I had almost 100,000 miles between two 2nd Gen Fits...the best of which was a 2011 which I invested a bit in minor chassis mods, wheels and tires A few months ago I purchased a 2011 Mazda2 after a Dodge 2500 driver decided to total out my Fit. These are my impressions.

Appearance

Totally subjective...but the Fit looks cool from the front. Otherwise, it looks like a four door micro van to me. The Mazda is cute from all angles. My favorite Fit was black. The Mazda2 is red, and while that's normally not my thing it is pretty and it rarely goes unseen in traffic. The Silver and Black Fits may as well be invisible at times.

Interior

Honda all the way...mostly. The Mazda interior is sparse and feels cheap. The Fit has the cargo capacity of a CUV and the interior looks nicer than the price and class of vehicle would suggest. The dash on the Mazda is plain Jane. Functional at best. The Fit instrumentation is so good looking as to be distracting at times. I do appreciate that the red backlighting of the Mazda retains good night vision...although with modern laser beam like headlights it's kinda pointless. It reminds me of a military vehicle or aircraft. That said, the Mazda front seats are better bolstered for my size. I'm swimming in the Fit seats and I'm forced into using my knees to brace myself in spirited driving. In the Mazda I can just sit. The Fit has a typical cargo floor while the Mazda has a poorly cut piece of carpet. I actually appreciate the dedication to keeping things light. This extends to the rear seats. The Fit's are Magically folding and are substantial. The Mazda's are just seats and rather flimsy ones at that.

The Fit fuel gauge is more useful and has that dandy low fuel idiot light if it's really pushed. The Mazda has an LED bar graph that looks like it came from the 80's.

I kinda miss the maintenance minder and the MPG indicator. The trip meters don't even work properly in the Mazda. They reset themselves frequently, it seems.

Chassis

The Fit, despite lowering springs, extended ball joints, camber bolts, a front strut bar, and a rear sway bar...as good as it felt...is not as responsive or stable as the box stock Mazda2. The stock Fit is horrendous on the highway in regards to crosswinds and semi truck drafts. It is work to keep the thing semi straight in either condition. It pitches noticeably in the wind and steers itself accordingly. How irritating. I found that once lowered and with RSB that the tendency mostly went away. Still, even with extended ball joints it could feel a little bump-steery. I also found it quite unstable in hard braking from speed. It would generally travel in a straight line...albeit sometimes a bit sideways. The Mazda has no such tendencies. It stays flatter in corners, isn't affected by gusts much, if at all...it is more stable on the brakes...and the steering feels more direct and precise. While the Honda has a good steering weight, it can feel vague at times in comparison and has a definite dead spot in the middle. The Mazda...no such maladies. The one win for the Fit is that it feels more planted in bumps that are only on one side of the vehicle or that alternate from one side to the other. The Mazda feels better everywhere else. On washboard surfaces the Fit would bounce the rear end some. The Mazda, none.

The Mazda is some 300lbs lighter, and it's a noticeable difference. The entire construction of the car is a little more sparce and I can appreciate the design philosophy. Add lightness, as they say.

Engine

The Fit is fun. It's a bit flat down below, but had a surge of power up top that made it feel like a more powerful car. For me it encouraged driving using the latter half of the rev range. It really seemed to respond well to that and still managed impressive fuel mileage. The Mazda2 is a tractor in contrast. Sure, it is down 17BHP, but aside from feeling a bit flat up top in comparison, it is more usable power everywhere else. Passing is much less drama, and it'll cruise around at 2-3K RPM without protest. For everyday driving I prefer it. I'd say that for a track car the Honda is the one to have. For street duty I much prefer the Mazda. The Honda also has a weird steady throttle surge when going down any kind of a grade, which I found annoying. The throttle was also slow to respond when not under load...such as when rev matching and heel-toe shifting. It also had some rev hang. So, it was necessary to jam the throttle between shifts and time shifts accordingly. The Mazda just requires a gentle dab and the revs drop normally which is taking some learning from what I'm accustomed to.

The Hondas also used a quart of oil between oil changes and the Mazda nearing the same mileage might end up at half that figure. They all had over 100,000 miles.

Transmission/Clutch

The Honda here has the more refined shift feel. The Mazda feels clunky and notchy in comparison. That said, I can shift the Mazda with better accuracy. I think a lot is due to the forward location of the shifter and going into gear has a positive, detent-like feel to it. The Mazda2 takes twice the transmission fluid and requires replacement twice as often. Not the worst thing.

In the clutch department they both have a good feel. The Mazda feels more progressive despite having a fraction of the pedal travel. Here again, I prefer the Mazda2. All the free travel past the engagement point seems unnecessary. The Mazda idles a bit lower, so it crawls a little better and is harder to stall. The Honda has an annoying anti stall auto rev thing that seems to hit when I least need it. The Mazda did start shifting poorly after a 600mi trip. Thankfully a fluid change fixed it. The fluid wasn't dirty, so I'm guessing that someone used the wrong type.

