The infotainment system also includes satellite and HD radio, and the car’s mirror housings are upgraded with a set of LED turn signals. Still, the Fit EX-L Navi gets a lot of satin-silver faux metal to brighten up the cabin, plus some exclusive features like leather upholstery, a leather-wrapped shift knob to go along with the leather-clad steering wheel pulled up from the lesser EX, the automatic climate control system, voice recognition and navigation-infused infotainment system, plus the push-button ignition system noted earlier, combined with proximity sensing access. We can leave such niceties to the much more expensive MINI 5 Door and the like. The version tested here is the $21,590 top-line EX-L Navi upgraded to $22,890 thanks to an optional CVT ― a car vying for premium status other than a near complete lack of soft-touch surfaces or other traditional luxury trappings such as cloth pillars, genuine wood or metal accents, etcetera. Below that you’ll find a purely touch-sensitive, dual-zone automatic HVAC system that’s so far above anything else in the mainstream subcompact class it’s shocking.Īs you may have guessed, the 2016 Honda Fit I was driving wasn’t the base, considerably more down to earth DX model quoted previously. Over on the centre stack is a large infotainment display up top, mine upgraded with navigation plus a multi-angle backup camera with active guidelines, the usual audio, phone and vehicle settings, plus loads of included and downloadable apps. The primary gauges include a speedometer at centre, tachometer to the left and a fuel gauge along with other readouts and a trip computer to the right, the latter controllable via steering wheel switchgear that also redundantly operates audio, phone, voice-activation, multi-information display, and cruise functions. Sitting in the wonderfully comfortable driver’s seat, there’s nothing but black, lifeless screens ahead ― that is until you press the bright red start button and all those digital panels come alive in sharp contrast, full colour, and high resolution. If this was all the 2016 Honda Fit did well and the rest of the car was merely average, I’d still recommend it, but such is far from the case. Of note, if you’d like even more space and prefer an SUV’s ride height and styling, Honda offers this same seating system in its new HR-V, but we’ve already covered that model multiple times so we’ll leave it for now. While the Fit was redesigned for the 2015 model year, the Magic Seat system isn’t new, although a slightly larger car has allowed for a bit more room inside, the numbers being 139 litres of additional interior volume including 122 mm more rear legroom. With the rear seats like this you still get 470 litres of luggage space behind the seatbacks, which of course remains the same if you’re filling up said rear seats with friends, kids, parents, grandparents, dogs, or whoever else you want to strap in. This is especially useful for loading taller items such as bicycles or large plants you don’t want to get crushed. Separating the Honda Fit from mere mortal subcompacts is the revolutionary “Magic Seat” system in back that not only folds flat for hauling gear in the usual 60/40 configuration (with a total of 1,492 litres available it’s much more capacious than any competitor), but you can also flip the lower cushions upward. The Honda Fit is popular within the subcompact segment, placing fifth out of 15 competitors last year, but over the first five months of 2016 it’s gained yet more sales traction and now places fourth overall.Ĭonsidering that the third-place car is actually two models, a hatchback and a sedan, the second-place model is a tiny city car that starts below $10,000, and the current bestseller is a Korean-made subcompact that’s also available in sedan and hatchback and priced lower than the Fit, Honda is doing very well with its smallest North American offering, which incidentally is only available as a 5-door model and starts at $14,790 plus freight and dealer fees.
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