2012 Honda Fit Sport review: 2012 Honda Fit Sport

Not much has changed in the Honda Fit since its North American debut in 2006. Sure, it got a styling upgrade and a slight bump in interior volume in 2008, but all along it's been the same little compact powered by the same 1.5-liter engine. But is that a bad thing? In a time where the 2012 Civic is larger than a '90s vintage Accord and the current Accord is bigger than a Cadillac, could it be that the aging Honda Fit Sport is, in the words of my Twitter follower, the last "true Honda"? Does it harken back to a time where Hondas were compact and efficient, simple and easy to live with, and most importantly, fun to drive?

5.8

2012 Honda Fit Sport

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The Good

The <b>2012 Honda Fit Sport</b> is an eager and responsive hatchback that delivers driving grins. The flexible second-row Magic Seat folds flat to accomodate long items and flips up for tall ones.

The Bad

The Fit's cabin tech offerings, while checking the right boxes, are terribly outdated compared with those of competing models.

The Bottom Line

The 2012 Honda Fit Sport shows the model has aged gracefully, providing handling and performance among the best in its class. The same can't be said for its outdated cabin tech options.

I grabbed the keys to a fully loaded Blue Raspberry Metallic 2012 Honda Fit Sport with Navigation and hit the road to find out.

What's good? Classic Honda performance
Under the Fit's abbreviated hood spins the same 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine that's motivated the small Honda since its debut in 2008. Output is rated at a modest 117 horsepower and 106 pound-feet of torque, with most of that power residing in the upper reaches of the tachometer. The Fit's engine is surprisingly small in the engine bay where it sits exposed, without the plastic shrouding and engine covers that automakers have taken to using to reduce engine noise and make things look tidy when you pop the hood.

Small as it may be, this engine is surprisingly loud from behind the wheel and, while I hesitate to call it rough, I was constantly made aware of how much more vibration and sound this engine transmitted into the cabin and through the pedals when compared with, for example, the Hyundai/Kia 1.6-liter engine that motivates the Accent and Rio hatchbacks. Some drivers, myself included, appreciate a car that doesn't hide its engine, and revel in the immediate connection with the eager little 1.5-liter engine as it revs away. However, if you like a quiet and isolated ride from your econobox, you'll want to look elsewhere.

Power leaving the engine eventually makes it to the road through the Fit's front wheels, but before it gets there it must go through the transaxle. The Fit Sport comes standard with a five-speed manual transmission, but if you want any of the cabin tech goodies, you'll be forced to choose the five-speed automatic gearbox. Either way you go, that's one gear short of the current standard of six forward gears, but the Fit's ratios are well-chosen and well-spaced.

Just below the standard PRND positions of the automatic shift lever is an S position for the Sport shift program, which is surprisingly good. In this mode, the Fit is transformed from a competent little grocery-getter into a peppy little pocket rocket that's eager to take advantage of the power available near its 6,800rpm redline. For the Fit, going from D to S is akin to taking a double espresso shot; it just wakes up and comes alive.

The 2012 Honda Fit Sport: King of the hatchback hill (pictures)

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The Sport model also features a manual shift mode actuated with plastic paddle shifters located on the back of the leather-wrapped steering wheel. Here again, the Fit surprises with shifts that are reasonably quick. I also like that, when in Sport mode, the Fit doesn't automatically drop back to manual mode -- it will even bump up against the redline if you forget to slap the paddle -- which makes this mode useful for enthusiastic driving. I still think that I'd prefer the manual gearbox, but the automatic isn't half bad.

Fuel economy is estimated by the EPA at 27 mpg city, 33 mpg highway, and 30 mpg combined. However, under the influence of my leaden foot, we averaged a trip-computer-approximated 26.5 mpg. Even that number surprised me, since I drove in almost exclusively the Sport and Manual modes for my city driving, stepping back up to the standard program for the highway cruising portion of the testing. A less obnoxious driver could certainly do better than my reported average. Indeed, Car Tech Senior Editor Wayne Cunningham averaged about 30 mpg when testing the 2010 Fit Sport, which is by all accounts identical to this 2012 model.

