There's a Yaris and a Jazz in my drive.
The Jazz out-performs the Yaris in basically EVERY respect - It's an old 1.0L Yaris [good condition though!] I'll grant you that, but the car has so many weaknesses I don't know where to begin.
Someone mentioned tacky interior. That plastic bugs me.
We only drive the Yaris when we need to go on long journeys and don't want to put miles on my new Jazz.

 

I just spent a long weekend in Nova Scotia in a rental Yaris 5-door.

I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I liked the car - the styling is MUCH better over the 3-door - looks like a more substantial car, and the lines are much improved. The interior was slightly cheesy, but tolerable. Loved the storage bins everywhere, but do think I'd want to rip out the center dash after a couple of weeks. Hopefully, they bring the 5 to the States, so that I can test both of them before making the decision. Otherwise, it'll definitely be the Fit.

 

I just purchased an 08 Fit Sport.

When researching on buying a new car, I found the Yaris and was initialy impressed with it. What initially interested me in the yaris was the weight and the fact that it is a hatch! Looking for more affordable hatchbacks, I compared it only to the Versa and when I found the Versa is assembled in Mexico I had no interest at all.

I have previously owned 2 Honda's before; '83 Prelude and '93 DelSol Si; both were such great cars. I found the Fit and instantly was very in love with it.

I first test drove the Yaris and I the very first thing I noticed was the poor paint quality, the door jams were just over spray. I didn't like the interior, and I don't think I'm willing to use a gauge cluster in the center that is missing a tachometer.
When driving the car steering wasn't very responsive and suspension was
too soft. I considered the xA but it was discontinued I was told.

I drove the Fit and the very first thing I noticed was how well the interior was, that oh so good Honda suspension and steering, and very impressed with the seating.

I think the Yaris is not a good taste of the Vitz. The Vitz has a 4 door model and there was even a Vitz Turbo rs released! I would love the Paseo over the Yaris if they still produced it. I have heard they are fun when you swap in a starlet motor.

 

WOW. That photo says it all which is the clear choice. Honda FTW.

 

Hi all,

I've been reading up on the forum here for a while and thought I'd share my experience. I know there have been other Fit vs Yaris threads but I wanted to write a more extensive comparison for others who may be looking at both cars rather than just comment on existing threads.

I'd been looking for an economy car to replace my 2006 Acura TSX 6MT/Navi, as I'm planning on a career change and realized as much as I loved the TSX that I couldn't afford the insurance and gas premiums that came with the car.

So, one of the first cars I looked at was the Toyota Yaris. I'd read about it's amazing 40+ mpg fuel efficiency, and also liked the styling on the 3D Liftback. I visited the Toyota dealership and test drove both the automatic and the stick, as well as the sedan S model. I didn't feel much of anything with the automatic liftback or the sedan, meaning they felt like they'd get me from A to B with adequate power for passing and that's about it. The manual was another story: I guess I'd been spoiled by the TSX, because the manual on the Yaris felt really loose and "spongy". In addition, neither Liftback model comes with a tachometer (though I read the 08 Liftback S comes with a tachometer), and I didn't feel comfortable not knowing how many RPMs I was at and shifting by sound and feel, so I really didn't like it at all.

Another major concern for me was being able to fit my acoustic guitar in the back, which I could not do in the Liftback. Even though it's classified as a hatchback, the trunk feels tiny! The trunk floor just felt too high up, resulting in a lot of wasted space. Also, as weird as it sounds, but there are too many storage compartments in the Yaris! It made the interior space feel alot smaller that way. The interior was also very cheap-feeling, with use of low-grade plastics, and the placement of the speedometer in the center of the dash felt awkward. There was no legroom in the back to speak of, and I didn't see my rear passengers having an easy time of it getting in and out.

In spite of all these shortcomings, I thought I'd be willing to make do since the price was so low. Then a friend of mine, an RSX guy who swapped his K20A for a K24A engine, convinced me to take a look at the Fit. My first impression from seeing photos online was that it was a mini-mini-van, and I thought, "No way, I'm not a soccer mom!" But, when I saw the Sport model in person, I really liked it! The lip and skirts gave the car an aggressive look without hinting "rice" like the Liftback S body kit does. The interior felt incredibly roomy, especially the space between my head and the ceiling. The Fit also had a more upscale feel to it than the Yaris, especially the styling of the gauges which reminded me of my TSX, and the material used for the seats, which were a lot more comfortable than those in the Yaris.

I drove both the automatic and the manual version, and couldn't believe how peppy the car felt. The handling also felt quite smooth, and I appreciated how the suspension set up let me feel the road without being overly harsh. The road noise was also noticeably less compared to the Yaris Liftbacks I tested, so I didn't have to yell to hold a conversation with my passengers. I was actually grinning on the test drive, and that's something you don't want to do if you hope to negotiate on the price!

Long story short, after my test drives I first purchased a 2007 Milano Red Sport AT this summer, and last night decided to trade it in for the 2008 Sport MT, same color, after a dealer agreed to make me a reasonable offer on my trade-in and drop the $1900 markup for tint and "protective package."

A heads up for the Phoenix folk on the boards: through 12/31/07 Tempe Honda is willing to sell everything but Accord Coupes on their lot at invoice, check out this Craigslist Ad (Brand New Honda's at Invoice! Honda Accord Civic Pilot CRV S2000). I called him and verified that this applies to Fits. It's not where I bought my Fit from, as they wouldn't give me what I wanted for the trade, but it may help you out!

