It's come down to these two cars for me... with the P.T. Cruiser in the "corner of my eye" third place. The Cruiser's fuel economy blows, but the car is absolutely gorgeous inside and out... though the plastics are cheap, they're no worse than the egg carton stuff in the xA and xB...!

Anyway...

The FIT

The FIT blows away the xA in some very key areas. The most dramatic victories are in are the interior space, the gauges and the shifter. The Magic Seats are awesome and the cargo area is like twice the xA's, but the car is only slightly longer. The gauges are in the traditional space and the superilluminescent lighting makes the xA's look outdated easily. The shift action is amazing, but most Honda manuals are to begin with... gear linkage is smooth as hell. The HVAC controls on the FIT are also much better damped and operate smoother. You can feel that the FIT's dash material is the same as the xA's, but it's darker and feels more substantial. I pressed on the xA dash and it depressed. Oh, and the sound system is much better. I find the Pioneer units to be too bassy and the treble too tinny.

The XA

That's not to say that the FIT owns the xA completely... The xA is far better looking than the FIT. The FIT is strange... sometimes it looks really sweet and other times, downright ugly. The xA is hot all the time. xA has way better seat materials... they look and feel much more rugged and the contours are far more suportive. The FIT seats are cheapish, ugly and have that type of cloth where if you run a finger across it, it will tend to "shadow," giving it a dirty look. xA loses the most points with the dash material... it simply looks and feels TOO cheap... I'm **** retentive... but it's a good thing when it comes to cars. I keep my car in showroom condition! I don't mind center gauges (rented an xA for 3 days back in 2005), but wish they would black it out completely and use either red numbers with a blue needle or vice versa like Veedubs.

I test drove both. No question that the FIT drives and handles much better. The FIT is more practical, has better materials, but is also difficult to stomach at times. That's the weird thing about Hondas... New Civic is sinfully ugly in pictures, but in person, quite beautiful. But the FIT is sweet and ugly. The xA has looks and um, a cheaper price tag. But let's be honest here... looks are VERY IMPORTANT and the xA has it in spades over the FIT. But I'm thinking of going with the xA because the FIT manual is done till September.

I will be ultra ____ed if the Toyota Ractis ends up being a 2007 xA replacement! Lovethe

 

ok let me help ya again. lets start with the inside. u said the hvac controls on teh xA were too stiff well its because there machinacal, and dont get me wrong that's way better thant he eletrical power ones that they have on most cars which stick after 40K milles and its 600 dollers to fix. happened in my 03 civic and in my 95 taurus. the fit isany very avlable yet but itll become dime a dozen because alot of soccer moms want there honda odysee but dont want to look like a soccer mom. and belive me the fit is a baby odysee drive n both saidly enough thats how i feel about it. as far as your sound system problems with the xA, there are tonz of options with the pioneer system if u want mro ehighs and less lows. go with the tC setting and -1 on bass and +2 on treble. sounds great for strings and acustical music's. i used to not like the xA's dash but now i love it. IT DOSENT REFLECT THE SUN. i hate it when im driving and the dashboatrd reflectrs the sun onto the window making it hard to see. well with the "egg carton" dashboard that problem is gone. and the xA will be a much more rare of a car than the fit everyone and there wife will have a fit. and my last point the money u save on buying the xA u can spend makking it handle and perform better than the honda fit.

hope that helps. if u got mroe questions or some on what i said feel free to ask.

 

IMO, the Vitz RS 5 door decimates the Fit. Too bad Toyota only brought over the 3 door, with limited options.

I really love my xA, but there are a few interior design issues that need to be fixed.

For the front passenger, there is not enough leg room, but the driver has plenty. How does that happen? The glove box extends close to the floor, with this useless, stupid plastic tray to hold stuff at the bottom. It impedes leg room and keeps the passenger from stretching his/her legs out. Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb.

We need rear seats that can slide forward and backward, as most euro/asian hatchbacks offer.

Our dash is fairly dated. Even newer Hyundai's will rack up more style points. The Kia Spectra5 almost looks better!

Exterior design: the xA dominates all.

Reliability: this is why I chose the xA. I have complete and utter faith in Toyota. I've owned many Toyota cars, as has my family, and we've never experienced any problems whatsoever. The only reason I shy away from Honda is because in major metropolitan areas, they are usualy a higher theft target. That, and from Honda's that we've owned, the interior fabrics tend to fray easily.

We've also encountered massive problems with our Honda V6 Auto tranny. . . which has been known to have problems.

In all honesty though, I'd rather take a Yaris 4 door than a Fit. That or I'd pony up for a Civic.

 

The Fit is only really worth it if you get the Sport model. After tax & license, my girl's Fit Sport Auto was over $18k. And she didn't pay the $1,500 mark-up that the dealer tried adding to the sticker.

