allowed for manual shifting sans clutch pedal didn’t remedy the experience much.
The 1.5-liter, single overhead cam, four cylinder is buzzy at high rpms, and torque peaks at 106 foot-pounds at 4,800 rpm.
I averaged the government fuel mileage in city driving of 27 mpg as well as the government’s combined city/highway rate of 30 mpg. Note the tester was a Fit Sport, which has more equipment than the base Fit that has the 28/35-mpg rating that ranks second among gasoline-powered hatchbacks in the country. The No. 1-rated gasoline hatchback is the Yaris at 29/36 mpg.
The Fit comes with many standard features, including curtain air bags, tilt and telescoping steering wheel, power door locks and windows, grocery bag hooks in the cargo area and under-seat storage in the second row.
In U.S. government crash tests, the Fit earned 5 out of 5 stars for protecting front-seat passengers in a frontal crash and the driver in a side crash. The Fit had 4 out of 5 stars for rear-side passenger crash protection.
According to Automotive Lease Guide, a new Fit can be expected to retain more of its purchase price over three years of ownership than any other entry-level compact.
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