I was hoping to have had a bit more wheel time with the '07 Fit prior to writing this portion of the article, because most of the time I had behind the wheel in January was spent either A) in excruciating 0-3mph bumper-to-bumper Santa Monica construction traffic, or B) stuck behind very slow moving traffic on the surrounding canyon roads. So far I haven't had another opportunity to drive the Fit yet, so rather than waiting any longer, I'll share my observations to this point.

Ride/Handling
Honda prides itself on engineering fun-to-drive vehicles, and the Fit does not disappoint. Turn in from the electrically-assisted power steering system is brisk and the most responsive of the group on hand, and the car exhibits great transient response. Body lean is moderate and you'll notice some dive under braking, but overall these motions are managed well by the springs and dampers. Grip from the 195-section tires is reasonably good, and up until you reach the limits of lateral grip, the car exhibits mild understeer. The limits are high enough to support spirited driving modes, but when you start really hammering the car you will discover that the Fit does indeed adhere to the laws of physics - understeer becomes quite pronounced at the limits. Those of you who were hoping for a modern day CRX Si or EF Civic Si successor may be a bit disappointed, but on the other hand, the Fit is certainly the athlete of its competitive set. While I haven't been able to try a Yaris or Versa yet, in terms of handling, the Fit runs circles around the Aveo and xA that we had available for direct comparison, particularly in terms of steering response. Regarding ride quality, the Fit is certainly stiffer than the competitors, particularly the Aveo (which is bafflingly floaty), but if you're like me and prefer a controlled ride along with a tacit understanding of the road surface, the Fit's tuning should be to your liking. Thanks to its relatively long wheelbase, the Fit delivers a level of composure that contributes to the sensation that you're driving a more expensive, larger vehicle.

Engine
Across the globe, the Fit is offered with several different drivetrain options, ranging from 1.2 to 1.5L. For the US market it was determined that the largest, most powerful version would make the most sense, so that's what we got. Displacing 1497 cc, this SOHC VTEC L15 motor develops 109hp at 5800 rpm and 105lb-ft of torque at 4800 rpm. These figures may sound similar to the Civic's former D15 motor, but the L15 is a completely different design. As the numbers suggest, the L15 is designed with an emphasis on driveability, low emissions, and torque rather than all-out peak horsepower. With its rather undersquare design (73.0mm bore and 89.4mm stroke), you can see that this motor isn't built for max rev capacity - it seems a little odd to look at the dash and see the tach redlined at a casual 6500 rpms. The L15 delivers adequate grunt during everyday driving and motivates the car with decent verve. Despite the fact that the L15 uses the simplified two-rocker implemenation of VTEC, there's still a tiny bit of a "kick" that can be felt at around 5000 rpms, though it's not really directly related to the actual VTEC operation. The main function of VTEC in this implementation is to promote swirl and enhance combustion at lower rpms. To achieve this, VTEC is used to engage/disengage one of the two intake valves. Unlike high performance VTEC implementations, there is only a single profile on the camshaft - the only thing that changes is whether or not the 2nd intake valve is operating. At lower rpms, the secondary intake valve is disengaged, a situation which generates additional velocity and swirl for the intake charge. At around 3400 rpms (depending upon conditions), the VTEC spool valve engages a locking pin, which couples the second intake rocker arm to the primary follower, bringing the secondary intake valve into action, which allows the combustion chamber to gulp more mixture. The end result is a motor that in normal operating ranges feels very similar to the other motors in its class, but where the other motors begin to struggle at higher rpms, the Fit happily revs to its 6500 rpm redline. I must note, however, that the L15 tends to get a little buzzy at the upper reaches of the tach, but not excessively so. In the normal rev ranges, refinement is pretty good - it's noticeably better than the Scion's somewhat thrashy 1.5L unit and perhaps a notch or two better than the Aveo's 1.6L motor, which is surprisingly competent.

The DBW Word
We've gotten to the point around here that we cringe when we hear the three letters "D", "B", and "W". We can't quite figure out why Honda (and other automakers) can't consistently deliver on the promises of "enhanced throttle response" and whatever other magic drive by wire (electronic throttle) is supposed to bring. In some cases, we've found the system to be infuriatingly slow to respond to inputs from the gas pedal. In other cases, it truly is transparent. We just wish it was ALWAYS like that. Fortunately, in the case of the Fit, the responsiveness seems to be pretty good. Whether it's fully transparent or not will have to be determined with a bit more time behind the wheel, but I do know that it's pretty good. It's certainly much more responsive than the Aveo's, which was amusing because not only did it have a noticeable throttle lag, but the tachometer itself added to the confusion with an additional lag. Driving it was a bit like the automotive equivalent of watching an overdubbed kung fu movie - what you're hearing and what you're seeing just doesn't seem to be connected at all.

Transmission
We might need to put a star on this article somewhere because with the 2007 Fit a new precedent has been set. I'm saying this because for the first time ever in a Honda or Acura model, I actually prefer and recommend the automatic transmission to the 5-speed manual. While I was vexed by the pedal box layout, that wasn't the entire reason for this. The 5MT shifts and operates with typical Honda precision and feel, but I found myself at odds with the gear ratios. They just aren't a good match to the engine's output characteristics and though I didn't do any timed 0-60 runs on the car, the 5MTs ratios seemed to hurt the car's chances in that sprint, particularly if you're trying to sprint away from a light while climbing a grade. 1st gear is barely good for 30mph. Then when you upshift into 2nd, the revs fall off to around 3600rpms, and there you encounter a pronounced lull until the motor sparks back up at around 5000 rpms. You again run out of revs at 55mph and are forced to shift into 3rd. Fortunately the spacing between 2nd and 3rd is quite a bit tighter so the 4700 rpm uptake is more satisfying here, but the time lost in the soft spot following the 1-2 shift can't be recovered. I think things would improve if first gear on the 5MT was about 10% taller.

With the Fit's 5-speed automatic, things feel much better in the 0-60 sprint. The car launches confidently and the tach needle sweeps smoothly up to the 6500 rpm shift point. 1st gear is good for nearly 35mph, and 2nd gear carries you to just beyond 60mph. From a strictly mathematical standpoint, with a 2nd gear uptake of around 3800 rpms, the drop in revs between first and second gear on the 5AT is only slightly less than that of the 5MT model, but one benefit of having a torque converter is that the actual drop in revs is considerably less between gears, and the Fit uses this well to its advantage. Again, we haven't performed any instrumented tests between the 5AT and 5MT Fits, but in real world circumstances the 5AT model I drove actually felt peppier than the 5MT to me. Whether you choose to run the 5AT in the manual sport mode or let it shift for itself, the shifts are quick and confident, and this is probably the best implementation of Honda's sportshift yet. I see it as almost a gimmick on most of the other models, but the Fit's enhanced implementation suits it well. In addition to the normal "Sport" mode, where the transmission reacts faithfully and promptly to the inputs from the "+" and "-" paddles, in regular "D" mode you can actually call for a quick downshift via the paddles, without having to bump the lever over into "S". Once you finish your business, the transmission's logic takes over once again and returns the car to "D" mode, automatically shifting back to the most efficient gear. This may not sound like much of a breakthrough, but it gives you another level of transmission control without too much fuss, and it works great. Fundamentally I am still somewhat anti-AT, but if automakers keep making them as good as they're starting to (I've recently driven 6ATs from some other automakers that have been quite impressive as well), I'm going to be forced to start rethinking that position.