Fun to drive 2015 Honda Fit pushes segment performance to higher ground

Monday was one of those days when the heavens aligned with exceptional fortuitous opportunity. In our case, Thanks to our friend Paul Casey of Kendall Honda Acura, that translated into driving Acura’s 2016 MDX SUV 9 speed, and Honda’s very successful upstart made in Celaya Mexico 2015 Fit. Soon we would discover

Interestingly enough, while one might assume that MDX and Fit have nothing in common, in practice, both vehicles offer great utility, transformable interiors and measurable drive performance. Fit lives bigger than it looks.

2015 Honda Fit is a blast to drive

There, we said it! Fit is fun to drive. Once we recovered from sensory overload of driving arguably the finest SUV of any price offered in North America today, we dropped butt first into the surprisingly roomy cab forward greenhouse design that is 2015 Honda Fit, and jumped on the loud pedal.

What’s “cool” about Fit is its infinitely adjustable driving and passenger environment.

Case in point: My 5 foot 2 inch tall octogenarian mother drives a fit in relative comfort and ease. At 6 ft 5 inches, I too find the Fit to be an easy, uncompromising Fit.(No pun intended) Copious amounts of head, leg and shoulder room discovered in the confines of the manually adjusted driver’s seat insures driving comfort, with adequate wiggle room also experienced in the “shotgun” position. Looking Fit’s second row seating we discover a more than comfortable 40/60 “magic seat.”

We’ve written several reviews praising the overall drive experience and standard featured value found in 2015 Honda Fit. Driving all trim variants offered in this sub-compact 5 door hatchback, for Monday’s drive we opted for a black on black 2016 Fit CVT with Tech.Note: Fit is offered in a 6 speed manual variant through the EX trim level.

We can tell you this: Fit’s horsepower and torque(130 horsepower/ 114 ft-lb torque) comes on line with conviction when called for. we experienced zero shift lag when activating “sport” paddle shift mode in Fit.. Put your foot in it, grab a handful of paddle shifted gears, Fit moves! For 2015, EarthDreams ™ engine technology sets the bar on economy car performance and fuel economy.

Coming off of our recent Miami Beach 2016 Honda HR-V press reveal, comparing the drive and comfort aspects of HR-V to Fit seemed logical and most appropriate. While we’re held to a Honda press embargo on HR-V, we’re happy to share or latest drive assessments of Fit CVT gleaned from a short, sunny drive from Kendall Honda, Eugene,Or. To the University of Oregon’s Autzen Stadium.(Go Ducks!)

A lot of car for the $

Fit features more torque-power, road handling and interior volume than one anticipates from an economical, sub-compact 5 door hatchback. It’s truly mind bending. How does Honda design a subcompact hatchback with greater utility and passenger, storage capacity than many compact and midsize minivans? That’s that space-time -continuum thing that Honda does so well. We find little to no compromise in Fit’s interior finish and mostly intuitive driver friendly gauges, controls and personal connectivity.

This interior configurations does accommodate 5 adults and(some) belongings without making excuses for it. Fit works well!

The 2015 Fit features power windows, door locks and Bluetooth connectivity at all trim levels. Also for 2015, we find a backup camera with directional guidelines standard. The interior finish while not luxurious, rates above par when looking to the competition. Featuring upgraded cloth, hard and soft finished surfaces, we find Fit’s interior to be comfortable and visually appealing. We like the second row Magic Seat ™ and the convertible-utility of Fit’s split seating or flat cargo deck configurations. You'll find a complete list of specifications here.

As to Fit’s exterior design; either you’ll like it or you won’t. It screams Honda, and there’s no mistaking Fit for the competition. Honda took great measures in kicking up Fit’s curb appeal a notch or two in 2014. It’s good looking in a sport-ish-small-hatchback sort of way. Nicely appointed with an aerodynamic integration of head and tail lights, side mirrors, a conservative sprinkling(just enough) of bling and custom cut rims; we like the way Fit looks for 2015. So do these guys.

You will find leather and heated seating surfaces featured in Fit

But you don’t need them to experience the driving and handling characteristics of perhaps Honda’s most surprising offering. Fit’s direct injected EarthDreams ™ gasoline engine will change most driver’s perception of the limits of small engine performance. Linked to what is arguably the best performing VCT transmission in the industry,the Drive by Wire ™ near instantaneous torque transfer of this little powerhouse is measurable; road handling and braking dead-on with MPG fuel economy stated as (33 city/ 41 hwy) best in class.

What we’d like to change

If we could change one aspect of the Honda Fit experience, it would be to further reduce the interior noise level. Honda’s made great strides with this consideration throughout the lineup, by increasing sound deadening, improving door seals and implementing active electronic noise cancellation. But then again, that may simply be the opinion of a journalist that had just exited Acura’s MDX.

Other than the smaller car noise consideration, we find Honda Fit to be an exceptional sub-compact driving and ride experience, well worth your test drive. Priced from MSRP $15,650 LX to $19,925 for EX-L, there’s a Honda fit for every budget. We find the initial purchase price when combined with historically high Honda residual value to be an exceptional car purchase value.