Tommorow's (Sunday, April 9) New York Times will feature a front page story in the auto section comparing the Honda Fit with the Toyota Yaris. The Yaris wins on ride, price, interior, gauges, and appearance. The Honda Fit wins on 'fun to drive'. In the end, the Honda is worth spending $ 1,000 - $ 3,000 more to get than the Toyota. Real m.p.g. for the Honda (Sport w/ auto) on the two day 'drive-off' was 35.5 m.p.g. This story will be on the New York Times web site tommorow (Sunday, April 9.)

 

ROFL, WHAT A JOKE!! How can they say the Yaris has a nicer interior?? The interior in the Yaris is well below that of the Fit. Guages???? They prefer the centre guages to the Fit, or any car? These guys all must be blind or under the age of 16. Appearance, that's personal. The Yaris os OK, but I much prefer the Fit.

 

The Fit doesn't come in 3 doors like the Yaris, and the US only gets the 3 Door Yaris. The Yaris's interior does have more useable space, lots more funky storage space here and there, and the rear seats can be reclined, it's pretty cool.

The Fit of course will with in fun to drive, since it's a proven car elsewhere. The Yaris is a newer car with a newer chassis designed with a different purpose. The Fit is supposed to be compared to the Echo Hatchback, not the Yaris, because it's a car of "different" times

 

The trunk in the 5 door Yaris is quite small, doubt if I would be able to fit 2 suitcases in there. Due to the flip up seats, you can put things under the back seat on the fit. There's no reason why you can't compare the Fit with the Yaris 5-door.

They are both B-segment, they are priced close to each other, they are both current year models. Why should I be comparing a 07 Fit to a 04 Echo HB? It's not like I'm even considering buying a used car. In fact, they are the only two cars I am considering (06 5-door RS and 07 5-door Sport) and thus I'm comparing them head to head in every way possible

 

A search of Yahoo!News turned up the NY Times article on the Fit/Yaris (Fit won overall), plus a bunch of other good articles. The Province article mentions that the Fit is a quiet ride -- great to hear after reading that the Matrix/Vibe has a noisy engine on the highway. The paddle shifter seems to come in handy for quicker acceleration from ramp to highway speed. Here's the Yahoo! link:http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/search?p=Honda+Fit&c=

 

So the Yaris wins on quality of materials and guages!? I'd take any auto review coming from a Manhattanite with a boulder of salt. Theirs is definitely NOT a car culture!

 

Yaris interior better? WTF. the honda's interior is the best of its class.

 

The New York Times review came from Nedles, California where the hands-on drive took place. The reviewer is part of the motor press, and she is NOT based in New York City.

 

"The New York Times review came from Nedles, California where the hands-on drive took place. The reviewer is part of the motor press, and she is NOT based in New York City."

She definitely fits the Yaris demographic to a T.
Don't get me wrong, everybody is entitled to their opinion. However, I've seen the Yaris close-up. The quality of its plastics is inferior to the Fit's, the ergonomics are misguided to say the least, and it's not as solid-feeling as the fit. The yaris is an automobile I would recommend to a non-car guy or gal that really needs cheap dependable wheels with as small a footprint as possible.

 

In my humble opinion, the Fit wins over the Yaris for a number of reasons:

1. The build quality of the Fit has it all over the Yaris.
2. The instrument panel of the Fit is definitely WAY better than the Yaris with its bizzare center-mounted instrument panel.
3. The Fit's interior can better accommodate four American-sized adults than a Yaris!
4. The Fit's cargo-carrying capability is far superior to that of the Yaris.
5. The handling of the Fit leaves the Yaris far behind.
6. The drivetrain of the Fit--even in the automatic version--is vastly superior to the Yaris drivetrain.

 

I think New York and L.A. are trying to down the sales of the Fit