Honda Worldwide | October 18, 2007 "Honda to Begin Sales of the All-New Fit in Japan"

I'm not sure if this is talking about the CVT, or all of them. Hopefully the MT will get higher 5th gear like in the new Canada fit.

 

why does everyone want a taller 5th gear for? it will essentially make 5th gear only useful for cruising and anytime you want to pass you'd have to either do it incredibly slowly due to poor acceleration with the taller gearing, or downshift to 4th which would probably negate the little fuel you save from cruising in a taller 5th gear.

 

5th has always been a sort of overdrive gear, I would take the taller gear anyday to improve my mileage on the highway! If I need to pass somebody I just downshift to 4th, it is good all the way up to 120km (75mph). As far as the mileage goes, I get about 40mpg to 44mpg on the highway and I always downshift on hills and when I pass.

 

But what's the point of having gears if you don't want to shift? Hopefully the Fit's new gears wont' make it rev too low.

 

Yes but think of it this way, if you already have to downshift to 4th like all of us have to do when we pass or scale a graded road with 5th the way it is now, imagine how much more we'd have to do it if 5th was even weaker(taller).

The 5AT guys get less highway mileage than us, but their 5th gear rotates at a lower RPM than the same speed in the 5MT, but it requires the auto to downshift a lot more (so I assume, haven't driven an automatic Fit), but when I had my '06 Civic auto even that would gear hunt a lot, especially on the highway.

 

The Fit is an economy car. If you want to go fast you should get a Civic SI. We would have liked to have a higher 5th gear because having the car geared so low negates some of the fuel-efficiency benefit of having a small engine. If you're just cruising down the highway, you don't need a lot of torque; an overdrive 5th gear would be much more useful. Too bad Honda had to wait 'til they redesigned the car to think of it.

 

The Fit is an economical small car, not an economy car. It's design is practical and economical, but still meant to be sporty, performance oriented, and fun to drive. It was never meant to be a hypermiler's wet dream, and Honda has no intention of making it so any time soon. People in the US/Canada always seem to equate a small car as having to be some super-thrifty gas miser with limp performance to match, but the rest of the world, and Japan in particular doesn't necessarily think that way. In Japan, while mileage is definitely important, it's not the end-all-be-all of auto design. Automakers there realize that, more importantly, many if not most people often want/need a smaller car more due to to space constraints, parking, income, auto taxes, etc., than anything else. And, they also know that in most cases, those owners aren't necessarily willing to give up performance, sportiness, quality of build, utility, etc. to meet those needs. This is the real and true design philosphy behind the Fit, not pure economy. In fact, the Fit is really considered a more average vehicle in the JDM market, both size-wise and economy-wise, and similar to the way the Camry is seen here in many ways. If you wanted a true economy car in Japan, you'd be looking at something like a Honda Life, Suzuki Wagon-R, or other Kei-car, not the Fit. Of course, most people here don't realize this and instead just assume that because it small and the low-man on the Honda totem pole here it must be an economy car, but really it's not.

 

It's not about driving fast, it's about being practical. As it is I'm happy that I can leave the car in 5th gear to pass on the highway, even before I had any mods and when the engine was still just putting out 109hp. I'm not sure what more you could ask for, people here say they get over 40mpg on the highway with their 5MT which is well above the EPA ratings, as it is I average about 33/4 mixed driving. There's not much more out there that gets better mileage than that outside of the Yaris and Hybrids. You can't just take overdrive ratios and throw them into cars with no power, have you seen any dynos of our car? At 2500rpm we're probably putting down around 40hp at the wheels, that plus an almost direct linkage to the crankshaft isn't going to move the car anywhere and you will ALWAYS be downshifting to pass and go up grades, which like the 5AT models will cause your mileage to actually go down. If you want a car with an overdrive get something with more power that actually needs to use it for better mileage, otherwise be happy with the fact that you can get 40mpg highway and still be able to pass people in 5th gear with 109hp.

 

All good points too. Another thing to keep in mind -- by definition, the Fit already has an overdrive, actually 2 in fact b/c both 4th and 5th are lower than a 1:1 ratio. And interestingly, if you compare the ratios between the MT and AT you'll see that the AT's 4th gear is practically identical to the MT's 5th, with the AT's 5th being even longer. Even so, the AT still gets lower mileage in general than the MT, and at a lower performance level as well, although other factors contribute to all this besides just gears.

 

Just to butt in here, but I agree with your comments that the Fit already has the overdrive in 4th and 5th. So, my question is: Why do people think the M/T Fit does not have an overdrive? As an aside, I think the combination of economy and performance that the M/T Fit offers just cannot be topped. Perhaps a lower revving 5th gear might up the 40+ highway MPG a little, but I wouldn't want to give that up in exchange for lower passing performance. I am pleased with it just the way it is.

 

It's probably due to a number of reasons: unclear as to what an overdrive really is or does; not used to having a car rev at a higher rpm at highway speeds; misconceptions about engine efficiency and rpm, etc.

