2011 Honda Fit Overview Change Vehicle

This 2011 Honda Fit review explains changes for the model year, provides a summary of the 2011 Fit, and includes Honda Fit safety, reliability, and fuel economy information.

Honda finally decides that safety really should be for everyone, and makes stability control standard on all 2011 Fits. The base model also gains standard equipment, including cruise control, remote keyless entry, and a USB audio interface. Floor mats are standard on the 2011 Fit Sport. Four new colors are available for 2011: Alabaster Silver, Celestial Blue Metallic, Polished Metal Metallic, and Vortex Blue Pearl.

One of the best things about the 2011 Honda Fit is its rear Magic Seat. This multi-talented 60/40-split folding rear seat collapses flat in a single motion, without needing to remove the headrests, expanding cargo space from 20.6 cubic-feet to 57.3 cu-ft. Long items, like surfboards, slide right in to the Fit thanks to a front passenger’s seat that folds in half. Transporting tall items is no problem, because the rear seat bottom flips up so you can carry them in the rear seat foot wells. The Fit is brilliant when it comes to carrying cargo.

For 2011, Honda adds to this super-awesomeness, including a stability control system on all models (finally). Additionally, the base version of the Fit receives new standard features in the form of cruise control, remote keyless entry, and a USB audio interface. These items join the standard four-speaker stereo with CD/MP3/WMA playing capability, auxiliary audio input jack, air conditioning, power mirrors, power door locks, and power windows. Unfortunately, the base Fit still rocks lame-looking 15-inch wheels with plastic wheel covers. But since this model comes in at less than $16,000 with the manual transmission, you’ll have a little budget left over for a set of decent set of aftermarket wheels.

Or you could spend another $1,760 on the snazzy-looking Fit Sport. This model gets 16-inch alloy wheels, fog lights, a rear suspension stabilizer bar, a lower body kit, and a rear roof spoiler. If you buy the optional automatic transmission, paddle shifters are included, mounted on the steering wheel. Exclusive to the Fit Sport is a voice-activated navigation system. Loaded with everything, a Fit Sport slots in at just under $20,000.

A variety of additional options can be added to any Fit, installed by your local Honda dealer. These include a number of high-priced Mugen-branded bits and pieces that do virtually nothing to make the Fit faster or handle better. Spend your money on something else.

There’s not much power to be had in a 2011 Honda Fit. Its 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine produces 117 horsepower at 6,600 rpm and 106 pound-feet of torque at 4,800 rpm, which is adequate for motivating its average 2,550-lb curb weight. Power flows to the front wheels through a standard five-speed manual gearbox or optional five-speed automatic. On the Fit Sport, the automatic includes paddle shifters for manual gear changes.

For maximum fuel economy, the base Fit equipped with the optional automatic is the way to go. According to EPA estimates, this model returns 28 mpg in the city and 35 mpg on the highway. You can save $800 by sticking with the stick shift version, and spend that extra cash over time at the gas pump since the manual provides 27 mpg in the city and 33 mpg on the highway. The Fit Sport with the optional automatic shares the manual transmission’s fuel economy figures. Apparently, paddle shifters suck up extra gas.

Please, join us in a round of applause for Honda. Stability control is standard on all 2011 Honda Fits. Not only that, the Fit is constructed Advanced Compatibility Engineering (ACE), a structural design that deflects crash energy away from occupants in the event of a collision. Antilock brakes with electronic brake-force distribution and six airbags are also standard on every Honda Fit.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is impressed by the Fit’s crashworthiness. It gives the Fit its highest rating of Good in the offset frontal-impact crash test, the side-impact crash test, and the rear impact injury protection assessment. The Fit receives an Acceptable rating for roof crush strength, just missing eligibility for a Top Safety Pick rating.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has changed the way that it conducts crash tests for 2011. The new procedures are designed to raise the threshold for safety, encouraging automakers to design and build even safer automobiles. The 2011 Honda Fit has not been tested using the new parameters as this review was written.

Safety is strong point with the 2011 Honda Fit, and so is reliability. J.D. Power and Associates and Consumer Reports both predict that long-term dependability will be much better than average.

Lots of people think that a small car like the 2011 Honda Fit just won’t work with their lifestyle. They have friends or family to transport, stuff like surfboards and mountain bikes to carry, and want to be able to go faster than Grandma on the freeway. We’re here to tell you that the Honda Fit can do all of that, and more.

We spent a week with a Honda Fit Sport. It had navigation and an automatic transmission, two things we could live without, which would save $2,400 and 95 pounds of weight. Our test driver put his family of four aboard, the kids in forward- and reverse-facing child safety seats, with no problem. And the trunk swallowed a full-size stroller with greater ease than the much bigger Accord Crosstour, leaving plenty of room for diaper bags, backpacks, grocery sacks, and other stuff.

Granted, we didn’t carry a surfboard or mountain bike inside the Fit, but if we wanted to, we could have thanks to the folding front passenger’s seat (surfboard) and the flip-up rear seat cushion (mountain bike, front wheel removed). In terms of people and inanimate objects, you will be amazed by what fits inside a Fit.

As for the driving experience, the Fit will do 80 mph with a full load of passengers, no problem. Even in hilly terrain. And because it is so light, the car is exceptionally nimble, zooming around corners and zipping into parking spaces with ease. You will giggle when driving this car. Unless you’re accelerating. There’s nothing amusing about the Fit’s reluctance to gather speed, though it does present a special kind of driving challenge if you’re into that kind of thing. Guess what? The Fit Sport automatic’s paddle shifters actually seem to help in this regard. We flogged the Fit pretty much everywhere we drove it to exploit what we could of its meager power, and extracted 30.3 mpg in a mix of city, suburban, and highway driving.

While we’d like to see a turbocharged Fit join the lineup, especially for residents of high-altitude regions like Denver and Salt Lake City, this little car is terrifically fun, impressively multi-talented, and possesses an endearing personality. You can’t help but love it.

You may have noticed that we’re big fans of the 2011 Honda Fit. Now that Honda has made stability control standard on all models, and with the base Fit adding extra features that used to be exclusive to the Fit Sport, we’re even more eager to recommend this fun, functional, fuel-efficient, safe, and dependable little car.

By Christian Wardlaw