Test drove Rio5, Fit, and Yaris all today

[2+2]

I drove a Fit and a Yaris today. The Fit was an automatic and the Yaris a manual. The Yaris was much more fun to drive. Of course I plan on going back to the Honda dealer and asking to drive a manual so I'll have an apples/apples comparison.

I thought the Fit's dashboard including radio was much better. Higher quality and more user friendly. I thought the Fit's handling was a letdown. Taking an expressway entrance ramp really let me down. At the time I blamed the steering but everyone else blames the body roll and maybe they're right. All I know is that I felt the need to slow down more than I thought I should have had to at the apex of the curve leading to the expressway.

The Yaris seemed a lot more willing to have some fun entering the highway. This entrance ramp was a little steeper and still the Yaris seemed to have plenty of spunk and cornered nicely.

The Yaris has a less-is-more feel that I like and I love the short throw shifter. The Fit has the very cool USB port for the radio that would be awesome but the car feels to me like it's trying too hard (but with cheap materials).

Gotta try the Fit with the manual. If it's got a feel that compares with the Yaris it's going to be a tough call. But then the Yaris is cheaper...

Love lurking on the forum!

[roxy1]

Originally Posted by 2+2

I drove a Fit and a Yaris today. The Fit was an automatic and the Yaris a manual. The Yaris was much more fun to drive. Of course I plan on going back to the Honda dealer and asking to drive a manual so I'll have an apples/apples comparison.!

the fit manual is more fun to drive than the auto, but the gearing in the fit manual is LUDICROUS. while the yaris manual is somewhere around 3000 rpm's at 70 mph, the fit is closer to 3400-3450 and you can really feel it and hear it. it ruined the experience for me and is what led me back to the yaris since i was determined to drive a manual.