1. Has the ground clearance been lowered on this generation compared to the previous model?

2. Can I compare specifications between the Fit and its competitors (i.e. does the industry have a standard for measurement that makes comparisons meaningful)?

3. Have people who drive on gravel roads and winter snow found the clearance to be adequate or inadequate?

It seems that it is only 5" empty, 4" loaded - that doesn't seem like a lot. For reference, I drive a 2003 Ford Focus which has always had enough, but I somehow think there are maybe 6" or more clearance. I am also considering the Mitsubishi Mirage, which I believe may also have 6" clearance.

Thanks in advance!

 

Older Fits also have five inch ground clearance. My Honda CRV had a nine inch clearance and my wife with bad legs had trouble getting in so the new fit EX-L with the upscale features makes it perfect for us.

 

My daughter made it to work every day last year in her Fit except one day when the cops turned her around and sent her back home because they closed all of the roads in the county. The picture is in front of my house and a random car going by. It was not her Fit. I thought the ground clearance on a Fit was 5.9".

 

Having appropriate tires on a car will make much more of a difference on snow and ice than ground clearance will. Would you play tennis in loafers? Driving on snow/ice on all-season tires is similar. I have driven around AWD and 4WD trucks and SUV's struggling through 6+ inches of snow since they were on tires inappropriate for the conditions while I was on winter specific tires with tread and, more importantly, rubber compound specifically designed/engineered to work on snow and ice.

Of course your ability not only to get through deep snow but to start, stop and steer will be considerably improved with winter specific tires.

Gravel is is different matter. If you're going to routinely drive on roads with ruts that test the ground clearance of the Fit, it may not be the right car for you but then a Mirage probably isn't either.

 

Thanks all. I live in Winnipeg, so am familiar with the advantages of winter tires. I've never had any issues with small fwd cars in winter, and have taken my Focus up winter roads (the sort that aren't there in the summer - built on the snow/ice over lakes and marshes and such) with no issues.

I just found the 4" loaded ground clearance to be a bit shocking (5" empty). In my mind's eye, that isn't very much at all, and even a decent gravel road when graded often has ridges of gravel higher than that. The Mirage specification is 6.3" (they only list one, I assume that is empty).

I was wondering if Honda dropped the new Fit in pursuit of better efficiency (admirable, but maybe not best for me).

Of course I am also interested in whether this matters in the real world. I think the old Jeep Wranglers only had about 6", but that was from the bottom of the differential, with the rest higher, and the whole thing was pretty rugged so it didn't matter much if you bumped into some loose gravel. If ground clearance is going to be a factor in deciding on which car, I'd sort of like to know that it is measured fairly by each company.

Does the CRV actually have 9"? That seems really high. http://www.edmunds.com/honda/cr-v/20...res-specs.html suggests it might be only 6.3" which is the same as the Mitsubishi Mirage. Can that be true?

Maybe Honda made this move thinking they are going to be producing the HRV for those that want a bit more height?

 

The reviews of the Mirage are so horrific, though.

 

Indeed they are! I have read many of them, and I chalk most of that up to auto journalists who have come to expect more from everything (more power, more refinement). I really like Hondas, and am confident they are better than the Mirage by most conventional measures. For me, though, the Mirage is in the running because it is considerably cheaper to buy ($14k vs $18k for a base model, after taxes and fees) and to run (higher mpg). As for long-term reliability, perhaps the Honda will trump it as Honda usually wins at that game, but perhaps not, as the Mirage has been around for a while (not a brand new design from a brand new plant) and uses no new fancy tech like direct injection. The Mirage also has a 10 year powertrain warranty.

I test drove a Mirage, and then rented one for a day-trip on the highway to see how well behaved it was. I had no complaints. Of course it wasn't as quick off the line as something with twice the power, or as refined as a car costing twice as much, and there was noticable body roll if pushed through s-curves, but it was completely acceptable as basic transportation. 74hp doesn't seem like much, but top speed is something like 180km/h which is enough. Old VW bugs had something like 30hp.

I think the base Mirage is fantastic value. In the higher trim levels it is far less competitive.

If I like the Mirage so much, why don't I have one? Well, I went in this spring, cash in hand intending to buy one at list price, but the dealer irritated me with their shell games/added fees, so I left. The Honda dealer my family has done business with is first rate, by comparison.

So, for now I drive an 11 year old car and wait for either a used Mirage, or until I save a few more dollars for a new Fit or Civic.

