Test Drive: New Honda Fit hits the fuel-efficient spot
NEW YORK -- How's this sound: 30 to 40 real-world miles per gallon, modest price, fun to drive, distinctive-looking. That sums up the redesigned 2009 Honda Fit on sale next week. Think Honda will have trouble selling the 85,000 a year it plans to get from Japan?
The Fit's not a hybrid — which is the first question people asked at rest stops. But its window-sticker prices of $15,000 to $19,000 make it thousands of dollars cheaper than hybrids (unless dealers start marking up Fit's prices, just because they can, in this climate of fuel-price hysteria).
The test cars delivered 30 to 40 mpg without any attempt to conserve — indeed with much sampling of full-throttle acceleration. That's better than government fuel-economy ratings for the car. Remarkable.
The testers were preproduction models, but Honda says they were built to production specifications and the fuel-economy readouts should have been spot-on.
The '09 Fit seems so right that we should cool our collective jets by looking first at the bad things:
•Ride. Stiff to the point of teeth-jarring on some bumps. Clearly a suspension designed by a dentist. Honda, of course, thinks the characterization, not the ride, is what's harsh.
•Fuel tank. Tiny, less than 11 gallons, so you're constantly refilling despite good fuel economy. The previous Fit holds a couple tenths more.
•Steering. Despite what Honda says are big improvements, it can be a bit twitchy. Not a car for the habitually over-caffeinated.
•Power. Not enough for comfort on fast interstates or hilly terrain. The fuel-sipping engine has to work like a whipped cur to run with the big dogs on the big roads. Makes you long for the easy comfort of a big Detroit V-8 after a couple of hours. The '09 engine is rated 117 horsepower, up 8 hp from the '08. Torque's up just 1 pound-foot, to 106 lbs.-ft.
•XM Satellite Radio. Nope. Honda thinks buyers will be more enamored of the plug that lets your iPod be controlled via the car's stereo than they would be of satellite radio.
Popular Reads
ABC News Live