So I've always said since the Fit was introduced that EE wagon owners already knew how amazing such a concept plays out in real life. Little did I realize just how EXACTLY alike these cars were until I added a 2011 Fit to the fleet of Hondas at my house.

I parked the 1990 wagon next to the Fit, and besides the glaringly obvious ride height difference (my wagon is admittedly slammed pretty good) the cars are eerily similar. They are so identical, in fact, that a quick glance at the specs reveal they are .1'' difference in overall length from bumper to bumper!

1990 Civic DX wagon exterior specs:
Width: 66.1 in.
Height: 56.1 in.
Length: 161.7 in.
Curb weight: 2335 lbs. (manual)

2011 Fit Sport Specs:
Width (in) 66.7 66.7
Height (in) 60.0 60.0
Length (in) 161.6 161.6
Curb weight: 2520lbs. (manual)

1990 Civic Wagon DX interior specs - for some reason I could only find rear specs easily?

Rear hip Room: 52.0 in.
Rear head room: 38.0 in.
Rear leg room: 33.2 in.
Rear shoulder room: 53.5 in.

2011 Fit Sport interior specs:
Headroom (in, front/rear) 40.4 / 39.0
Legroom (in, front/rear) 41.3 / 34.5
Shoulder Room (in, front/rear) 52.7 / 51.3
Hiproom (in, front/rear) 51.5 / 51.3
Cargo Volume (cu ft, seat up/down) 20.6 / 57.3
Passenger Volume (cu ft) 90.8 90.8

Oddly enough the Civic wagon has more leg room in the driver's seating position when you push the seat all the way back. Both cars provide my 6' frame with ample room.

Anyway, I took some pics for fun.

Note the crazy high belt line on the Fit by comparison:





They lined up 100% even at front and rear bumpers:




Note the crazy amount of extra area the Fit has in the windshield-to-hood transition:


Yes there is a Fit hiding behind that wagon:



I didn't think it was possible to have a flatter back end that that of the EE Civic wagon, but check out how straight up and down the Fit's ass end is!



This topic isn't intended to pit the Civic wagon against the Fit.

I just think it's awesome that when Honda needed a car to bring back all those Civic customers who missed a true entry level car rather than the deep $20K's Civic-turned-Accordish in spec/pricing they didn't reinvent the wheel - they brought back the EE Civic wagon and named it "FIT."

If you are a Civic wagon owner looking for a modern, stylish, sporty, and safer version of your Civic wagon then look no further than the Fit.

If you are a Fit owner looking for something cheap that will provide the exact same functionality as a Fit, then start hunting down a 1988-1991 Civic wagon.

They are the same car, just built to totally different generation standards.



BTW:

Once I get around to cleaning up the interior on my wagon I can take/post some interior comparison pics. The Civic wagon also has truly fold flat rear seats, but they accomplished this by having the seat bottoms pivot to flip forwards up against the front seat backs, allowing the rear seat backs to fold further flat provided you removed the rear seat headrests.

 

+1 great post! It's really cool to see the cycle repeat itself. I notice the station wagon is slowly making a comeback too. (crossovers are the same principle with better styling)

 

awsome post i think the molded from the wagovan i love EE wagons i want to get one and make it new fit!!

 

That's is the cleanest civic wagon I've seen. It looks new!

 

So true. I thought the same... a rebirth... You believe in reincarnation? Hakuna matata

BTW great post! Curious, what's your mileage on the Civic? Still looks pretty sharp. Thanks for sharing.

 

It's a trend that is becoming quite apparent in cars now days.

We're seeing it as the Accord gets bigger...the Civic is now about the size the Accord used to be in the mid-90s, and the Fit is the size of the Civic from the mid-90s. In my opinion, this is a good change because I loved the older civic platform from the mid90s.

It's also pretty apparent with some Ford vehicles. The Focus was the replacement for the Escort and took that size spot in their lineup. Now, the Mk3 Focus has moved up in size just as the Civic did for Honda, and now the Fiesta is Ford's new entry level econobox.

Recycling chassis platforms happens a lot, it's just highly visible lately if you know what trends to look for.

 

man, your civic wagon looks new. i remember back in the 90's they had those new. i had a 90 civic hb myself.

 

wagon attack 2

 

Well look at that civic and look at the 1989 Jazz is the same thing

 

The Civic costs more or less the same as a Fit.

It seems that Honda doesn't really do the inexpensive car thing these days... if you really want cheap motoring, a Kia Rio or Hyundai Accent can be had for $12K, and includes a 100,000 miles powertrain warranty. Honda seems to have just said "f--- it, let them have the low end of the market"

The Koreans are making some pretty nice cars these days - even their low end cars are surprisingly competitive... the days of the Hyundai/Kia jokes are over, and they're quickly making very nice cars across many leves of the market spectrum.

 

Welcome B18! Loved your posts from hondacivicwagon.com...Fit and Wagon look great.

cheers!
Jeremy

 

Love that wagon!! I really miss the Hondas with the low hood line like that. I'll bet the Fit feels like a lot bigger car from the inside as well. I know mine feels huge after driving the Omni.

 

Could you possibly measure the distance from weather strip to weather strip on the rear roof (where the spoiler is located) on both cars.

