December 2006
Fitting in
Budget cars: The Honda Fit leads a new generation of thrifty little cars
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 Honda Fit |
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| Hyundai Accent |
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| Kia Rio |
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| Nissan Versa |
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| Toyota Yaris Photos by Tracey Kroll |
The gap is now being filled by a new crop of tiny cars such as the Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris (the Echo’s successor), which are about 20 inches shorter than the Civic and Corolla. As a group, these cars provide fuel economy that’s second to only a few diesels and hybrids.
We tested the 2007 Fit, Yaris, and Nissan Versa, along with the redesigns of the Hyundai Accent and Kia Rio (all available to subscribers).
For this test, we bought two versions of each car: a less-expensive manual hatchback and a better-equipped automatic sedan. Prices ranged from $12,569 for the Yaris hatchback to $16,675 for the Versa with a continuously variable transmission (CVT).
We also tested a Ford Focus ZX3(available to subscribers). Recent incentives have lowered the price of this bigger hatchback to near that of the cheaper ones here.
All of the cars had standard side-curtain air bags, except for the Yaris, which has them as an option, and the Focus, which doesn’t offer them.
The Honda Fit Sport manual hatchback achieved the highest rating among all the budget cars we’ve tested, and the base model with automatic was second to the Versa.
The Fit is agile and fun to drive. Locating the fuel tank far forward frees up a lot of space for rear seating and luggage. It’s equipped with standard antilock brakes and power accessories. The Fit got an impressive 34 mpg overall with a manual and 32 mpg overall with an automatic.
The new Nissan Versa has a spacious interior and quiet ride, and is remarkably roomy. The base car has a six-speed manual transmission, which is unusual in this class. Fuel economy was good at 29 mpg overall for the manual and 28 mpg for the CVT version. We optioned out the manual Versa 1.8 S with power windows and locks, and remote keyless entry. The 1.8 SL got the optional CVT and ABS, but ABS was difficult to find.
The Accent and Rio share the same platform, and they mainly differ in styling and equipment levels. Both are pleasant to drive, with a compliant ride, secure but not agile handling, and a relatively quiet cabin. Fuel economy was similar, at 30 mpg for the base Accent GS and the Rio 5 manuals and 28 mpg for the automatic versions of both.
Options that came on the Accent GS hatchback included air conditioning and power windows, locks, and mirrors. We added only air conditioning to the GLS sedan. ABS was standard for 2006 but is now optional for 2007.
We added no options to the manual Kia Rio 5 SX hatchback but outfitted the automatic Rio LX sedan with ABS and power windows, locks, and mirrors.
The manual, two-door hatchback Yaris was the least-expensive car here. It tied the Honda Fit with an excellent 34 mpg overall. Both Yarises have a good ride, but when pushed to their handling limits, their tails tended to slide easily. Our Yaris sedan had many more amenities than the hatchback.
We added an upgraded audio system and 15-inch wheels to the hatchback, and added all these plus ABS and cruise control to the sedan.
Other than the Fit, antilock brakes are optional on all of these cars. We strongly recommend buying ABS as braking distances in all versions without ABS were long. None of these cars offers electronic stability control.
