WSJ is Tied to Be Fit. Honda-Wise. If You Know What I Mean…

by John Horner

Published: November 12th, 2008

wsj is tied to be fit honda wise if you know what i mean

Former AutoWeek scribe Jeff Sabatini is now driving a keyboard for The Wall Street Journal. While our own JL loved the Honda Fit, Sabatini sees the model as the motorist’s Messiah. “While conventional wisdom says that cheap gas should damp enthusiasm for a compact fuel-sipper, I’m not going to be deterred. The Fit is unquestionably my favorite car, a vehicle that’s the best all-around transportation available from any auto maker at any price.” Wow, talk about showing some love! “Well equipped Fits may just outdo the Mini Cooper for the cheap to buy, fun to drive, feel good drive of the year. Move over BMW, the new kid is strutting his stuff. While the iconic BMW 2002 remains a cult classic because it does much with little, today’s BMWs are porkers best suited to poseurs. The Fit has recaptured the cheap to buy, cheap to run, fun to drive crown in part by being ‘nearly 1,500 pounds lighter than, say, a BMW 5-Series, that perennial best-car-on-the-road contender.'” Jeff then takes both the Big 2.8 and Honda to task for not building more Fit-like whips…

“One of the reasons good small cars are so rare is that auto makers have long assumed that small equals cheap; that makes for diminished expectations. Even Honda, known for building good small cars, has recently been guilty of pandering to the bigger-is-better paradigm, supersizing its lineup top to bottom.” But, the sins of those backsliding brethren haven’t sullied Junior, and in these sobering times Sabatini declares “the Fit is the automotive change we need.” While the Fit is certainly fit, it appears that falling gas prices have done little to damage the MSM’s “anyone who doesn’t build, sell or drive a small car is a selfish bastard” meme.

John Horner

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Psarhjinian on Nov 13, 2008
But, if you want more performance, luxury or cargo capacity If you want more cargo capacity than the Fit, you're looking either at a pickup truck, a small crossover, or an older Saab. The Civic is useless by comparison: a tiny trunk with an even smaller opening and a miniscule pass-through. Even the Accord, with it's unsplit bench, is a waste. And then there's the back seat: it's Fit's is raised quite high and offers good thigh support and lots of headroom; the Civic's stupid sloping roof and angled seat-bottom are awful for long trips. If the Fit came with a sixth gear, I'd be hard pressed to think of a reason why anyone should buy a Civic. For America, though, a Civic SI wagon with those nifty Fit rear seats would be even better.. That descibes the European Civic: it has the Fit's under-the-front-seats gas tank and torsion-beam suspension (our Civic has a full IRS), both which allow the use of Fit-like rear seats. The problem with the Euro Civic is it's actually less commodious for the same reason: the low roof and raked rear window eat space. My old Saturn (with a 4sp automatic) gets 33-34 mpg every tank. That’s what the Fit is rated at. And your old Saturn is a deathtrap. A slow deathtrap, at that. And one that spewed more pollutants while sipping gas. I call this "Geo Metro Syndrome"; people are forever comparing new cars to the Geo Metro and it's amazing mileage, forgetting that it, and cars like it, were thin on safety and emissions regulations, not to mention features, power and packaging.

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Psarhjinian on Nov 13, 2008
If the Corsa was sold in the states would anyone buy it? Not if GM kneecaps it the way they did the Astra.

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