If you've ever lamented the replacement of the small and sporty Honda Civics that made the brand great in the '90s with the large "compact" that bears the moniker these days, lament no more. The Fit is the true spiritual successor of those tossable, flexible Civic hatchbacks of old.

The Fit Sport is upgraded from the non-Sport model with 16-inch wheels over 15-inch steelies with wheel covers, a rear stabilizer bar to go along with the standard front stabilizer bar, and select styling upgrades for a sportier appearance. All Fit models use electronic power steering (EPS), but don't turn up your nose just yet. Honda got it right and the Fit's EPS system is one of the best setups in its price class. Steering is responsive and direct with none of the numbness that plagues other EPS systems.

What's bad? Old-school cabin tech
The Fit's cabin isn't a bad place to be. 360-degree visibility is great thanks to generous glass in the greenhouse. The seating position was also great for my fairly average 5-foot-9 frame. Ergonomics are good, with the steering wheel falling nicely into the hand and the controls for climate system within mere inches of the wheel's rim.

However, the Fit, which was never really a tech juggernaut, continues to fall further and further behind the competition where infotainment is concerned.

Even without the optional navigation system, the Sport trim level adds two tweeters to the standard four-speaker, 160-watt audio rig. Not that it matters much; the system is still plagued with audible distortion at even a moderate volume and a weak bottom end. A subwoofer would probably help, but one isn't available.

At this basic level, audio sources include a USB/iPod connection that enables MP3/WMA playback. However, Honda has chosen to put the USB connection pigtail on the passenger wall of the upper glove compartment, which is as far away from the driver as is physically possible while still being located on the dashboard. Plugging in a USB key, even while parked, was a serious reach for me. Any farther away and it'd be outside of the car!

The rest of the standard audio sources include a single-slot CD player that also decodes MP3/WMA, AM/FM radio, and an analog auxiliary input. Missing from this list are a satellite radio option and HD Radio decoding, which you can probably live without.

Our fully loaded Fit Sport came equipped with the Honda Satellite Linked Navigation, an all-in-one option that adds a hard-drive-based navigation system to the dashboard with a touch-screen interface. This system is reasonably fast and features a pretty good voice command system that extends beyond navigation to basic audio controls and hands-free calling. However, the graphics are pixelated, jagged, and simple, and street names are difficult to read on the screen. The system lacks spoken street names while navigating and traffic data of any sort. Obviously, it also lacks any sort of connected features such as Google or Bing destination search.

It's not all bad, the navigation system. This option is the only way to get Bluetooth hands-free calling or A2DP stereo audio streaming in your Fit Sport, but spending $1,780 on a whole navigation system just to be able to make hands-free calls seems a bit, well, silly.

In sum
The 2012 Honda Fit Sport with Navigation is a trim level that gets you pretty much every option outside of all-season floor mats and other dealer-installed trinkets. Pricing is simple here, $19,690 plus a $790 destination charge brings you to our as-tested price of $20,480.

However, I'd recommend that you skip the Navigation trim level, since it's so dated anyway, and use the $1,780 you save to roll your own cabin tech with an aftermarket receiver. Consider the manual gearbox if you want to really have fun with the Fit and save a few bucks ($850, to be exact) on the front end, since forgoing the tech gives you that option, but don't feel bad for choosing the automatic.

Is the Honda Fit a good car? Is it the last of the true Hondas? Yes. However, in the near-decade since the Fit was introduced, the competition has gotten much, much better. Cars like the Kia Rio, Hyundai Accent, and Ford Fiesta blow the Fit out of the water when it comes to dashboard tech, cabin comfort, and fuel economy. Judged against its peers, the Honda Fit's scores in those categories were merely okay, which is reflected in the middling overall score I gave it.