2007-2008 Honda Fit

I don't know why small cars often get a bad rep in North America, it seems bigger cars are always seen in a better light. If it weren't for the safety issues associated with small cars I don't think they look that bad considering they're light, efficient, affordable(within reason) and can be good to drive. Maybe its because American car companies in the past made a huge mess with their small cars attempting to encourage car buyers to pay more for bigger cars.


Introduction: The Honda Fit is a relatively new addition to Honda's lineup for North America. Previously Honda has never competed in this subcompact segment leaving it up to Toyota and its Tercel against mainly Korean competition which back then was really weak. In 2006 Honda decided to bring over the Fit over even though its been in production since 2001, likely due to the fact fuel prices were soaring. Unknown to North America, Honda has actually been in the subcompact market for a long time with cars like the City, the Logo, and my favourite of the bunch the Beat(a rare layout being a mid-engined kei car) however they were mostly available only in Japan. The Fit has had quite a success in the European markets where its known as the Jazz. This version of the Honda Fit would have a short North American lifespan due to the fact Honda already planned the new Fit to be introduced by 2009.

I must be honest, I actually did want to try this little car out to see if it was better than Toyota's entry the Yaris. I've already driven the Civic from before and I didn't really think it was all too deserving of its praise, but I knew that this Fit should suit my tastes a lot more due to it being geared for Europe and Japan instead of America.


Performance: The 1.5L 4-cylinder engine Honda has equipped the Fit produces 109 hp and 105 lb.ft of torque which so far is the lowest powered engine of all the cars I've reviewed. This engine does have Honda's famed VTEC system in it and actually is a reasonable engine for this sort of car. The goal was not power but rather adequate power and fuel efficiency, this engine is considered large for Europe and Japan which both allow the use of 660 cc engines(basically 0.6L) but is considered very small for North America. Having driven this car with this engine, it actually was pretty peppy and doesn't have the drone of say the awful Magnum with its V6. All things considered this is actually a good engine so long as power is not a huge requirement. Its not brilliant for highway driving but it can actually do it, I cannot say the same for some cars with bigger and more powerful engines.

My Score: 8/10 - It doesn't have much power, but it doesn't really need to. Great fuel efficiency, reasonable performance and not much noise is all that's needed for a city car.

Handling: The Fit has to be one of Honda's best efforts when it comes to making a car handle. This is precisely why I like small cars, the low amount of weight equipped with a suspension that is geared to handle well makes these cars quite fun. The steering wheel was weighted correctly, the handling is very good and the car remained rather stable in the corners. I cannot say the same for Honda's other cars but for the Fit, I enjoyed its cornering ability and thus will give it top marks.

My Score: 10/10 - Great handling, properly weighted steering wheel and the ride quality doesn't really suffer. All in all this is why the car is called Fit, weight is actually not a problem for this car.


Interior: The Fit is one of the best of the subcompacts today to feature an interior worthy of being in a larger more expensive car. The layout of the dashboard is very simple and not very complicated and despite being an interior designed in 2001...it looks better than several cars with interiors designed from 2007 to now. It actually fits neatly with Honda's current more advanced styling of their new interiors. The plastics on the Fit are of reasonable quality which is hard to say these days. The seats in the Fit are quite comfortable and due to the way the car is shaped even a fairly tall person can drive a Fit without major issues so its reasonably spacious. Lastly they're built in Japan, I have yet to see a Fit that was built incorrectly, the fit and finish were good.

My Score: 9/10 - A very good, spacious interior for a small car. I would have liked to see more aluminum instead of plastic but there's little to complain about this car's interior.

Styling: The Honda Fit is not one of Honda's more revolutionary styling cases. Its rather similar to what Honda was doing in the early portion of 2000 and thus its not all that interesting to look at. The head lights are are more aggressive but from the rear its pretty plain. All in all the Fit is pretty modest, it looks pretty good for a modest looking car but its certainly not something significant or even interesting.

My Score: 7/10 - A reasonable looking 5-door hatchback, no real interesting styling cues unfortunately.

Value for money: Everything is looking great so far, you got a good interior for a fun but fuel efficient vehicle. Sadly the Fit does have a problem, its quite expensive. Every single car it competes against is cheaper and every time you go up a trim level for a Fit it starts looking very expensive even more so than the next level up compacts. You can easily spend more than 20K on a Honda Fit but you don't get a bigger engine or a excellent package to make it a car worth more than 20K. The Honda Fit also is stuck with only a hatchback version, compared to its rivals its very limited in versatile options. With this high cost, you need to hope the car lasts for a very long time to make it all worth biting the high initial costs.

My Score: 4/10 - Very expensive subcompact car, surprisingly poor value versus its rivals and not very flexible with options.

Overall: 38/50 - A great small car, clearly my favourite of all the subcompacts. Its only truly hindered by being expensive. You need to convince yourself that it truly is worth the money to suffer the high initial costs. If you can, you get a very good car in the end.