Features

The "Magic" seats in the Fit are bad ass. Although I didn't have to use them much, they were certainly nice to have at times. The Mazda rear seats don't even fold flat. The Fit had cruise control, a USB data port, and the windshield defogger worked really well. The Mazda defogger can be used without the AC which most of the time is inadequate. This took me a minute to figure out, as I initially thought that the defogger feature just sucked. Both are okay in the climate control department. The Fit shudders when the AC is turned on at any speed. The Mazda only does it at idle. The Fit AC is barely adequate on really hot days. I've yet to test the Mazda in this regard. I like to use minimum fan settings to save on gas and the Mazda will keep my legs cold on our coldest of days.

Without cruise control the Mazda actually does pretty well. The gas pedal in a neutral position takes little to no pressure so the foot/calf pump that can normally happen is a non issue. That was a pleasant surprise.

For road noise neither one is great. The Fit has more wind noise and the Mazda lets one intimately hear what's going on underneath the car. I prefer the radio on the Mazda, though on factory settings it tries to play more bass than it can handle. The Fit sounds less clear in the higher frequencies. The Mazda radio gave out on a really cold morning. It's a common issue, with the fix being a well placed strike to the dash (really). After having to do that once, on really cold days it needs to be warmed a little before it decides to work.

Other notes

The Fits always had AC problems. The blower fan, blower resistor, and compressor clutch all go out at around the 120,000 mile mark. Easy fixes, but still a PITA. A careful search can produce a cheap complete AC clutch assembly instead of having to deal with replacing a perfectly good (and expensive) compressor assembly.

The Mazda has everything super accessible underneath. Since it is missing the six additional inches of overhang that the Fit has, I can change the oil, filter, and transmission fluids without lifting the vehicle (aside from driving onto wood blocks). It's pretty cool to be able to just reach underneath and do what I have to do. That additional six inches of Fit bumper also make getting in and out of tight parking situations tougher.

Both my girlfriend, her kids, and my son like the Mazda better. My girlfriend feels that I drive the Mazda in a smoother and more sensible manner. My kid likes that the Mazda feels more racecar to him. Her kids think it looks sportier and is the nicer car.

I'm with the zoom zooms now.

I plan on keeping things milder yet with this Mazda with lowering springs, camber bolts, lightweight alloys and stickier tires. I'm tempted to make an undertray for it...but it is so convenient as it is.

I'm sure I missed something...but if TL/DNR...I like the Mazda better even though the Fit is more practical and more refined. Due to the cruisability, steering feel, stability, and more tractable power delivery, I'm with the Mazdas now.

I will also say that the Honda under acceleration over rough road surfaces would at times trip the traction control where the Mazda does not over identical surfaces. There is one railroad crossing and a rippled intersection that would frequently trip the Honda traction control and won't the Mazda. I'm assuming that the Mazda suspension is keeping the tires on the road more effectively.

Thanks for reading if you have. Feel free to comment/ask questions.

 

Thanks for the detailed comparison. I've had nothing but positive experiences with Mazdas (2 Mazda5s and one CX-5). I looked at Mazdas (2 and 3) when I was moving on from my GD3, but found a GE8 on a deal that was too good to pass up. I'll keep the Mazda2 on the list of possible replacements for my GE8 (whenever that may be).

 

Thank you for comparison!! Just hit a deer with my ge8 and Mazda2 was on short list. My a/c worked fine(140k) right up till deer but living in NW PA it was rarely used. Wouldn't even mind doing a delete like base Canadian Fits but like it for defrost as I have 3 heavy breathing (apparently) kids. Very glad shop didn't total mine out as how many basic transport vehicles are fun, functional, man tran, and not an SUV? Civic hatch with undefeatable tsc? no thanks! There is a bright green 2 near where I live constantly tempting me but its an auto.

 

Sorry to hear that. My girlfriend hit a deer with a Nissan Rogue a week to the day before my accident which totalled it out. They're like giant road squirrels, those critters. She purchased a used Juke that needed major repairs right off the bat (IE, CVT transmission replacement).

My ex had a Mazda3 GT and while it's a great compact tourer, handled impressively, and moved at a decent pace that's too much car and too soft for me. The B class is where it's at. It doesn't hurt that the Mazda is forty dollars a month less in insurance premiums despite adding rental car coverage.

My Fit was perfect. After being elated that I was unharmed I was bummed that it was taken from me like that.

 

Sorry for your loss and glad you're ok maybe another one will Fit in your future plans!

 

I had a 2009 Mazdaspeed 3 for 4 years. Was the first car I ever financed (at 19 no less. With 263HP and a turbo that kicked like a mule). Mine was the base version with cloth seats and no sunroof, so nothing to keep me entertained but the 5.5 second 0-60. In 2020, I worked a night job in downtown DC. Driving back to Maryland on 295 with empty roads was always fun, you could hard pull to well north of 80 in no time.

