Yeah, personally I agree, but I'd say the styling is polarizing because that just seems to be how people react. Either people like The Fit...or they hate it...now maybe those that dislike it, would also just dislike the majority of all small hatchbacks? I don't know..

But that's why I said the styling is polarizing.

 

True... I've noticed that across most subcompacts, there has been a trend (starting I believe with the Echo) of building them extremely tall for their width... It gives them odd proportions, as many are almost as tall as they are wide. The Fit has almost exactly the same height/width/length ratio as the CR-V. The mini-MPV look seems to be in to maximizes space.

 

I am 6'5" and have plenty of room for myself, and 3 friends, and cargo. Could be that I'm a Honda devotee after my Accord lasted 150,000 miles w/o much trouble. I also bought it because it comes w/ more features than almost any other car in the price range. Finally, I actually prefer the looks of the Fit, especially w/ some mild tuning (I get comments regularly from people who are watching me get gas or wash the car).

 

I was looking online at the 2012 Focus, this weekend. Surprisingly enough, for a car that is a segment above the Fit, while the fit has standard side airbags and side curtain airbags, they are not available on the 2012 Focus. Can anybody verify whether they are available on the Fiesta?

 

From Ford.com:
"In addition to the dual-stage driver and front seat passenger airbags, every Focus comes standard with front seat-mounted side airbags as well as front and rear side curtain airbags. Always be sure to wear your safety belt and secure children in the rear seat."

I'm kinda surprised not to see knee airbags on a brand new car, but like stability control and ABS, the side and side curtains are ubiquitous on new cars.

 

Two cars that I was amazingly comfortable driving was my 1960 Rambler American- green, it looked like a watermelon on wheels, and my 60's era VW Beetles. Both of those cars- the Rambler, a re-do of an early 1950s design, and the Beetle, a 1930's design, were pretty tall for their size. In fact, I've often thought of the Rambler as being just about the perfect car size. It is pretty much within an inch or two of every dimension of a Fit, except in length! (The Rambler is about as long as a Civic) The Rambler also weighs about as much as a Fit, had about 90 horsepower and made it to about 85 top end. It was faster than a 1950 Ford V8 which was considered a pretty hot car in its day. So whatever goes around comes around, like bell bottom jeans...