18th Apr 2007, 12:52

Hate to burst your bubble, but you obviously have never driven a Fit or done any research on it. Not only is the car extremely sporty in the vein of the original Civic Si (a car which I owned and loved), but its tires are 195's, hardly "skinny economy tires" especially given some older BMWS used to run 185's.

The Fit is nothing like it appears, both inside and the way it drives. That can't be said for any of its competition, including the Yaris, Sentra/Versa, Cobalt, Caliber, and even Honda's own Civic (excluding the more expensive Si).

18th Apr 2007, 22:15

Having checked out the Fit, I find it not only slow and ugly, but not particularly good in the handling department either. Never having driven a Ferrari I can't fairly compare the two, but I do know the Fit doesn't perform or handle anywhere nearly as well as my 6 year old GM compact.

19th Apr 2007, 08:47

Sorry the Fit couldn't match the sloppy handling and walllowing of your GM compact - maybe if Honda made the panel gaps a lot greater you would like it. But those of us who have owned BMWs and other sports cars know full well the Fit has fantastic handling and significantly better than the domestic competition.

And it is NOT slow compared to the competition, and even a lot of SUVs.

20th Apr 2007, 21:12

Another case of an import fan who has never owned or driven a domestic making rash (and untrue) statements about the myth of Japanese car makers "superior" products.

Check out the 2002-2005 Camry reviews. ALMOST TWICE as bad as the Ford Taurus.

Read the comments of CAMRY OWNERS who have been stuck with lemons ALMOST TWICE AS OFTEN AS TAURUS OWNERS.

As for Honda, I'll consider one when they drop the membership requirement for the "Transmission of the month club".

21st Apr 2007, 11:07

Really? Got kind of tired taking my friend to the dealership every month to have his Ford Focus FIXED yet again. It had 20 recalls and it was constantly in the shop for virtually every ill that can plague a car including FLOODING in the passenger compartment TWICE. He didn't even have a sunroof. I've owned over 30 years, mostly imports, and have NEVER had flooding EVER.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I'll buy a domestic vehicle when they give me an import as a backup every time the domestic is in the shop.

And just to further disprove your claims, Road and Track surveyed nearly 500 Accord owners (2002-2005) and something like 85% said they would buy the car again and that they loved their Hondas.

Now, how can that possibly be when you are saying what crap they are?

22nd Apr 2007, 18:04

I keep seeing posts about a Focus with "20 recalls" on here. Sometimes the commenter claims it's his car, other times he claims it was "a friend's". It's pretty obvious this person DID NOT own a Focus. I DID own a Focus (2001). I never received ANY recalls on it. NOT ONE. Now why would one Focus owner get TWENTY and another get NONE on the SAME CAR? My Focus never had a single problem and never saw the inside of a service department ever. I think some of the claims on here are made up.

23rd Apr 2007, 18:30

I can't believe we actually have come clowns in the world who try to make claims that the the Honda fit is extremely sporty and can out handle a Ferrari. Maybe it's extremely sporty next to a Citroen 2cv or handles better than an old 208 that hasn't had it shocks or springs replaced in 25 years. But by no means can it be overall considered to be an extremely sporty car nor will it outhandle a well maintained modern Ferrari. The fit is just an excellent economy car and nothing more. Few comforts, low power, and decent handling at best. A welfare car in the truest sense.

25th Apr 2007, 08:46

Our 2001 Focus has been recalled twice for just the back latch on the wagon... The recalls build up higher I hear if you live where they use salt like Minnesota and IL.

28th Apr 2007, 12:44

The Ford Focus, as well as any other Ford out there, can't compare with the Fit, or any other Honda ever built. You Ford guys need to take your pills more often.

1st May 2007, 17:53

If you actually need to buy a Honda Fit, odds are you never owned a newer BMW or sports car. The fit handles just a bit better than most other econoboxes out there, but nowhere near sports car levels. FWD coupled to skinny (by modern standards) economy tires has its limits, and they aren't very high compared to what else is out there.

26th May 2007, 16:10

Just thought I'd pop in and help restore some sanity to this review and it's subsequent commentary. :p.

I've had a Honda Jazz (i.e. the same car as the Fit, only this is the name it's sold under in Europe and Australia) for 2 years, and whilst it is a very good car, one of its few weaknesses is the handling. It's not sporty. It's a little firm, but it's still not all that communicative. I'd say that on the open road, the steering and handling is vague without being all that comfortable. There are much better handling cars in the same class as the Fit/Jazz (such as the Suzuki Swift and Mazda 2), but given that the fact that US car makers appear to be very good at making their market feel inadequate about driving cars that are smaller than the Titanic, don't expect to see any better compact cars in the States any time soon. For you guys, the Fit is as good as it gets.

Meanwhile, back on topic, I do wonder what the reviewer has actually driven previously to give the handling such a glowing review.

27th May 2007, 18:49

To quote, but one review of the Fit, from Car and Driver:

"What truly set the Fit apart was its handling — not a pretense of handling, but the real deal, with springs and struts that allowed one gentle rebound and no more, the only car here that felt happy storming the switchbacks. We later confirmed this when the Fit sailed through our lane-change test 6 mph faster than anything else here — faster, in fact, than a Corvette Z06."

While I can't claim to have driven a huge range of cars prior to buying my Fit, I will say that it handles very nicely. A lot of folks who have driven a lot more than I have seem to agree. It's a blast to drive.

Why can't some people accept that a small car can be desirable, even compared to cars costing twice as much?

28th May 2007, 08:17

18:49 I've tried to explain those same handling issues to some other commenters on this site. I've never driven a car for even twice the price of a Fit that was as fun to drive overall, and nobody has ever made a car this versatile. I'm so glad to see Honda going a little more in this direction again; like the late '80's CRX's, and with the huge success of the Fit, I'm sure we'll see a lot more Honda redesigns that fall in that category. The comparisons to the Vette are pretty funny, and true. Chevy doesn't seem to understand that just dumping a larger engine into something doesn't make it a better car if it handles like a haywagon. If I worked at GM, I'd be pretty embarrassed that a 1.5 liter economy car that costs $12,000 handles better than their so-called sports car.