Sadly, we're entering a time when tighter budgets and higher fuel costs are going to make people start hating their cars again. And they've gone and redesigned the Fit for 2009, making it a bit larger (4.2 inches longer), a tad heavier (2489 lb. with a manual vs. 2432 lb. for the old one), a dash more powerful (117 HP and 106 ft-lb of torque vs. 109 HP and 105 ft-lb) and a dollop less chunky in the midsection (less than an inch wider). So is the Fit still worthy of affection? Or is it starting to outgrow us as it grows up?

Because this car is certainly growing up. Inside, it's roomier, with head and legroom for robust full-sized people. The 60/40 split rear "Magic Seat" fits actual humans too, plus it now folds down flat to the floor with a single little lever and will let you carry, for example, a bicycle with the front wheel removed. Fold them up and you can carry houseplants or monster stereo speakers or any other lifestyle accessory. The nook-and-cranny factor has been expanded, with lots of little compartmentlets and even a small top-secret hidden stashbox under the rear seats where no one will ever find it. And it will hold the hell out of your cups, with ten receptacles provided for that purpose alone.

Outside, it looks much bigger as well, and not in a positive way. Those four inches don't sound like much, but this car looks like it could be the box the old Fit was shipped in. It's more bulbous, less of a bullpup and more of a breadvan. The front end starts out all right, with a decent grille and a large, aggressive headlight treatment, but then it just sort of, well, continues. Eventually, a rear end is achieved, apparently by default. Viewed from the front, its best angle, the effect is roughly comparable to looking at a box turtle that's been given an expensive pair of Oakley sunglasses and then polished to a high sheen. That's bad enough, but there's worse: From every other angle, it looks less like the hunkered-down old Fit and more like the box a Prius was shipped in.

Now, I'd rather drive the box a Prius was shipped in than a Prius itself, and luckily, when you're driving this car you're not looking at it. And it's really very good to drive indeed. There's just the one engine, the adequetastic 1.5 liter with kick-innable VTEC, but it's sufficient for its class. You'll want the Fit Sport with either the fun and obedient paddle-shifters or the five-speed manual, as the five-speed automatic is noteworthy for its extra gear but is, inevitably, merely decent. Its strut front/torsion-bar rear suspension may be nothing special, and the chassis may be designed more with crumpling than handling in mind, but it still goes down the road and through the turns very well, almost eagerly. On the fun roads you and your game little buddy can whip around with a abandon and build up quite a bit of speed before it starts to push, although by that time, you'll probably have noticed your bicycle and monster stereo speakers and houseplants flying about in the rear and calmed down anyway to just enjoy the view.


View enjoyment is very much a possibility, because the Fit's outward visibility is amazing, obstructed laterally by only the narrowest of pillars and interrupted overall only by the lack of an available sunroof and the continued spineless refusal of Honda, and all other cowardly automakers, to offer a glass-bottom option. The view in front is a bit spoiled by the business of the instruments, which feature abundant blue LEDs at important marks on the dials such as every ten MPH or every thousand RPM and so on. Further along the dash, there's also a USB-capable 160-watt stereo, which is nice, and an optional navigation system in the Fit Sport's Navi package, which is rather poorly integrated but functional and, sadly, also the only way to get stability control. But everyone gets an odometer that now doubles as a fuel economy meter which, happily, is almost always full of good news.

That good news is 28/35 miles per gallon for the automatic version and 27/33 for the manual and the Fit Sport. That's for all real-world purposes the same as the last model, even with a few more horsepower—Your pal doesn't want you spending lots of money. And the trusty Fit is now a ULEV-II vehicle, which means it's better at cleaning up after itself; in fact, Honda says they now use less nastiness such as PVCs and hexavalent chromium and demon bile and chloride and so on to build the Fit, so that when it finally stops running after about 300 years, the parts that aren't recycled can evidently, if I'm interpreting Honda's press kit correctly, be made into a delicious and healthy blueberry-wheatgrass smoothie.

So it's more capacious, just as economical, greenier, and still pretty fun to drive. No, it's certainly not pretty, and right now shopping for one can be downright ugly, with demand forcing poor unfortunate dealers to ask for large premiums above the MSRP, no doubt against their will. But since Honda aims to give people 85,000 Fits over the next year, pricing could very well fall back into line. That would pit it against the Yaris, a slightly more powerful but softer and more wallowy car; the Versa, a car for people for whom driving is something to get over with as soon as possible, unless that means driving quickly; and the Scion xD, a kit car built by Toyota marketers in their spare time as a clumsy way of bonding with their tweenaged children.

The Fit, though, is an actual automobile, aimed not just at people who want a first car, but people who want a good car that just happens to start at $14,550. If it turns out to be the kind of car you can be friends with, so much the better. These days, cars need all the friends they can get.