 

I don't think the ground clearance has changed significantly between the new and older generations of Fits, though I can't say I know 100%. Most smallish cars have right around 6" of ground clearance, give or take a half an inch, from what I've been able to suss out. (Naturally, that's excepting vehicles that are more mini-SUVs or CUVs that are raised up a bit—I'm talking plain old passenger cars.)

Ground clearance specifications are pretty much standardized, but can be misleading in so far as they don't tell you anything about what or where the low point(s) are on the vehicle, which can make a significant difference in real-world capabilities. Most front wheel drive cars have more or less consistent ground clearance throughout, while some rear-wheel drive cars have a differential housing that hangs down lower than most everything else and so have generally greater clearance. Likewise, how much the nose or tail of the vehicle overhangs and how low it hangs can be important when it comes to navigating around curbs and so forth.

Ground clearance, in my experience with the Fit and with cars with similar clearances, is entirely adequate for most any sensible winter driving (and much senseless winter driving) and for gravel roads that get at least a modicum of maintenance. Gravel roads in springtime with bad frost heaves and deep mud may give difficulty, not to mention being pretty rough on vehicles mechanically.

 

Thanks Drew,

I'm fine if it is basically the same as other cars. If it was a full inch lower than a typical car, that might concern me. I pretty much never scrape the bottom of my Focus, or the Oldsmobile before it, or the Dodge Omni before that. I was worried that they had slammed the new one in the name of efficiency or performance or what not, assuming most drivers live in more "civilized" road conditions.

 

From HR-V forum:

EricMartin had a good look at the Tucson. Here are its dimensions vs the Vezel (HR-V)
Length 4400 mm vs 4295 mm
Height 1685 mm vs 1605 mm
Same ground clearance 170 mm
Weight 1560 kg vs 1270 kg
So despite appearances in the video, the Vezel (HR-V) is smaller.

170 mm=6.692913386 in

Here is the link where I found this info:

Vezel vs. Hyundai Tucson Video - Honda HR-V Forum

 

For comparison's sake, my previous cars were a pair of Geo/Chevy Prizms (which is to say, rebadged Corollas) and an 84 Mazda 626. I think the Mazda had the lowest clearance of the bunch by a small bit, but that may have partly been because it was old and well-used by the time I got it and ought to have had some suspension component replacements. As I was a poor college student, it got none. (It may also have been a bit lower by design; it was a coupe, and was supposed to appear somewhat sporty. The handling was decent on the whole, but the little anemic old engine was far from sports car power levels!)

 

I read somewhere recently that low ground clearance improves fuel economy. The higher a vehicle is off the ground the greater the air resistance will be, especially on the highway.

It's never been an issue for me on any car I've ever owned or driven and the only time I ever got into trouble was with a 75 VW Rabbit in Winnipeg where I hit a wall of snow head on (snow drift across the road) which I didn't see because of a white out. The snow piled under the undercarriage and lifted the car right up so that all four wheels were in the air. Took a tow truck to slide me out. No damage underneath though.

 

Thanks for asking the question, canoehead, as it's one that I had about the Fit, too. Thanks to forum members for answering.

My '12 CR-V has 6.3 inches of ground clearance; I'm surprised that the coming HR-V will have more than that! If the HR-V has all-wheel drive, too, I'm not sure exactly what the difference will be between it and the CR-V. I'm also wondering what the price of the HR-V will be; it has to be more than a Fit, right, because it's bigger, but it can't be as much as a CR-V, either, because it won't be as big as that.

I never thought much about ground clearance before buying my '03 and '06 CR-Vs (both since traded in), which had 8.1 inches of it. But having had significant ground clearance for 11 years now, I appreciate it. Snow tires are great and all, but those of us who live in apartment buildings have no year-round storage space for four tires or facilities for changing them, so all-season tires it is. The clearance, the stability control, the all-wheel drive, and the ABS collectively give me about as much peace of mind as one could hope to have behind the wheel. Not sure I'd like to give up the clearance part.

 

After searching around I found this info:

2015 Jazz(Fit) Ground Clearance 135 mm = 5.31 in

2015 Vezel(HR-V) Ground Clearance 185 mm = 7.28 in

 

I drive my GE that's lowered almost 2" more than stock on gravel and dirt and pavement to dirt drops, transitions, and even gone over curbs to go around traffic.

You'll be fine unless you're a complete clutz behind the wheel.

 

From Honda Vezel (Japan) site.

Vezel FWD 185mm
Vezel AWD 170mm

 

With deep snow the clearance can be an issue. Dedicated snows help some.

 

I can't speak of previous Gen Fits because I've never owned one. I do own a 2015 EX Fit. I can say that the 3rd Gens are too low. The splash guard got tripped up and fell off my Fit