I love her car, and if it were up to me, I'd take her Fit over an xA.... However, I didn't pay for. If it was MY money, I'd pass on the Fit. A little too overpriced IMO. Once you get into that price range you can look into cars with more power/options.

The Base Fit is closer to the xA and Yaris in terms of price. And the Base Fit looks like azz with no bodykit, no wing, and no foglights. The base radio doesn't even play mp3s. There's more, but I can't think of everything right now, I just know you lose a lot of features when you step down to the base model.

-THE DON

 

According to sources on SL, the xA RS3.0 color code is 8T4...available on the Ractis.

 

Personally, I like the styling of the Xa over the fit. Dash materials on the Xa ehh.. I could live with it. I always buy a dashmat cover for all my cars.
On the FIT body styling I don't really care for it..

 

I agree the Fit doesn't look near as good as the xA. That's the only thing I don't like about it. It does have more cargo area. Both the Fit and the xA may be economy cars, but at least the xA doesn't just look like an econo hatch.

Is the manual in the xA really that bad. The original poster implied the Fit's manual transmission is much better.

 

ui have 2K on my car now an dthe trany is like cuttin butter iwth a knife its g reat

 

A good friend of mine just bought a base model fit. Besides the aero and lack of MP3 playing.. I'm not sure there is a big enough difference.

As a matter of fact.. here are the differences laid out on honda's site.

http://automobiles.honda.com/models/...?ModelName=Fit


I will have to agree however.. if you like the Aero, I'd buy the sport. Only a $1000 more really. And you get fogs and the better radio.

 

I bought my xA for $14k all up, then tossed $3k at it in the way of suspension (springs/shocks/antiroll bars, etc) wheels, tires, tint, fogs, spoiler, etc, and now it handles infinitely better than in stock trim, looks way better, and I am completely happy except for a) the dreadfully weak paint, and b) it's a FWD with no LSD.

I've no comparitive experience with the Fit (so take anything I say as just an opinion) other than to agree with what's been said above about how it looks pretty ugly without the body kit, but in my experience the xA can be made to drive really nicely with some quick cheap suspension work, and it already looks great with no help needed (other than lowering), and the manual shifter feels really smooth and nice to me (and I'm picky in that department).

the xA makes a really fun nimble and useable daily driver - says someone who has a corvette Z06 for a weekend autocrossing car.

 

Dude... I live in Boston! Do you mind if I ask how much you pay for insurance? I got quoted 4K for a GTI and $2,200 for an xA... and I'm a step 11 driver.

 

I'm a step 9, in Wellesley - with a $1000 deductable (probably a stupid idea, but it sure reduces the insurance cost) - and pay $700/y for my '06 xA. But then again, my '03 Z06 is only $750! (can you explain how a 400+ hp $40k+ sports car only costs $50 per year more to insure than a 100hp $14k xA? I can't)

$4k for a GTI? wow. no wonder you didn't go that route. But damn, $2.2k for an xA???? There's probably only 300-500 difference from step 11 to 9, I'd guess the rest of that difference is location (wellesley's considered a nice safe area, so the insurance is low), and the options you choose (deductable, etc).

If you want to check out an xA that's had a little suspension work done to compare against the stock xA or Fit, just let me know

 

Dude! Lemmie register my address at your place! LOL, jk! Yeah, Boston rates are absolutely f-cking ridonkulous. Yeah, I'd love to check out your xA! Where do you hang out on the weekends? Jillian's? Lansdowne?

 

Ahh the Aveo is better. ( SMASH ) Hahaha! I saw one yesterday. He thinks he's even close to my xA Hell no Aveos suck and one more thing DAEWOO made it DAEWOO! ugh!

 

We test drove the Fit before we bought our xA last week. To be honest, the Fit I drove ($17.7k, btw) seemed a bit more "upscale" than the xA. I think that has more to do with the fact that it is a newer model compared to the "freshend-up for '06 xA.

My wife didn't like the low seating position of the Fit (she's 5'7"). She also didn't like the Velor-like fabric on the seats.

I on the other hand, really liked the Fit (Sport). The flexible seating, aero package and dash layout/design is very nice.

I don't know how sales are in other areas for the Fit, but here in Maryland they simply aren't available unless you order one. We were told that we would not see our order before mid August to early September. Also, MRSP seems to be the lowest price the dealers are willing to go if you can get that!

Finally, we looked at the crash test ratings. The Fit did well in every category except rear passengers side impact. While it rated 4 stars, that was with side impact air bags. The xA on the other hand rated 4 stars for both front and rear, however, the test vehicle was not equipped with side impact air bags.

We bought the xA with side impact air bags. My wife was very concerned the kids in the rear when we are in the xA and not in our 2004 Sienna.

Having said that, I'm considering selling my A4 and buying a Fit when inventory begins to grow, and dealers are ready to deal.