Interior

Honda's forward-looking chassis design which places the gas tank beneath the front seats, instead of the more traditional location toward the rear, somehow transforms this subcompact into a surprisingly roomy vehicle- hence the name, Fit. This allows for very low flooring beneath the rear seats and cargo area, creating interior space that rivals many leading crossover SUVs, in spite of the Fit's bantam proportions. The rear seats accommodate the tallest passengers easily, and the cabin feels quite airy due to the many enormous windows.

But the real show begins when you begin adjusting with the supremely configurable rear seats, which Honda calls its 'Magic Seats.' You can flip up the bottom cushions for a tall, narrow space or fold them flat to the floor. The latter creates 53 cubic feet of cargo room that's almost entirely unimpeded by wheel wells or other obstructions. Just about anything you can imagine can fit into the Fit.

The rear seats are sufficiently light to make all of this folding and flipping relatively easy, and they are very well padded to make the back row comfortable for passengers. After nearly a decade, the interior design of the Fit, with its supremely configurable and roomy interior is still a pleasant surprise- as much so as it is fun to play around with.

Technology

A 7.0-inch screen is standard on three of the Honda Fit's trim levels. Certain features, like the Pandora integration, Honda's own LaneWatch side-camera blind spot mitigation system, and the text message integration are only offered with the larger touchscreen trim level.

Performance

No matter which trim level you prefer, the Fit has one of the most powerful engines in its class. Its 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine delivers 130 horsepower and 114-pound feet of torque. It goes from zero to 60 in 8.5 seconds. And the CVT-equipped Fit easily beats all of the automatic subcompact competition- even the feisty Ford Fiesta (8.6 seconds), the Nissan Versa Note (9.8 seconds), the Scion iA (9.0 seconds), and the Toyota Yaris (10.1 seconds). That comparative quickness does not cost you in the area of fuel economy, either. The Fit, at 33 mpg, was more fuel efficient than any of its subcompact rivals except for the underpowered Scion- which really does not compare in any other regard.

Safety

The Fit cannot be optioned with any active-safety features like the forward-collision warning and blind-spot warning and which are becoming standard on vehicles in all classes. Nevertheless, it has earned a 5 star Overall NHTSA safety rating for all of the standard side, front, and rear impact tests.