And in this age of monster-sized panoramic roofs, there’s no available sunroof. Where is the manual lumbar support and height adjuster for the front seats? Why does only the driver get an armrest on the Sport model? Passengers are people too. Honda also added a tilting and telescoping steering column to help drivers settle in behind the wheel, and the steering wheel and shift knob are leather-wrapped in the upmarket Sport model.Ĭuriously absent, even as options, are several other popular features. Honda’s decision to limit electronic stability control to an option package it expects only 10 percent of Fit buyers to choose is unconscionable and makes its “Safety for Everyone” slogan ring as hollow as presidential campaign promises.Ĭomfort and convenience features also distance the Fit from the miserable penalty boxes of the past, and Honda touts the availability of a navigation system as a key item on the wish list of Fit buyers. ![]() If you have no Knight Rider fantasies about having your car tell you where to go and just want a great small car with all of the available safety features, you won’t be able to get a technology that has been proven to dramatically reduce the incidence of crashes. The company touts its slogan of “Safety for Everyone” for its latest models, but unfortunately in the case of electronic stability control - a computer that detects when a car is about to spin out of control and brakes each wheel independently to keep the car pointed forward and on the road - Honda only offers the safety feature to buyers of the top-of-the-line model, the Sport with Navigation. Of greater concern for cars like the Fit is the welfare of its occupants, and on that count Honda is found unnecessarily wanting. This is really a more significant issue for massive trucks and SUVs than it is for one of the smallest cars on the market. ![]() ![]() In the Fit, Honda also took the opportunity to shore up crash protection for occupants and included the company’s Advanced Compatibility Engineering design philosophy - a commendable effort to minimize the blow one vehicle inflicts on another by designing some of the hard parts at the front of the car to collapse on impact rather than inflict a grievous blow on the other car. The loss of low-slung cars is a necessary trade-off, especially in crowded urban countries with a higher proportion of pedestrian fatalities than the United States suffers. If only the company were sufficiently daring to put that design into production! Too bad Honda had to spoil my appreciation for it by showing a concept sketch which looked more like four-door version of the “wedgy” original Volkswagen Scirocco. “Fit” seems a suitable name for a little car with such an agreeably athletic stance. ![]() And that’s even recognizing that Honda’s engineering department is so notoriously conservative it makes the Vatican’s College of Cardinals look recklessly impulsive. In terms of style, the car has about as much dramatic range as a tight-lipped, stone-faced Keanu Reeves action character. But the changes to the new car are subtle as a taupe necktie. Still, when a carmaker spends tens of millions of dollars on an all-new, clean-sheet design, you’d think you might be able to tell. The goal was to concentrate the car’s strengths and shore up its weaknesses, and the good news is these goals were achieved. With these strengths already in place, Honda wisely stuck closely to the original formula when it came up with the all-new 2009 Honda Fit, which went on sale in North America at the end of the summer.
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