And it wasn't just that it was fast (and relatively unassuming until you heard the turbo spool), it was practical. I delivered pizzas when I got that car. I could haul over 100 large boxes at a time if I folded the seats down and filled the front (and I have done that multiple times). I've had the hatch filled to the brim with everything from the aforementioned pizzas to PVC pipe (my dad uses to run a small plumbing business that I'd help him with from time to time), junkyard parts, and furniture. I was helping a friend move and when we ran out of space in the hatch for his mattress, he wanted to rent a uhaul. I told him to save his money and buy a couple sets of ratchet straps. Threw it on the roof and got it done.

Very fun to drive, very practical, and reasonably comfortable. The main things I didn't like were the fact that it requires 91 octane (especially if you have a lead right foot like I do), and it wasn't anywhere near as easy to work on as a Honda. Even changing the cabin filter in that car sucks. And it was starting to develop timing chain rattle at 160k (I bought it at ~100k). Plus it had an intermittent pressure issue with the clutch hydraulics that I was never able to figure out. I'd fix it and it would go away for months only to come back the second someone else drove the car. This happened 3 or 4 times. Still baffles me to this day.

 

Thanks for reading my rambling-on.

My ex had a Mazda3 GT that is a great compact tourer that handles exceptionally and goes with a decent amount of poke (she actually blamed me for a ticket she got as I suggested the car to her). I like that it's a real geared auto instead of a CVT. For my purposes it's too large, heavy, soft, and refined...but I do respect the brand in general. She was looking at a Subaru Impreza as well at the time...it was pretty...but the Mazda was just more car for the money.
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I lost the first to hydroplaning and the 2nd to a careless driver. My luck with them has not been good. With $3k invested in making it perfect that I have to fight out in court...I just am not doing it again.

 

The Speed3 is my kid's dream car. Very cool. My personal rules are no turbo/no CVT. I'll sacrifice all the power for better fuel mileage and a simpler, more durable (long term) engine (theoretically). CVT's are just aweful to me in terms of feel...and they seem to have random catastrophic failures that require complete replacement.

 

Honda's CVTs have been pretty solid in my experience. I'm a manual guy personally, but my mom has a 15 CR-V with the CVT. Her's has been nothing but good to her in the almost 6 years she's had it. Of course I change the fluid for her every 30,000 miles as is recommended. But if that's done, they'll make it to well past 200k. I would definitely be wary on Nissans or Subarus.

 

I've always wanted a yellow Mazda Protege5 and some hip glasses to wear with it! Zoom zoom!

 

The proper maintenance is key with CVT's. Seems most people completely ignore their transmissions. I'm pretty sure my girlfriend's Scion XB with traditional auto went 250,000 miles plus without a transmission oil change. It ended up good as new, surprisingly. Her Nissan with CVT...not so much.

I'm pretty sure the first generation of Honda CVT's all got replaced do to inherent design issues. The latter ones seem to do well.

 

Would not be a bad choice.

 

Good post. Mazda just knows how to infuse Jimba Ittai (the sense of oneness between good horse and rider) through outstanding chassis dynamics. They are driver's cars and fun to drive regardless if it is a lightweight roadster, sensible compact sedan, or crossover. I've had many Hondas in 51 years and only 4 Mazdas but both brands share my garage now. We have a 2019 CX-5 now and have had in the past a '99 10AE Miata, a 2000 Protege and 2017 Mazda 3. Great cars all. Overall Honda as a brand is more refined and all-of-a-piece in regards to build quality and noise, vibration and harshness but the FIT is sort of an outlier in the NVH category.

 

I'd agree with that.

 

I enjoyed reading this thoughtful and detailed post. I'll be following your posts in the future.

The only Mazda I ever owned was a 1986 RX-7. While it was not the equivalent of my Porsche 944, it was fun . . . until the 13B engine blew an oil seal and the car sat at the dealer for months waiting for a replacement part. In contrast, a colleague of mine has a late model Mazda compact with an MT — it might be a Mazda 2 — and she swears by it.

That was the point when the cops were always on me, but I'm old now and I no longer do bad things.

I haven't heard that term in a while.

My recollection of my stock '08 Fit is that it always tried to kill me under hard braking and in the wet. In a turn, the understeer plowed you past your apex, then, just when you thought you had a chance to live another day, the snap oversteer would kick in. I'm not experiencing this on my stock '13 Fit.

I really love the Fit engine. I'm used to motorcycles and high revving. I love me some VTEC. And I'm a drama queen.

Given the delay valve and the fuel mapping, the Fit's clutch engagement is, indeed, tricky, but I love the gearbox.


Thanks for your post, amigo. Come to California. We'll show you some pretty roads and afterward drink some tequila.

 

Maybe you Mazda guys should go to a Mazda forum. This is a Honda Fit forum.

 

Apparently you missed the point of a thread comparing the HONDA FIT and the Mazda 2.

 

I cross shopped the Mazda2 when my Fit was a new car Undeniably more fun to drive, and the Mazda dealer felt far more honest to me.
That said, as a family car I certainly needed the rear seat space -shoulder room even for two ppl is not available - and the cargo room of the Fit. The Mazda2 is really a size down from the Fit, from everywhere besides the front seat.

 

Jeez, I've got to test drive a Mazda 2. No sarcasm intended. I just love driving.