Just dropped my brand new 2013 fit sport with 200 miles on it at the dealer with a dead battery, since they said they fixed it the day before and didn't they gave me a loaner car, it is a 2013 civic LX with 40 miles on it, the civic has a lot more power, and better gas milage then the fit, I wonder why they just didn't put this engine it the fit. To my thinking Honda would only have to produce one engine for two cars instead of two engines for two cars.

 

The R18? They put it in the Chinese Honda City which is basically a Fit sedan, so i'm sure there's a good reason why they didn't use it for the Fit. Maybe marketing related only, I have no idea.

 

In South Africa the Honda City is called The Ballade, and it has the same 1.5 engine as the Jazz, same power etc...... have a look here

 

Yes but South Africa =/= China.

Chinese Honda City (ANHC) with 1.8 L engine - Team-BHP

 

The civic in the US, assuming that is where you are, is only sold in North America and maybe Australia. The rest of world has a different chassis for the civic. The GE8 fit on the other hand is a world car and made in japan.

With the number of fits they have sold in this country it wouldn't be worth the extra money to change the design of all fits for a small percentage of world sales. They give us the biggest engine size they make for the fit out of 1.2,1.3 and 1.5 liter motors.

The new civic definitely has a better clutch and you feel a little extra torque when you are accelerating from a stop but a lot of other stuff is worse. It's actually geared so it accelerates slower. It gets the same mileage as my MT fit base 35-37 combined with 33 city and 40+ highway. I drive the manual base fit so I can't speak for the auto which is slower then the manual.

Would be sweet if they sold a fit Si as a rival to the st fiesta but they don't.

 

Rhop,
I live in NJ USA, and the civc lx loaner had a lot more power from a stop but also up hills etc, as far as gas milage the civic gets better mpg, 30-39, you are averaging above average for your fit, my 2010 sport got 30-31 with summer blend gas and 27-28 winter blend, in city driving, even though you are getting great mpg the civic with the bigger engine gets better milage, the brakes on the civic is much better to, I just thought it would be easier to put a superior engine in two cars instead of two engines in two cars.

Regard's

 

That's not "power" that is torque you are feeling that is helping you off the line and up hills. rhop is correct in that the Civic, though it has more power and torque than the Fit, it also has very pedestrian gearing in the trans. It's hardly, barely, faster than the Fit Sport in reality. It just feels faster. I know the feeling and have tested this in person vs. similar cars... (*closed circuit disclaimer)

Driving the new entry level cars like the Corolla and new Hyundais, which have more power and torque than the Fit, I knew for sure the Fit was faster, only because of the gearing in the trans. I have no doubt that the Civic's brakes are better though. I hate the stock Fit brakes.

I also believe rhop is on point with the "world car" comment and it totally makes sense to me.

 

Got ya on the torque, what about the mpg's? I still think for the north american market one engine for two car's make's more sense.

 

If the Fit got any better real world mpg how would you sell the CR-Z, Civic hybrid or Insight. Say the current gen fit could pull 40 all day, at a fraction of the price of an insight or civic hybrid, why the hell would you spend more money for something that's no more fuel efficient than the Fit.

On a related topic, I have no idea why people spend so much more money on a 6mt CR-Z, when its supposed to be sporty and yet its so much slower to 60 than a Fit costing 5 grand less. Mpg be damned, that's ridiculous.

 

Well yeah, but at least the CRZ holds less cargo

 

They had to really love the idea of a 2door.

 

They sure "feel" more sporty sitting inside, more like a bucket than the Fit's bus seat, and seem to handle a bit better. Interior has more pizzaz. But I agree they're a little disappointing in the acceleration department as the gears are longer. I was expecting the IMA to do more than it did in reality. Without the IMA it's pretty bad, so no long freeway blasts or long courses for you, no brakes, no IMA after a while lol