I test drove a Fiesta SES and a Fit sport both manual on the same day and bought the Fit! The Fiesta was not as well mannered over uneven roads and with a price tag of $20,500 felt cheaper! The dashboard looked like it was made out of very poor scratchy plastic and there was NO room in the back!

For me it was an easy choice.

 

One major complaint or me about the Fiesta was the lack of passenger space - with the driver's seat in a typical driving position it was extremely cramped in the back two seats. Honda Fit = no such issue.

 

All else aside, the ergonomics in the Fiesta are just terrible... the whole center-console is an over-stylized disaster. The function-over-form design of the fit's interior is one of my favorite things about the car.

 

I think the Ford Fiesta is a solid vehicle. Ford is very popoular in Europe, and especially their focus which has somewhat of a cult following. But you must understand Europe has different needs and roads, petrol is much more expensive so demand is high for efficiency. It's really up to your needs what you value most in a vehicle. Ford has an excellent engine in the Fiesta, and offers some interesting amenities, dual clutch, Ford Sync. The Fit has cargo room, high resale value. (just a pinch of examples), Remember manufacturers always choose where to allocate most of their resources materials, build quality, fit finish, engine, suspension etc. Obviously in this forum you see the History of the Fit/ Jazz . It's what works best for you and at the end of the day are you happy with what's in your driveway??? I don't claim to be any expert just a guy with little of posts and I love my Fit Thanks

 

When shopping for a cost effective hatchback I looked at the Fiesta before I purchased my Fit. While on paper the Fiesta seems like it would compete against the Fit, but not until you try to drive it or see it in real life will you understand most of the differences between it and the Fit.

Being 6'3" and 275 it is hard for me to get comfortable in a small car. Hasn't been much issue with my previous vehicles (2002 Neon R/T, 2002 VW GTI 337, 2005 SRT4). When I tried to sit in the Fiesta I knew right away I could not purchase this car. When I test drove the Fit I did just that, "fit." Plus all the space you can create is amazing.

I have many aftermarket ideas for my first Honda and really enjoy driving my car everyday.

 

The Fiesta wasn't around when I bought my Fit but I still would have gone with Honda. The Fiesta does have the moonroof and more factory options available such as an upgraded alarm system (which I could use) but the inside looks cheap and tawdry. Plus I'm pretty sure they said it uses premium gas. If I wanted a car with that I would have just bought a GTi VR6. All my friends are way taller than me so there's plenty of room. Even if we wanted 6 or 8 people in the car, its def an option in the Fit but not the Fiesta. Plus it's a Ford. The price isn't worth the name.

The green color looks like a bug I squashed.

 

6 or 8 ppl?!? That's a lot.

Although I fit 10 people in a Ford Escort hatch (M/T) once... something like 14 or 15 years ago though. It was a good thing there were two girls sitting in the front passenger seat, and not two guys. Let's just say, I had to do a lot of apologizing.

 

Yeah 2 in the trunk, 4 in the back, 2 or 3 in the front. It can be done.

10 ppl in an escort is impressive though. Hope they were all tiny.

 

They were. Tiny little Asians.

 

The rear seats don't fold flat.

 

the fit looks much better ( and i trust honda to build an engine for econ and performance, even if it only make 117.. ( good for a 1.5)

 

I looked at the Fiesta and the Mazda 2. It was the same dealer. Although the Salesman was dickwad, I really did not like either one. The Mazda 2 seemed to be way over rated and and a little cramped inside. The fiesta seemed cheap inside. In fact, I actually finished the assembly by clicking a trim piece into place. I can go off on the Toyota Matrix too, but which was also over priced an over rated..

 

From a Fiesta Forum:

" I LIKE how it drives, a lot, but I just can't get over the interior noise and cheapness (dash is just a huge piece of black ugly plastic). Honda really did not take much time bothering with the interior - several places in the dash don't meet correctly, and the glovebox is slightly misaligned. "

"good car, decent price, nice ride normally. Can be loud on the highway and cheap interior makes a lot of noise - squeaks, rattles, gurggles, whatever. Fiesta really has it beat in that department. Maybe I should have waited :/"

A Fit owner on a Fiesta forum. If people dislike a car, they complain about the interior. if they like a car, they give the interior a free pass.

News flash: They make all these low-end cars with the same cheap plastic. Unless you climb to the level where they start covering the hard surfaces with soft padded vinyl or cloth, it's all going to be pretty much the same. The difference is basically limited to what pattern is in the mold.

My tC has mostly hard plastic, like almost all other <$20K cars. The carpet is far nicer than the Fit's, the seat material is way better (both the cloth and the underlying foam) but the plastic used for the dash and doors? Not much different. When manufacturers are trying to shave the weight that things like 10 airbags and 5-star crash tests compliant frames that add weight, and are trying to make CAFE mandates, feet consumer demands for power, and competitive fuel economy, noise insulation and padded soft-touch surfaces tend to get tossed by the wayside.

