Video: 2009 Honda Fit

It's a small car, relatively affordable. The one that's out right now, we've been pretty fond of. It's a high quality car, very efficient. It's done well in that regard. The only shortcomings that I've heard from people are it's not quite as large as they'd like, especially compared to the Nissan Versa, which is a big competitor. The new Fit looks very similar, but it actually has a longer nose to a deep front, and the a-pillars here have been moved forward several inches, which give you more interior room. It's also created this kind of peculiar window stretching in front of the front door look, but that serves a purpose. Now, the windows help with visibility. Whenever the pillars are further forward like this, as they are in the Honda Civic as well, you get a little bit more obstruction to your forward view. Even though this is a subcompact, I fit fine at six feet tall. It was the case with the previous one. Headroom, several inches to spare. Unfortunately, a seat height adjustment is not available, but the car sits actually pretty high for a small car, and the dashboard is low. The window sills are low. So you can basically see pretty well. The quality is good. No great inroads over the previous generation, but we always thought that the previous generation was pretty high quality to begin with, so there wasn't that much room for improvement. Now the wheelbase has been extended a few inches, which has added leg room, which was needed here in the back seat. The driver's seat is back all the way and reclined a bit, but I'm still all right at six feet tall. My knees aren't raised too, too much. I'd say overall it's pretty comfortable. Now there are head restraints, three for each seat here, and they come down, but they don't have to be removed for what Honda's calling the dive-down seat. Basically, the point is it folds down in one motion without moving the front seat even when the front seat's all the way back, which is good. Also, what you don't often see is the bottom cushion comes up. This is the kind of thing you might've seen in something like the back seat of a pickup truck. It gives you a very tall space here to store things and a little added extra here. There's a little storage compartment here in the cushion. And finally the cargo hatch. It's a good deal bigger, actually quite roomy. It's partly because of the size. It's a little bit boxy, and what that ends up doing is giving you a lot more interior space than if it were curved. Now the wheels have grown an inch. They used to be 14 and 15 inches. Now the base ones are 15 inches, and this is a Fit Sport, so these are 16-inch alloy wheels. A little disappointed that the brakes in the back here are not discs. They're still drums, but that's common for this segment. Overall, though, the car looks good. It'll probably do well. The Fit has been successful because of its quality and its size and its efficiency. What we're not sure about is how well it will do in terms of price. The price will probably stay the same. A lot of the competition is priced lower. <v Announcer>For additional information on this car, or any other, go to cars.com and our blog KickingTires.