I finally found an automatic Fit that I could test drive. I took it down a busy commercial boulevard and onto the highway for about 10 minutes, then back down the boulevard. Impressions:

Positives:

1. ACCELLERATION--Stunning! Burn, baby, burn. I can't believe the power that the 1.5 V-tec kicks out. I got up to 65 on the highway in a few seconds. No wonder some people are getting lower-than-expected gas mileage--it's too much of a temptation to floor it and feel that speed all the time. Totally addictive!

2. AUTO TRANSMISSION--fantastic! I have never had an automatic transmission that was so fast, crisp and powerful. Obviously this is engineered to improve accelleration, and boy does it work.

3. Suspension--outstanding. Yeah, it's new, but for a small car it had exceptional suspension. The ride felt cushy and soft, not stiff and harsh, like most small cars.

4. Visibility and Comfort--exceptional for a small, inexpensive car. The seats felt supportive, there was plenty of room for elbows and knees, and superior visibility through all windows and mirrors.


Issues that are Really Non-Issues:

1. Dead pedal--I didn't notice that it was missing. The distance to the front of the footwell is so short you don't need one. I could see where this would be a problem for manual shift drivers, where you need a dead pedal to brace your left foot. But for the auto transmission, it's not necessary.

2. Right arm rest. I never noticed it was missing. My left arm rested comfortably on the door arm rest while my right arm did the steering.

3. Seat hight adjustment. That it's not available is not a problem. The seat is an excellent position, even for someone as short as me. The length and support of seats under the legs is very good.
Negatives:

1. STEERING WHEEL IS TOO HIGH. I'm 5'5" and when I put the seat into a comfortable position for my back and legs, I found it difficult to grip anwhere on the top half of the steering wheel.
[note: I have since learned that the height of the steering wheel is adjustable by the dealer. Problem solved.]

It has "Go Cart" steering on a small steering wheel, similar to the Mini, which I also test-drove, but the Mini had poor visibility and felt really cramped.

2. Steering slippage. The Fit oversteers, which I found when going around some construction sites. There's a fraction of a second delay when veering right or left, and then it seems to oversteer. Practice might eliminate this problem.

However, it also hugs the road through hard acelleration and is dead-on accurate under those conditions.

 

You do know that the steering wheel height is adjustable, don't you?

 

My daughter is only 5'1" tall and she loves driving the Fit than her Acura TL.

 

Um........... yeah the steering wheel is adjustable and the DBW ( drive-by-wire) is only used in the throttle. So the steering itself is only assisted by electric steering its like hydraulic assisted steering only electric.... whew I hope I said that right it came out of my head that way lol

 

At least I think thats wht u mean correct me if I'm wrong

 

To echo others - make sure to adjust the steering wheel. The way mine was delivered was too high, but a simple adjustment took care of that. FWIW, I'm 5'4".

 

Why would you contiune to leave your hands in the same position on the steering wheel when you can FEEL blistering beginning to form...

 

Fit doesn't oversteer. Fit's known for its great handling. you're probably braking while you're making big turns

and steering wheel. It's adjustable. I'm 5'4 and it's fine to me.

 

Whew! I'm glad the steering wheel height is adjustable. That makes it final, then. The Fit really IS go!

Thanks for all the responses and clearing up the confusion re: DBW.

I'm ready to rock when my Luna Mist Fit finally gets here.

 

Although I would have to agree with the fact that fits don't oversteer, but I have to say I am amazed at how the backend is eager to kick out on sharp fast turns. I used to have and old ef hatch with a rear tie bar and it would be a little tail happy in fast turns and I would have to say that the Fit is almost there in terms of similar handling out of the box. It just needs a little more rear reinforcement or camber and some stiffer suspension and this thing I think would handle pretty neutral. Hello Spoon, Hello!

 

True, drive by wire is ONLY for the throttle. That means there is no cable going from the pedal to the throttle body, it's controlled by a sensor that detects the position of the pedal and then uses a motor to actuate the throttle.

Steering is still rack and pinion, 'hard wired', it just uses an electric motor to assist, instead of the old style hydraulic pump which was run off of the engine. If you were feeling lag in the steering, it was probably delay in your feeling the change due to body roll, or maybe even poor traction.

Oversteer on a front wheel drive car is rare. Usually you'll encounter understeer. Hopefully you're not too confused: Oversteer is when the car turns too much (back end sometimes breaks loose). Understeer is when the car does not turn enough (front end sometimes slides).

I am glad to hear you like the power. I still haven't driven a Fit... haven't even seen one up close yet. I'll be checkin out Sliverworm's on Saturday night, tho. Hopefully I'll be happy with it all, and then I'll have my fit in a couple months!


remember... oversteer is when you hit the wall with the back of your car, understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of your car!

 

Spectacular explanation in one sentence of over vs understeer. I have encountered understeer twice with the fit, and just a touch of the break sets the front end down and it grabbed nicely (prevented my bold cornering from sliding off into a ditch on an onramp). Other than that, cant say enough about how great it handles. I had a '94 Probe GT m/t when I was in high school that cornered unbelievably....after driving this I can no longer think about the remember whens.... of taking corners too fast, because now I can take them even faster. And scare the crap out of my wife =)