GOOD-BYE YARIS, HELLO FIT!

[YarTrek]

Originally Posted by Road and Track
On '08 "Subcompacts"

Even though these are economy cars, you still care about power, right? Well, not too much, we hope, because none of them is going to press you into the back of the seat with thrilling acceleration. The Fit and Yaris get their drive from tidy 1.5-liter 4-cylinders, but don't think these are low-tech pieces: the Fit makes its 109 bhp and 105 lb.-ft. of torque from a VTEC-equipped all-aluminum 16-valve sohc engine. The Yaris counters with double-overhead cams and VVT-i to make 106 bhp and 103 lb.-ft., its torque peak at a lower 4200 rpm vs. the Fit's 4800. The Versa does them one better, going the big-displacement route with its 1.8-liter dohc aluminum 16-valve 4-cylinder making 122 bhp and 127 lb.-ft. of torque, the latter at 4800 rpm.

At our test track, the Yaris flat-out smoked the other two to 60 mph, taking 8.5 seconds against the Fit's 9.0 and the Versa's 9.1. Aside from its obvious lack-of-weight advantage (it weighs only 2295 lb.!), that quick time was achieved because the gearing of the Yaris' 5-speed manual transmission allowed it to hold 2nd gear to 60 mph, while the 6-speed Versa and shorter-geared 5-speed Fit required shifts to 3rd. Things start to even out by the quarter mile, and by the time these cars hit 100 (wait for it'and then wait some more), the Versa edges ahead with a 25.5-sec. run, beating the Yaris by 0.2 sec. and the Fit, which feels dead-slow at that speed, by 2.1 sec. Although none of them will set your hair on fire with speed, all three are quicker than the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid, Scion xB and Volkswagen Jetta 2.5.

My question: Does the '09 Fit actually accelerate better than the '08 Fit?