Can anyone tell me how smooth a ride you get in the Fit? I test drove a Smart Car recently and found that the rough ride gave me a headache.

 

I've now been driving a Jazz Vtec 1.5 for 2 months now. One thing i do not like is the the moment you slacken on the accelerator paddle you get the feeling that the engine immediately downshifts to a much lower gear. It takes some getting use to. Other than that the Jazz is very responsive and gives an excellent drive around town. I'll be doing some long distance driving over the chinese lunar new year and see if fuel economy is anything to shout about.

 

Being that the Jazz/Fit has a pretty short wheelbase, you will feel it! It's especially true over speedbumps, it seems like the front wheel barely clears when the back wheel comes around. It's one of those things, you win some you lose some, with the short wheelbase, it's very easy to zip around on city streets in Bangkok. Everytime I'm back in the states, it make my Cadillac CTS feels like a tank :-) Also, mine rides a slightly stiffer than stock, as I have 17s on it. But even with the short time I had stock 15s, I can feel every pot holes on the street.

 

Ouch!

Interesting address.

 

Over the Chinese new year holiday managed to drive back to Betong, a little town in the country some 700 km from Miri. Overall, over the holiday period my Jazz Vtec 1.5L managed to record a very impressive 18.1km/litre. That's a cool 51.3mpg(US). Which is a vast improvement over the 33mpg of what i normally get for city driving. Following is brief description of the ride from Miri to my longhouse and back. Return journey was similar to the forward journey, except for the wait at the ferry point was only about half an hour. There were many convoys of slow moving vehicles on the return journey where I had to maintain my speed well below 80km/h for long periods. The road from Miri to Betong passes through undulating terrain with fairly short stretches of flat terrain along the way. After having driven this Jazz long distance I now appreciate the downshifting effect of the Vtec engine. I gives a great sense of control and road grip especially when going downslope. Hooray to Honda for their great foresight. I did a lot of over taking manouvres along the way. The "S gear" is great way to hold down the gear whilst overtaking. It is a very practical innovation to have. I also found the firmness of the Jazz to be a real plus. I think if not for the firmness some damage could possibly have been done to the underside of the vehicle due to some grossly over undulating road sections.


Started off at about 7 in the morning of the first day of the year of the dog. Still slight morning mist in the air. With the sky over cast with dark clouds. Traffic was fairly light. Most people probably still asleep in view of the public holiday for the first day of the chinese year of the dog. There were a few police checkpoints along the way so my Jazz straddled the 90km/h limit on the road. Don’t quite fancy getting speeding tickets in the mail.
After about 100km stopped at the Niah Rest Stop to have some coffee and dim sums.
Continued my journey and the traffic was fairly smooth through the relatively flat country sides. Of course I passed the numerous longhouses along the way. Passed another police check point 10km before reaching Bintulu junction. Passed another police check point 10km after the junction to Bintulu town. Road around Bintulu was smooth. Managed to have “brief” incursions into the 110km/h around Bintulu. Drove on towards Tatau, a small township of about a thousand people. Beyond Tatau towards Stapang town the road was frustratingly full of big potholes. Really there is no such thing as a highway to speak of on this side of Malaysia. Definitely nothing comparable to what you get at the peninsula of Malaysia. The road was also winding making overtaking of slow vehicles a bit tricky. So for a stretch of some 50km I kept my speed to about 60 - 70km/h
By about 11.00am stopped at the Stapang town for short coffee break and to “water” the roadside plants. About 40 minutes later arrived at the Durin ferry point, to cross the Rejang river, the longest river in Malaysia. Spent more than 1.5 hours at the ferry point due to the long queue at the ferry point. Fuel gauge was just touching the half full indicator sign. Pass the ferry point the traffic was easy with most cars/trucks turning towards Kanowit and Julau towns. Road condition from Julau to Betong was excellent. By Sarawak standard, anyway. And the terrain was fairly flat. With very few pot holes.
Wanted to refuel at Jakar town but by the time I got there the station was closed. Early closure probably due to the chinese new year holiday. So I had to back track to Sarikei town to refuel. The Shell station was open, thank goodness. Traffic was slightly heavy after my refuelling stop at Sarikei town. From Sarikei to Betong the road was very good, so again managed to have “brief” incursions to about 100km/h. I guess that helped with the fuel economy.

 

As a fellow Canuck myself, I would expect the ride to be a little more choppy and 'Go-Kart-ish' due to it's short wheel base as mentioned. Most of our roads in Canadian Suburbia and Urban centres are above average compared to our American cousins in-general. It's all relative to what size of vehicle you were driving before as a rule of thumb. In the subcompact size car category you will not find any floating mattress Lexus, Lincoln or Cadillac pleasures, yet a little road feel is good as long as it does not feel like a tractor.

Aftermarket upgrades in suspension, low profile tires, high rim sizes, wheel base length and type of vehicle make this a subjective matter but will make a car handle stiffer

 

Road quality has something to do with it as well (don't forget!)

 

Thanks to all who took the time to answer my question. Jazz5887 gets the literary award

 

I was reading Jazz 5887's report of his trip, and was trying to picture in my mind what it was like driving those roads. I think any big city, regardless of where it is in the world, will always be kind of a pain in the rear to drive around, with heavy traffic, etc. It's always fun to get on the road and get out of the city. My wife & I like to get out of Phoenix and go to San Diego, which is actually a nice ride; takes around 6 hours or so. Also going up to the high country in Northern Arizona, which is where you run into the slo-pokes, and it's hard to pass sometimes. No fun sitting behind a big truck with no passing lane, but when you finally get there, it's worth the ride. Oh, that brings to mind one question: how does the Fit react when overtaking a large truck? Does the wind blow the Fit around, or is it fairly stable? I'm talking about passing on the open road, say at 80 MPH or like that.

 

High speed stability is surprisingly good for a tall car and a hell of a lot more stable than an A Class merc. Also not badly effected by crosswinds. That said it is a 1,000kg vehicle and certainly not as solid as a 3,000kg vehicle.

 

Compared to my previous car, Proton Aeroback, the Jazz is extremely stable. Inspite of its higher roof it just does not rock side to side when big buses/trucks pass by. I'm thinking maybe this could be due to its bigger width or firmer suspension. Or maybe Honda have somehow managed to make some magical improvements on the "sideways aerodynamics," if there's such a thing.

 

I think part of the answer is front wheel drive. I've had a couple front wheel drive cars, and what I noticed about them is that they were stable in crosswinds, compared to the same size car with rear wheel drive.

 

What is the drag co-efficient on this vehicle anyways?

For those of us living in N.A. especially in Canada, N.E. US and Northern United States, I'm curious as to how this puppy will handle in the snow. I'm assuming with a set of decent winter tires.

Anyone from any other world markets with snow tell us about winter handling/tractions and stability?

 

CarDemon has set my mind wondering about the drag coefficient(cD) of the Fit. Just out of curiosisty does anybody know what it is? It never seem to have been mentioned anywhere.

 

i've been driving my jazz for around 2 years and ride comfort is good.

 

One of the big concerns about the Fit is the fact the rear suspension uses torsion beams instead of springs in order to get more back space. Unfortunately, torsion beam suspensions tend to ride quite firmly, which can be problem given the potholed streets in many US cities and the speed bumps found on more and more residential streets here in the USA. I think Honda may have extensively recalibrated the rear suspension pieces on the US market Fit so the ride isn't so firm.