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Meet the 2007 Honda Fit
2007 Honda Fit Looks Small on the Outside, Delivers Big on the Inside The new subcompact 5-door hatchback will enter the U.S. subcompact market with class-leading content and segment-defining standard safety equipment. Detroit 01/08/2006 -- The all-new 2007 Honda Fit, a subcompact 5-door hatchback set to go on-sale in the U.S. in April, will make its U.S. debut at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, American Honda Motor Co., Inc., announced today. Already one of Honda's hottest selling models in Asia and Europe, the Fit is designed to enter the U.S. market as leader in the subcompact segment with top-of-class feature content, refinement, interior functionality, sporty driving demeanor and high levels of standard safety equipment. Built on Honda's legendary foundation for dependability, quality and reliability, the Fit is a premium entry-level vehicle that emphasizes style, technology and value. The Fit features a 109 horsepower 1.5-liter 4-cylinder VTEC engine, a 5-speed manual transmission or an available, first in segment, 5-speed automatic transmission, and over 90 cubic feet of passenger volume with multiple seating and cargo configurations. A Fit Sport model offers wheel-mounted paddle shifters (with automatic transmission) and a 160-watt, six-speaker audio system. Fit will be supported by a wide variety of Honda Genuine Accessories, including segment exclusive Honda Apple(R) iPod(R) Music Link(R), allowing owners to personalize their Fits inside and out. ... Estimated city/highway fuel economy ratings of 33/38 miles per gallon is expected to be among the highest ratings in the subcompact 5-door hatchback class. Emissions levels are rated as Low Emissions Vehicle 2 (LEV-2) by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and Tier 2 / Bin 5 by the Federal government. Honda's official Fit Minisite |
Re: Meet the 2007 Honda Fit
Well nobody ever replied to my Honda Fit thread in the first place, so I'll just bring it back since it was just put up against 6 other $15,000 hatchbacks in the May 2006 issue of Car and Driver magazine. Now obviously if you want the full review, you'll just have to buy the magazine (or search the websites with a lot less respect for copyrights) but I'll clue you all in on the FE numbers:
Name/Displacement/C&D's observed FE over 1000 miles: Toyota Yaris 1.5: 36 Honda Fit 1.5: 35 Hyundai Accent 1.6: 30 Kia Rio5 1.6: 30 Nissan Versa 1.8: 28 Suzuki Reno 2.0: 28 Dodge Caliber 1.8: 28 Now knowing that this is the same Car and Driver that typically knows only two throttle positions (full throttle and off throttle), the fact that the Fit and Yaris did so well bodes very well for these two new-to-the-USA entries. The fact that they both SMOKED everyone else shows the sheer dominance Toyota and Honda have over everyone else when it comes to fuel economy in the real world. As a final note, I will point out that Car and Driver ranked the Fit much, much higher than the Yaris on the basis of it's handling and fun-to-drive scores. What can I say, as a previous owner of one, I love Honda's hatchbacks and this great result for Honda brought a smile to my face. |
Re: Meet the 2007 Honda Fit
I'm sold. I've thought about getting something else and the Fit might just "fit" the bill. My next car needs to be cheap and a 4 door hatchback. Since Honda wouldn't do that with the US spec Civic that's out of the running.
Of course right now I don't have a "need" for another car but you never know. If I were to wreck one of my cars tommorow I'd like to be prepared and know what I want before I rush and get a replacement. The Fit doesn't have the bulbous look the Scion Xa has. The Xb has really got my eye but I don't care for the mileage, I want better. |
Re: Meet the 2007 Honda Fit
Any word on safety ratings? since they have been around in Europe for a while, do they test them? I could see this as a good car for the kids; safety is why i bought the HCH 2. I would hope the Fit could come close in safety to make that work.
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Re: Meet the 2007 Honda Fit
Well, I doubt if it's going to have the same crash test rating as the new Civic, due to it's 'ACE' structure and larger size. However, the Fit is getting side and side curtain airbags as standard. Generally, the testing entities state that the curtain airbags make the biggest difference in the side impacts.
Bottom line - I'm thinking it's going to be a pretty safe car. However, I haven't driven it yet, so I don't know how its road manners are, relative to other Hondas I've owned. And of course, the safest (or most unsafe) component in the car is...the driver ;) |
Re: Meet the 2007 Honda Fit
While they don't use the ACE catch-phrase for the Fit, it was actually one of the first cars that they essentially adopted that philosophy for from the start. You can read up a bit on this page.
http://www.atlmotorsjm.com/images/pi...fit_crash5.gif |
Re: Meet the 2007 Honda Fit
Both the Yaris and Fit seem pretty impressive, for the car buyer who wants a quality economy vehicle with utility and very nice overall mileage.
So Car & Driver got 36 and 35 MPG over 1000 miles. Does anybody know what kind of mileage they got for Prius and HCH? It would be an interesting comparison. I'm tempted to compare it to the 37 MPG that Consumer Reports got with the HCH, but I'm not sure that Car & Driver was quite as abusive. |
Re: Meet the 2007 Honda Fit
Originally Posted by coyote
. . . So Car & Driver got 36 and 35 MPG over 1000 miles. Does anybody know what kind of mileage they got for Prius and HCH? It would be an interesting comparison. I'm tempted to compare it to the 37 MPG that Consumer Reports got with the HCH, but I'm not sure that Car & Driver was quite as abusive.
Bob Wilson |
Re: Meet the 2007 Honda Fit
Originally Posted by bwilson4web
Consumer Reports, December 2000, compared the Echo and Prius but I don't have that article handy.
For example, if in their tests, the Fit received 35 MPG, and the HCH received 37 MPG, then that would say one thing. If however in their tests the Fit got 35, and the HCH got 45, that would say something else altogether. So knowing how un-MPG-friendly their test drives typically are, by knowing their results for the HCH or Prius, would help with the evaluation. |
Re: Meet the 2007 Honda Fit
Why no hybrid IMA version?
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