Why you should buy this car: Because you want an economical yet sporty car that gets very respectable fuel mileage, has a good measure of practicality, and throws fun to drive into the soup pot of miserly subcompact automotive selections. Because you fancy yourself a apex-carving Pompurin.

Why you should not buy this car: Because you have lived your life maintaining that economy cannot possibly be fun. Because you fancy yourself a tough guy. Because you care more about burnouts than mileage. Because you have a multi-kidlet family.

Suitability Parameters:
Speed Merchants: No
Fashion Victims: Yes
Treehuggers: Yes
Mack Daddies: No
Tuner Crowd: Yes
Hairdressers: Yes
Penny Pinchers: Yes
Euro Snobs: No
Working Stiffs: Yes
Technogeeks: Yes
Poseurs: Yes
Soccer Moms: No
Nascar Dads: No
Golfing Grandparents: Yes

Also Consider:
Nissan Versa
Suzuki SX4
Toytoa Yaris
Kia Rio5
Chevy Aveo

Vitals:
Manufacturer: Honda
Model tested: FiT 5-door Sport
Model year: 2007
Base Price: 13,850 [Non-sporting 5-speed]
Price as Tested: 15,170 [5-speed Sport]
Engine type: 1.5 Liter 16-Valve SOHC VTEC Horsepower: 109
Torque: 105 @ 4800
Redline: 6300
Transmission: 5-Speed Manual
Curb Weight: 2471 manual 2551 automatic
LxWxH: 157.4 X 66.2 X 60 [inches]
Wheelbase: 96.5 [inches]
Tires: P195/55 R15 84H [Dunlop SP 31]
Drive type: Front Wheel Drive
0 - 60 mph: 9.25
1/4-mile: 17.22
Fuel economy city/highway: 33 38
NHTSA crash test rating: 5/5/5/3/4

Related:
Jalopnik Reviews: 2007 Honda Fit Sport, Part 1; Part 2; Jalopnik Reviews [Internal]

Special thanks go out to Cole Coonce help with photography in the production of this review. – Mike Bumbeck

Exterior Design: ***
Fans of Hello Kitty's ber cuteness will likely enjoy the Fit styling a bit more than those who dig GI JOE with lifelike hair. We could also be wrong about that. The design is entertaining if not a textbook case of form following function. Sport version adds trick rear spoiler and other sporty bits to give a bit more GT style to the cute box look. We like the goofy grin, but you may not.

Interior Design: ****
Everything is right where it should be. Buttons click accordingly. Plastic is not super fancy, but is well executed to the point it helps the driver not think of it as bad plastic. Plastic is used in a plastic fashion that functions exactly as expected. Simple and intuitive knobs thankfully replace Apollo rocket program button-and-switch arrays. Lots of room even for large guys thanks to an efficient use of space.

Acceleration: ***
Respectable power for 1500cc's of VTEC power. Not much to play with in the lower RPM ranges, but completely enjoyable above the 3500 or so rpm mark. The opening of valves is accompanied by just enough intake trumpet and valve growl to provide freeway on ramps and right foot rev happiness with a proper accompaniment. The little engine almost tells you directly to install a cold air intake for improved sonic amusement.

Braking ***
In normal mixed use driving around the mean streets of Los Angeles and Ventura counties the binders functioned as they should. Not much of a nose dive decelerating off freeway ramps, and no complaints in amateur driver avoidance maneuvers. Even sheets of rain and errant Ford vans with rolls of carpet extending out its flapping rear doors brought no braking drama from the Fit.

Ride ***
While we can't vouch for the standard Fit the sport version was a little choppy at the California speed limit over the 101 going through the valley. Around town at city speeds the Fit ate up the chuckholes and steel construction plates fairly well for a tiny short wheelbase car with smallish wheels. Our passenger didn't notice any chop but did keep leaning over to check corner speeds.

Handling ****
The Fit stays planted on line into corners and leaves with surprising predictability for a front driver. The engine spins out just enough power to the front wheels as not to compete with lateral traction, making the Fit a fun handler through chicanes and corkscrews. A set of UHP tires could turn the Fit into big fun and return a to a smile to the driver bigger than the one it wears.

Gearbox *****
The Fit gearbox telescopes precision right up though the driver's hand with a satisfying click and subsequent click from the shifter with each gear selection. We thought about shifting for all of three seconds and then shifted according to engine soundtrack. Click-klik. Klik-click. VTEC-klik. Automatic Fit Sport is available with paddle wheel shift selector.

Audio/Video ***
Even though he's been known to shill for Mitsubishi, we tested the system using the barely intelligible yet stalwart croakings of none other than Mark E. Smith accompanied by a (surely) now disbanded version of the Fall. The stock system won't win any decibel contests, but the single knob control worked well and was welcome in a world of overly complex audio interfaces. Auxiliary input in lower center console perfect for use with that portable 8-Track player. Bonus for blue tone lighting.