 

Thanks for the great write up man!^
I also felt the same way about the interior of the Yaris, it was very cheap.
I merged your thread into this big long one, so we dont have clutter.

Tyler

 

The fit is a station wagon. That's hilarious. Almost 1/3 of those cars are miscategorized. How is a civic a compact?

 

Why would you trade in a 3 month old fit for basically the same car?

 

I have driven the Yaris S Sedan, my brother owns one. My wife owns a 2007 Black MT Sport.

My observations. The Yaris ride is much better then the fit. It goes over bumps much more softly. It is also quicker then the Fit, by about 1-2 seconds. Check out Edumuds if you disagree with me. The Fit feels like your riding a go cart when you are going over bumps, even small bumps jar you in your seat. That being said, I like the looks of the Fit over the Yaris, either the sedan or the hatch. I think the interior of the Fit is much better than the Yaris, I hate the center mounted speedometer and the placement of the vents right behind the cupholders is stupid. But, I think both cars will prove to be reliable. My brothers car is an automatic and he gets better gas mileage then my wifes' MT Fit.

 

After 5 months and 3900 miles, I wasn't happy with the 25 mpg that I was getting with the sport AT. My commute is only 2 miles, city, so the auto wasn't the best choice for that. I'm estimating about 30mpg so far on the first tank with the MT even with running the revs up to 4500 RPM to break-in the car. After she's broken I expect to have about 35mpg like most have reported on the boards. Also, with the AT, the paddle-shifters also didn't live up to my expectations. The response is sluggish, and they're impossible to access while making a turn.

 

honda fit car for boy and girl both enjoy much. yaris just girl car. only girl or girly man drive. honda fit look like mean car. toyota yaris look like snow cone at carnival. or peanut. toyota yaris is peanut, honda fit will eat you face off

 

Yah, the paddles are a useless novelty item mostly -- occasionally I use them for hill climbing (locking into 4th).

The post above mine, what the heck? School boy summary:
Fit: arrr!
Yaris: omg ponies!

Seriously, click on his name, joined today, and 18 strange posts...
thanks you. i no try to make laugh but honda fit strange car.
but above it looks like a mean car? Which is it, you're confusing me!
Are you trying to emulate Borat or something, Mr. Jesus?

 

That is not necessarily a good thing. One of honda's gas saving philosohpy is better handling, because if you brake less during a turn, you waste less gas to bring it back up to speed. One way to do this is tighter suspension, which stiffen springs in the wheels.

If you hate the bumpy feeling, try making a turn and accelerate. It's very fun :) and the yaris's soft suspension would understeer and slip. It's also a gas saving method because you don't need to brake as much before a turn (but when doing this, make sure there's nothing on the other side of the turn. very dangerous if someone's at your blind spot)

And about gas mileage, that's true that AT yaris's have great mileage. but yaris sacrificed WAY too much to get that mileage. This includes crappy interior, sluggish speeds, no airbags or ABS, etc. Mileage is not THAT important.

 

Wouldn't this only be a valid point if the Fit actually netted a better mpg than the Yaris? And, as you point out, it's probably not practical to do this every time you turn because you pretty much have to guarantee that you have right of way every time you make a turn? I wouldn't sacrifice safety for mpg!

Bottom line, stock for stock, the Yaris has a faster 0-60 time and superior mpg efficiency. I bet there's better torque at lower RPMs as well. It's probably the perfect commuter for those who never have to haul cargo or take passengers!

But, the amount of cargo space and versatility the Fit has is what gives it the edge for me over the Yaris. With the right rear seat folded down, I managed to fit PA speakers, speaker stands, music stand, mic stand, and my acoustic guitar, along with 3 other passengers in the car. Granted, they were teenagers, but still =) Amazing!

So, to each his own!

 

That was possibly the worst post on this forum to date.

 

i had to ride shotgun on a rental earlier this week on a biz trip i had
to go to with my partner. we asked for a mid-sized but Hertz gave us
a Yaris. lol anyway, we didn't have time to argue so we took it
anyways.

we did a good 150miles on the thing around town and on expressways.

here are the problems with yaris from this short drive:
1. exterior ugly (so cheap looking too).
2. interior ugly
3. interior materials ok (the faux leather like trim on dash and door), but ugly.
4. stereo double din (good) but the stereo itself has a pos appearance.
5. stereo sounded like how it looked. a pos.
6. shift knob ugly, shaft also ugly (AT).
7. engine tone ugly
8. engine performance ugly sounded like it was going to explode passing at expressway speeds.
9. interior space was terrible. so damn cramped it felt like a chevy cobalt.
10. seat position was terrible. i could not find a good seating position,
my partner was complaining the entire time he was uncomfortable. we're not big.

11. cluster's LED looks like something off a calculator from back in the 80's. lol
12. suspension was bouncy, not comfy.
13. fuel economy, not that great. tank must be super tiny too.
14. there were more but i dont want to remember.

corolla was bad enough, but this yaris...toyota, dont embarrass me. :rolleyes:

 

So ... which do you you like better? Yaris or Fit?

 

oye dude, que te pasa? has estado enojado con todo el mundo desde que enscribiste en este sitio. calmate ok? ninguna de las cosas que has mencionado tiene sentido, sin importar si hablamos espanol o no. Ok?

 

enchilada verde

 

The Honda Fit hands down. I test drove both.