 

Where are people getting this? No, no, no!!! The Fit is not in any way, shape or form "sporty". It's one of the slowest cars on the market. HP is 109 and torque is 105 ft/lbs. That's very, very low by today's standards. Just by comparison, the BASE MODEL Jetta is 170 HP and 177 ft/lbs. of torque. You can't call it anything but an economy car. Otherwise your definition of economy car is completely wrong.
You aren't going to do much better in the U.S., fuel-economy wise, unless you get a hybrid. I think the Yaris and Corolla beat the Fit by a couple mpg, but the Fit is pretty close to the top as far as how many mpg they're squeezing out of a standard engine.
I don't think that way. There are a number of small cars that are faster than the Fit: MINI, Subaru, VW, even Honda makes faster cars than the Fit. It's just not a fast car. Period. Doesn't mean ALL small cars are slow.

Also, I think people are using the term "overdrive" informally, just meaning a 5th gear that's only for cruising and doesn't provide torque. The usage is not technically correct, but is understood by most of us.

 

Everybody with a fit knows it's not fast, this is definitely one of the slowest cars i've ever driven and it is pretty freaking slow lol. but i think when people say "sporty" they aren't just referring to speed and power. if i were to compare the previous scion xB with a fit, i'm not sure which is faster, but the fit sure feels sportier. it just feels more agile and...sporty. like take a lotus elise or toyota mr2 spyder. those are some weak cars by today's standards, and not that fast even, but they're pretty freaking sporty no?

 

I bought a Fit because it feels like it handles better than the Scion or Yaris, but no, it's not anywhere CLOSE to being in the same league as MR2 or Lotus. I don't know where folks are getting this idea it's a sports car. It's not. I guess it's the same misconception as all the dudes who bought base-model Civics in the 80s and modded them out like they thought it was a sports car or something. Pretty funny.

 

I bought my Fit because I'm older & more responsible now, it looks cool and drives well, too, AND it is economical (I've gotten 44 mpg on a long trip!) I have a different frame of mind driving it, HOWEVER, when I feel the NEED FOR SPEED, blinding acceleration, etc. I take out my "old school" 70 Charger, or my 340 Challenger!! LOL
VBP Sport 5MT

 

I agree. But it still ain't no sports car.

 

What!!!???? I bought the Sport model for nothing??

It has more horsepower than my 68 beetle does!

 

AE86 came w/ 128hp stock if I recall right, a figure totally attainable and even surpassable by the Fit. That car is an f'n classic and not one person who knows anything about cars would deny that it's quite sporty. Miata's aren't know to be powerhouses either, yet they're one of the most, if not the most, raced/tracked chassis in the world. HP isn't God and alone does not define good performance or what constitutes sporty and fun to drive.

With regard to the Fit, hundreds, if not thousands, of owners mod/track/autox/gymkhana their cars every year. Maybe in the US it's not quite caught on yet, but in other parts of the world where small cars are more the norm it's far from rare. Case in point:Noblesse Fit Watch the whole clip. Does the Evo blast away on the straights? Yup. Does the Fit blast by the Evo and a number of others in the corners? Yup. There isn't one part on that Fit you can't buy yourself, and it's only running apx. 145hp (w/ L15A by the way). Same car has clips of it doing similar feats against GT-R's, NSX's, Silvia's, Supra's, etc. And there are many, many other Fits being used in the same way -- stock, near stock, and heavily modded. Sorry, but there's just too much evidence of the Fit being a more than capable track car to dismiss it the way that you do.

As for economy cars, yeah, in the US market the Fit would seem to be an economy car compared to what's the norm and what we're used to. But why do you think most people here are so surprised/pleased with it's handling, build quality, interior design, spaceousness, etc.? Simple -- it's not considered an economy car in it's home market, the one it was primarily designed for (we're an afterthought). Below is an economy car in Japan; about $5k less than the cheapest Fit, 58hp@7200rpm, 26km/L, 1570 lbs, and 12" steelies w/ 145/80R12 tires. This isn't even a rare find; cars like this are a whole class unto themselves there. America doesn't know true economy, so probably my definition of an economy car is just more relative than most other peoples'.


BTW, this isn't an argument or anything -- I'm thinking a Denny's at 3am drinking coffee while arguing about which superhero would win at golf kinda feeling myself.

 

I posted the Fit's HP. It's not 128. Don't know where you're getting your info. If you're talking about modifying, that's completely irrelevant.
What's your point? We are talking about Fit, not AE86.


Again, what's your point? We're talking about Fit, not Miata.
Never said it was, my friend. But there is nothing about the Fit that makes it sporty. Solid rear axle; tendency to oversteer. Yeah, it's marginally better than Toyota's comparable models, but it's no sports car by any stretch of the imagination. Don't pretend it's something it's not.
Proves nothing. Tons of people modified Civics, which was stupid, because they could have bought an SI in the first place and gotten a car that already performed well. If people want to turn their cars into modification projects, that's fine, but it doesn't prove it's a sporty car. It just proves they turned it into a sporty car.
This makes no sense. You're talking about rebuilding a Fit into something else. Not what we're discussing at all.
Glad we agree.
Having superior build quality, interior design, and spaceousness don't make a car "sporty". It makes it a practical, economical car, which is what the Fit is. Again, if you want a sporty car, buy a Civic SI.
Not available in U.S., so what's your point?

 

I just wish the Fit revved higher

coming from an s2000 with 9000 RPM redline

6500 makes me wanna cry

-Ricky