Value *****
With gas-sipping mileage, enjoyable performance, excellent build quality, and a good measure of practical cargo and people carrying ability, the Honda Fit Sport is an excellent value for the money. You can get something similar for less, but by the time fancy wheels and optional bits are added to the list the sticker prices start to merge.

Toys *****
The entire vehicle can either be a very fun toy or everyday practical automobile. Deciding on which depends largely on the moment, what rpm reads on the tachometer, and what needs to be stuffed into the deceivingly large interior. Even the day night selector on the rear view mirror evoked a sense of wonder.

Trunk *****
While the Fit harbors no trunk it does have loads of space for a car of sub-compact size. Since the engineers stashed the fuel tank up under the front seats the entire rear of the vehicle to fold flat for hauling. Rear seats can also be folded up against themselves for flat and low space directly behind the front seats for hauling potted plants, cheap furniture made of Soviet-era glue and sawdust, or Sector9 long boards.

Overall *****
The Honda Fit is a truly fun-to-drive subcompact econobox with some innovative features and a great deal of character. Build quality is 100% Japanese. A subcompact vehicle may not be the answer for for a more than three-person drivership, but the Fit makes sense on many levels that defy its size. If we had any, we would put our money on a five-speed Fit Sport as an inter-urban runabout or country going mini space wagon. – Mike Bumbeck

Related:
Jalopnik Reviews: 2007 Honda Fit Sport, Part 1; Part 3; Jalopnik Reviews [Internal]

Back in the punk rock days of the early eighties Boston, a weekly paper called Boston Rock published a comic called Steven. Like Picasso, Steven had a friend named Brock. Unlike Picasso's pal Braque, Brock lived in a refrigerator box. From the outside his box looked like a box, but inside it was a luxurious flat. Sometimes when Steven visited Brock, he'd be installing storm windows or an air conditioner on the box, and they'd retire inside to watch big-screen TV. While the Honda Fit is no refrigerator box, it is a very entertaining vehicle that, like Brock's box, defies its subcompact size.

There's a reason the Fit reminded me of quirky comic-strip characters from decades past. From the outside Honda's small hatchback conveys a certain cartoonishness, such that pressing the remote key fob to unlock the doors is like feeding a Neopet or pressing the snooze button on a Pompurin happy singing alarm clock. From the front the Fit even appears to wear a goofy grin. The good lot of this presence comes from the Fit's diminutive size. The subcompact exterior dimensions are fairly comical when compared to majority of large SUV's or even minivans the on the road.

Inside, the Fit tells a much larger story. Plenty of room greeted this six-foot extra large American male. While a family of six would be more suited in a 1975 Oldsmobile Ninety Eight Station Wagon with rear facing kid seating, the Fit managed to transport several humans while grinning and revving all the while. The car's interior genius is in a super-efficient use of space. For instance, the fuel tank resides under the front seats. This placement, along with the super-folding rear seats allows the entire rearward interior of the Fit to be folded flat to reveal an expanse of flat floor. The back seats are an entertaining operational marvel. A few quick lever and seat folding moves, and the Fit coverts to cargo mode, defying its diminutive size.

Driving the Fit is where the comedy turns into entertainment. We tested the Fit Sport automatic out on the Willow Springs Raceway's Streets of Willow road course, and the Fit five-speed in mixed-use urban driving. The 1,500cc VTEC engine is no torque monster, yet has enough under foot to make for decent thrust. Accompanying valve growl from 3,000 rpm and up was the perfect traveling companion — aggressive enough to hear, yet polite enough not to annoy. Out on the racetrack, the Fit Sport stayed planted on line, and the paddle shifters proved entertaining. The paddles went unmissed after a few bouts rowing through the gears of the crispy five-speed manual transmission. Wringing out the manual Fit gets things moving along nicely and keeps the ears busy. On more chopped up sections of Los Angeles's 101 freeway, the Fit's ride was choppy but otherwise compliant for a sporting subcompact with a short wheelbase and small wheels. Putting all sixteen valves into full song out of corners did not stop being fun for the entire week.

While I was driving one night, Honda revealed its approach to the Fit by a single touch. Seeking to avoid temporary blindness from a sea of SUV headlamps, I reached for the rearview's day-night lever. It returned a click so satisfying that I couldn't resist moving it back and forth a few more times. The attention and effort paid to that small switch permeates the entire Fit. Audio and climate-control knobs are simple and intuitive. The rear seats are ingenious and comfortable. It kept us thinking of the Kodama tree spirits from Hayao Miyazaki's anime masterpiece "Princess Mononoke." The Kodama made a sort of clicking noise to announce their presence, turning invisible once more as they blended back into the forest. The Fit is no exception. – Mike Bumbeck

Related:
Jalopnik Reviews: 2007 Honda Fit Sport, Part 2; Part 3; Jalopnik Reviews [Internal]