An interior panel that has to be snapped in is a sign of crummy quality control, but so is a driver's seat that arrives not fully bolted down (a common enough problem that Honda released a TSB).

 

RIGHT ON Shockwave! I just bought my fit this week after owning a Ford Focus for 7 years. I had to repair the bloody engine 3 times! I will never, ever own a Ford again! My Honda already drives better than my Ford ever did. So I could care less about the interior or cargo space. I say the engine should be the first concern!

 

Picked up my 2011 sport yesterday(vortex blue!!), anyways I test drove both, and the ford felt wrong as soon as I sat down. The fit and finish/interior styling is no where near the fit. Also the the six speed AT seemed weird and the fact the ford decided to switch out the drive train from the European platform doesn't instill confidence. Lastly there is no arm rest, WTF ford.

I had a hard time not getting an accord, the dealer was offering some major incentives. I had to go with my gut though even if the accord was the more practical choice.

 

Like the LED bumper too. In fact ford bumpers just crashed in the one that fit uses. but when it comes to originality, no one could bit ours. It's true fiesta has the performance and not far from better but kindda replica of the fit....Ford has just copied the concept honda has.

 

I test drove a Fiesta Hatch AT and the Fit Sport AT - and bought the Fit. I fell in love with the space and styling (cleaner, more timeless - reminded me of 1990 Civics). I could have gotten a Ford A plan discount too but in the end it didn't matter.

 

I never did a comparison of the Fiesta to the the FIT but for me buying the FIT was about one word....HONDA. They have always produced safe reliable cars and i have owned quite a few. The is my 7th honda (counting my acura TSX) and i would not even bother with an american car company. Honda may not have the power of the fiesta, but that's not what they are known for. Honda is known for being reliable, safe, fuel efficient and very inexpensive to maintain. They don't have one feature that stands out, they do EVERYTHING well. We are selling our 97 civic ex which is what the fit replaced. After 13 years and 150k we still do routine oil changes and put gas in it and that is all. It still gets 35mpg highway and 29 city.

Hondas i've owned:

00 Civic SI 5 lug swap, wire tuck, CF hood trunk, recaro's....
97 Civic Ex GSR-Turbo 420 whp built block built head tomzilla t66 turbo
91 civic HB
92 Accord- formerDD with 220k miles
97 Civic EX- former DD
06 Acura TSX PWP w/Navi- Current DD for wife
12 Honda FIT sport TW A/T

Plus im building a 72 datsun 510 with a JDM f20c swap

 

I had considered a Fiesta SES hatchback but I ended up with the Fit Sport AT for these reasons:

1. The Fit has WAY more usable interior space (you can actually seat four adults inside).

2. The Magic Seat back seats meant if fully folded down, the cargo space in the back is on a almost-flat floor with a HUGE amount of usable storage area.

3. I liked the instrument panel on the Fit better, even though the Fiesta had a slightly better quality car stereo.

4. The Fit's 5AT did not have harsh-feeling shifts between gears like you get with the Powershift dual-clutch automatic on the Fiesta.

5. The Fit's handling is still better than the Fiesta, thanks to Fit's center-mounted fuel tank giving the car a surprisingly low center of gravity.

 

My dad recently picked up a 2011 SE Fiesta Sedan.. I can say nope. Not a fit killler. The only selling point the thing has going for it is all its little gizmo gimmicks, and gimmicks is all I think they are. The car cuts a lot of corners in places where the Fit shines, to keep it the price it is with all the useless stuff.

The ergonomics are awful, has no rear seat room at all, not to mention the interior build quality is sub par. He added a few options to it, making it far more money than I paid for my Fit and its laughable, has something like a 60w optioned sound system that sounds like something from a 1993 Escort. The poor execution of a double clutch automatic gear box is pretty poor too, it's no where near as smooth as a VW DSG, and it shutters in reverse, you can just hear the clutch plates rattling, its cringing. But knowing Ford (having been forced to grow up around them) it's probably broken off the assembly line and only time will tell when it fails.

And for all the Ford SYNC owners, next time you call me through your car connected via bluetooth. I'm hanging up, from a caller or receiver standpoint its utter useless.. But my dad for example thinks its the best thing since sliced bread, even though every other word is "what?"

I don't like the dash on the Fiesta either, when driving I have to lean out of a comfortable position to hit one of the many star trek buttons, way up on the dash, bad layout.

Plus at the end of the day the Fiesta Sedan looks like a door stop. Back end is jacked up like a pickup truck.