If the measurements are very close it could be cheaper alternative for those of us wanting a duckbill/more spoiler options, to modify an older civic wagon spoiler.

 

I've always thought of those Civics as more the predecessors in spirit to the CR-V than the Fit... The Fit is seems to be 'fit' the niche of the Civic hatchback, though all cars have grown in size since those days. If I remember correctly, they were offered with an AWD system that was later adapted for the CR-V, right?

 

I'll do that for you here shortly when I have to uncover the wagon/move it so I can mow my lawn.

The thing is that Civic wagon owners also have little/no options for duckbill spoilers. Wagon owners often end up modifying spoilers for other cars such as using an OEM optional CR-V wing and modifying it to fit.

I'll measure my 1992 hatch's area too, as it seems to have more of the same curvature of the roof skin. The EE wagon has a super flat roof skin that is very unlike the fit and it's ever curvy/never straight roof skin.

Well the Fit surely feels larger in the dash-to-windshield area, because it certainly is. It's like an "unusable" space though. The Fit has great outward visibilty, but believe it or not, the wagon has better visibility. The wagon makes you feel like you're right on top of the road because there's not that expansive dash-to-windshield area. You can sort of "lean over" the hood and look down at the road on the EE wagon while driving, as as the pics illustrate the EE wagon has a more steep hood/windshield grade than the Fit.

Technically I suppose the Civic wagon, especially the RT4WD model, was the predeccessor to the CR-V. The RT4WD, or Real Time 4 Wheel Drive, drive train was carried over from the Civic wagon directly to the CR-V with only a few changes. The CR-V was obviously a taller/larger/heavier vehicle though, so drivetrain similarity is the biggest thing that ties the Civic wagon to the CR-V.

Everything else such as size of chassis, interior room, cargo room, etc. is just really identical for the EE wagon and Fit.

Some other random thoughts from me when comparing the Fit and 88-91 Civic (EE) wagon:

I've driven plenty of stock EE wagons to know that in 100% stock form they do leave much to be desired when compared to the Fit.

The 1.5L D15B2 found in the Wagovan (this was an actual base model trim with vinyl seats such as the "CX" base models found in later Civics) and wagon DX models only put out 92hp. It didn't have anywwhere near the low end grunt (if you can call it that lol) that the L15A Fit engine has, but pulling 200 less pounds around meant the wagon was comparaple quickness wise. The RT4WD Civic wagon had the amazing D16A6 1.6L bulletproof engine that had 108hp and a much more usable powerband/torque curve, but also had the extra RT4WD drivetrain to lug around.

Handling wise the Fit rapes a stock wagon. Even though the wagon was built with the superior-in-overall capability front and rear double wishbone suspension, it's dampers and springs were far from "sporty." Once modified the wagon can handle amazingly well for such an awkward, top heavy looking vehicle. In stock form it (EE wagon set-up) pales in comparison to the Fit's sportier tuned Mac front strut/rear torsion beam set up. Tossing on some lowering springs/dampers or full coil-overs on the wagon (there are TONS out there) immediately transforms the ride/handling of the vehicle.

13'' steelies with 5'' wide econotires (RT4WD had 14'' steelies lol) also hampered the lateral g capabilities of the EE wagon. The Fit also rules here, especially the Sport models with their 16'' wheels and wider tires.

Having said all of this wagons can be found CHEAP if you look hard enough, and with some minor mods you can have a "poor man's Fit" that can cost a fraction of what any Fit, new or used, will cost. As I said before you'd get all of the utility, fun factor, fuel mileage, etc. without having those nice safety features that the Fit has.

 

Brings back memories. My first brand new Honda was an '89 Civic Wagon. Was a great car but very anemic power with the AT. I didn't have a choice with that as my wife was just learning to drive so couldn't handle a MT. Got ride of it 12 years and ~150K miles later same time as the ex-wife. If it was a MT I might still have it today. Only real issue was it loved to eat CV joints.

_

 

My folks had a '92 Accord which wound up being my first car in '98... They were advised to keep a close watch on the CV boots to ensure that they didn't crack, because the CV joints would fail quickly after that.

 

What a great post thank you! I had two Civic wagons and LOVED them. The only thing that would make me like the Fit better is AWD.

Your pictures are great. I have been hoping to find a wagon and take similar

 

as i have started a thread when i owned my first fit (07) as to why honda didn't give us an option for AWD, because i would'a opted for one!
but since then i have bought a 2010 sport with VSA and as it is not nearly as fun in the snow as my AWD wagon was (only owned for one winter) the VSA is simply put "amazing" it works so good in snow conditions it really boggles my mind. honda never built the AWD civic to do what EVO's and STI"s do but i will say i had a blast in mine, but i pray for snow with my VSA equipped fit, and living in utah i don't have to wait too long (it snowed enough that we had to plow it at the dealership in april, and snowbird (ski resort) is said to plan on closing the lifts this year as of july 4th because we are expecting snow in the mountains this weekend (may 28th)

sorry i got off topic

OP i'm waiting for you to compare the interiors and i hope you include pictures, maybe with a few good sized boxes in the back for reference, or maybe a full sized clothes dryer (oh it'll fit i promise, well atleast in the fit it will) hmmmm i wonder if it will fit in the oldschool wagon???