2015 Honda Fit gets a more dynamic driving experience
Now in its third generation, the 2015 Honda Fit is a five-door subcompact hatchback that has received numerous awards for its fuel efficiency, affordability, and practicality. The Fit is all-new for 2015, and we think the new model will keep the accolades rolling in.
The 2015 Fit keeps the basic wedge shape of the outgoing model, but gets a more dynamic driving experience, as well as upgraded standard luxury and technology features like automatic headlights, LED taillights, and Bluetooth connectivity. The Honda Fit is a serious value starting at $15,650 for a base LX model with a six-speed manual transmission. Honda Fit is available in four trim levels: LX, EX, EX-L and EX-L with Navigation. All are powered by a 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine that develops 130 horsepower and 114 lb.-ft. of torque. The transmission is either a six-speed manual or a continuously variable transmission.
The LX trim with CVT is by far the most fuel efficient, boasting EPA mileage ratings of 33 miles per gallon in the city and 41 mpg on the highway.
That is not a misprint. The Fit LX with CVT will take you 41 miles down the highway on a single gallon of gas. And the LX trim with CVT starts at $16,450.
The EX trim with CVT starts at $18,360; the EX-L trim with the CVT starts at $19,925; and the most expensive Fit, the EX-L with Navigation, starts at $20,925. Options available for the first time in a Fit include a smart key with pushbutton start, a onetouch moon roof, a 7-inch touchscreen display with HondaLink, and heated leather seats.
While the Fit is a winner from fuel efficiency and affordability standpoints, it is practicality that makes this subcompact special. The Fit is only 160 inches long, but it has interior roominess inside that rivals midsize sedans. Headroom is 39.5 inches in the front seat and 37.5 inches in the rear seat. Legroom in front is 41.4 inches and backseat legroom is not much less at 39.3 inches.
While the Fit is a winner from fuel efficiency and affordability standpoints, it is practicality that makes this subcompact special.
Much of the Fit’s classleading interior space is due to a center-mounted fuel tank and a patented “magic seat” that can fold completely flat or fold its seat bottom all the way up. The Fit can accommodate larger items than you’d think, with a whopping 52.7 cubic inches of cargo volume when the seats are folded down.
The Fit’s new directinjection engine has an increased compression ratio and provides a significant horsepower boost of 11 percent over the outgoing model. Peak torque is increased by 7.5 percent, according to Honda.
The sporty little Fit is fun to scoot around on city streets, and the big rigs don’t blow it around too badly on the interstates. It stays flat in hard cornering and has precise steering. Add in good braking, and you’ve got a confident little car to drive.
With a 99.6-inch wheelbase, our Fit EX-L with Navigation test car weighed in at 2,642 pounds, with a weight distribution of 61 percent to the front and 39 percent to the rear.
Our tester’s EX-L Navigation had HondaLink connectivity and apps, HD XM Satellite Radio, a satellite-linked navigation system with voice recognition, and a backup camera, Bluetooth audio and hands-free link, a USB audio interface, 12-volt power outlets, pushbutton start, 16-inch alloy wheels, automatic headlights, and a tilt and telescoping steering wheel with controls. Not a bad amenity sheet for a car that starts under $21,000.
Honda’s LaneWatch system, standard on EX and above trims, is a neat camera system for displaying the driver’s blind spot. Put on your right turn signal and the 7-inch display screen shows a camera view of your blind spot.
The camera system is one of the reasons the 2015 Fit wins a “Top Safety Pick” award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, where it scored the agency’s top “good” rating in all but the small front overlap test, where the Fit scored “acceptable.”
The 2015 Honda Fit also gets five stars in the government’s crash tests, thanks to a full complement of airbags, including side curtains, as well as a range of driver-assisted safety technologies like a multi-angle rearview camera, anti-lock brakes, and stability and traction control systems.