New Honda Fit gets navigation

The 2009 Honda Fit debuts at the New York auto show.

(Credit: CNET Networks/Sarah Tew)

At the 2008 New York auto show, Honda showed off its updated 2009 Honda Fit, the small car originally introduced to the U.S. market as a 2007 model. When we reviewed the 2008 Honda Fit, we lamented the lack of any interesting cabin electronics. The 2009 model addresses this complaint by making Honda's voice-recognition navigation system available, a system we've previously seen, and been impressed by, in the Honda Civic Si. The voice-recognition system lets you control the car's navigation, audio system, and other car functions with spoken commands. Honda also says that the new Fit will include a USB port that will let users plug in iPods or USB thumbdrives, a feature not currently available in other Honda models.

Honda offers a navigation-equipped Fit for 2009.

(Credit: CNET Networks/Sarah Tew)

The new Honda Fit also includes an updated 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine, an improved suspension, and refined interior functionality, improving on the configurability of the cabin for storage or passengers. Honda hasn't announced pricing for the navigation-equipped Fit, but the company managed to keep the option down to about $1,800 on the Honda Civic Si. The Fit will certainly qualify as the least expensive car to offer a navigation option.

Click here for more 2008 New York auto show coverage.

[one80oneday]

Come on! We need a honda fit hybrid already. The insight engine already fits! [e-mail]

[djSyndrome]

"The Fit will certainly qualify as the least expensive car to offer a navigation option."<br /><br />Maybe, but not likely. In true Honda fashion, the Nav system will likely only be available on the top-end version. On the 2008 Fit, that's the Sport model, which starts at $15,935. The Scion xD offers a nav system as well, and it starts at only $15,170.

[dlauber]

I guess I was among the very first to buy a Fit in April 2006. And like most Fit buyers, I don't give a hoot about a navigation system or the fancy electronics about which your writers obsess.<br /><br />What I do care about is gas mileage and emissions. The Fit is an ideal car for a hybrid model -- it has the room to accommodate the batteries and still have a ton of storage space! If Honda's executives really cared about gas mileage, it would produce a hybrid Fit in 2009. (P.S. Our other car is a 2001 Honda Insight, a true hybrid that gets 60-70 mpg on the highway and has gotten 45.3 mpg for the life of the car -- we do a lot of city driving)..

[dlauber]

I guess I was among the very first to buy a Fit in April 2006. And like most Fit buyers, I don't give a hoot about a navigation system or the fancy electronics about which your writers obsess.<br /><br />What I do care about is gas mileage and emissions. The Fit is an ideal car for a hybrid model -- it has the room to accommodate the batteries and still have a ton of storage space! If Honda's executives really cared about gas mileage, it would produce a hybrid Fit in 2009. (P.S. Our other car is a 2001 Honda Insight, a true hybrid that gets 60-70 mpg on the highway and has gotten 45.3 mpg for the life of the car -- we do a lot of city driving)..

[Scopip]

Sorry to break it to you, but your not exactly first when the car was already introduced and highly successful in Japan in 2001.

[AppleSuxLeo]

A nav unit deserves an article ? You can buy your own better one for a lot less . Honda should offer you free burial services for the little Casket On Wheels.

[Scopip]

Isn't there something wrong when a standard Civic Si is going to cost the same as a Fit with Navi?

[eeee]

Whoopee! $350 buys you a Garmin or Tom Tom; yes I agree that a $1800 Nav option is no need to create an article. <br />--Years ago I got a used 1978 Ford Fiesta (weighed about 1,900 pounds; built in Germany, had 88,000 miles when I got it) with NO power anything just so I could learn to drive a manual transmission. 12" wheels; no AC, I put in AM FM Cassette and drove it for 5 years; excellent in the snow with FWD. Got routine 35 mpg all the time with a 1.6 FORD of England 4 cyclinder; had an Italian Weber carburetor; I just put brake pads and tires and replaced the spark plugs myself. <br />---Point being: I wanted to have a VERY economical car to drive for commuting to work when my income was much less. <br />---Same now: people looking to buy cheap transportation WILL NOT fork over $1800 for a Navigation system.

[Bootlegged]

please note that the $1800.00 doesn't just provide you with voice navigation information only. It also allows you to control your AC, radio, and cd player with just the sound of your voice allowing the driver to focus more on the road. In addition to those safety features that I don't think a Garmin or Tom Tom would allow are rear view camera capabilities for driving in reverse and the ability to watch tv or movies on the LCD screen that is fully integrated into the dash giving off a clean and "techy" appearance unlike a third party nav system that sits awkwardly somewhere on the dash with unsightly wires hanging out.

[eeee]

Hi Bootlegged: <br />So $1,800 includes those features; (an SUV needa a rear view camera; is the rear visibility so bad in the Fit that it needs a camera?) my point is that a buyer of cheap transportation, who wants great gas mileage to SAVE money, WONT be spending $1,800 on such an item. A driver who wants to save will skip an automatic also since it means more money kept in the wallet and can handle adjusting the radio or the AC while driving.

[dahbeebee]

I couldn't agree more about making a hybrid option for the new and improved Fit. I understand Honda's new, Prius-inspired approach to the global hybrid-only model, but if they continue w/ the Civic hybrid, I don't understand why they wouldn't offer a hybrid option on the Fit. Toyota offers a hybrid option on several models - Highlander, Camry, Lexus RX. I would buy a hybrid Fit in a minute. And, if it was a manual, I would buy it in a nanosecond.... C''mon Honda - there's a market for it. And, a big one.