Gadgetory

only lowly Honda Fit but now in its third generation a little less homely and judging by the cabin tech a little less lowly let's drive this third gen 2015 top-line the XL with nav and check the tech in a nutshell I would describe the styling of this third generation fit as no longer looking like the cheapest possible way to build a car it's got all kinds of nuance and sculpting and better integration of things like trim pieces with body metal very different look although I kind of preferred the previous generations just slightly cleaner little sportier look that's just my opinion one thing I noticed right away when you open the door here on the previous fits there was always this ugly unfinished weld they got rid of that it kind of tells you about the overall mission of the redesign now even if the fit no longer looks like the cheapest way to build a car it still is about the cheapest way to build a car I pushed this one hard and could barely get over 22 grand about 21:8 for the top model the e X L trim with navigation that comes with a CVT transmission about all I could add CNET styles or remote start for 400 bucks and we're just over 22 let's see what you get hitting inside tells you everything you've got to know about the new fit its dramatically new there's a whole lot of nice new finish is this kind of liquid metal bezel trim different types of services many of which are hard and some are soft which gives you some texture new head unit going on here kind of the new trend which is this all glass surface all touch and notice the buttons on the left the virtual buttons change depending on your mode what I'm not crazy about is you've got nothing but click volume controls either here or on the wheel gimme a knob any day this just takes too many taps or swipes or things that are just not easy your main home choices you've seen before just about everything is in here audio sources are quite expansive you're not really missing anything there's even an HDMI port down here to play audio and video if you're parked and of course we have two USB ports for charging or for media integration thumb drives smartphones iPod optical discs still carry is on in this vehicle and for apps you basically have to media apps aha and Pandora there's not much of an apps platform beyond that bluetooth calling and bluetooth streaming are now standard on a fit it was missing that before as standard equipment which was making it feel pretty old and that button on the end of the turn signal as well as doing a right turn signal will activate the far right camera in the mirror housing look down the side of the car give you some distance indications beginning with a red one that shows the butt of the car and also show you what it's basically about a four foot column of space down the side of the vehicle now in Honda says you can get a bike in this thing easily they're not kidding look how simple the big second row load-in converts you just pick up the base of the seat lock down its little leg and it's there the other one goes up the same way and you can just slide a bike run in same thing goes for the back it's just about the easiest lay flat load floor you can convert to of any car we've had in under the hood US market fits we'll get a one and a half liter direct injection sidesaddle inline for driving front wheels only of course 130 horsepower 114 mere pound-feet of torque it's not a lot but the car doesn't weigh much it's a little over 2,600 pounds we don't get in anything that weighs 2,600 pounds around here 0 to 60 is also leisurely 8.8 seconds but it pays off in the mpg 30 to 38 for this high trim EXL with of course the one choice only CVT if you get a low trim fit you can get a six-speed manual but you take a hit of several mpg in the city and one on the hike and the first thing I noticed in this car is no matter what and around $20,000 you don't ever get a really smooth engine note it's the only really dissonant thing in this nicely finished fit it just makes a grinding sound the power as you can imagine is not overwhelming as you can tell from the numbers but it's well balanced across the pedal range and across the rev range you've got a sport mode you've got paddles on the wheel there's not really a sport mode in this car it just holds shift points a little higher one way or the other but the ride quality is quite good you might be surprised at something this small and inexpensive rides this compliantly I would kill for some home run buttons on this head unit I just get tired of thinking through menus to do simple things things it should be one button press on less ambitious head units aren't out two button presses oh by the way this car has good crash ratings it's an IIHS Top Safety Pick which in its class of mini cars there's only one other the Chevy spark this is a big improvement from the last fit that you may have heard had some crappy crash ratings especially in this new test that they call the up a small overlap frontal impact test and that one the fit did not do well in before this is a whole new platform in this car according to the IIHS quite safe you