2007 Honda Fit Article at Automotive.com

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2007 Honda Fit vs 2007 Nissan Versa vs 2007 Toyota Yaris

Below is an enthusiast article written by the automotive experts at Motor Trend. The 2007 Honda Fit is a five-door that slots into the American lineup below the Civic. The 2007 Nissan Versa is a more powerful version of the Tiida hatchback. Like the others, the 2007 Toyota Yaris has already been on sale in Europe and Japan.

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Value Rating

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LEARN WHY

IntelliChoice Value Rating

The chart above shows the purchase price versus ownership cost for each car from a specific vehicle class. The cars with better than average ownership cost/purchase price correlations are the best values, and these best value cars are represented by the dots below the curve. (i.e. the cars that have a lower ownership cost compared to its purchase price.) Those cars, which are worse than average or poor values, appear above the curve.

One way to view the graph is to draw a vertical line through any purchase price. You may see several dots that fall on this line - each of which is a car with a similar purchase price. However, notice the difference in ownership costs of each car represented by the vertical position of the dot. Two cars with the same purchase price can have thousands of dollars difference in ownership costs. This is what separates "good value" cars from "poor value" cars.

What is a good car value?

A "good car value" is one whose cost to own and operate is less than expected. The lower the cost to own and operate a car compared to what is expected, the better the value of that car.

But how do we know a car's "expected cost"?

For each car in the class, IntelliChoice plots the car's purchase price against the total five-year cost to own and operate it as determined by IntelliChoice research. Each dot on the above chart represents a specific car. Generally, we find that as the purchase price of the car increases, the cost to own and operate that car increases. This is why the dots on the graph tend to rise upward and to the right. This phenomenon also makes intuitive sense - as the purchase price rises, financing costs tend to rise, as do insurance, depreciation, taxes, and most other car ownership costs.

This is an important concept. It's normal for car ownership costs to rise as purchase price rises. Therefore, we can't just establish one "average" ownership cost number for each class, since cars in the class have different purchase prices. (This is why the "Relative" shown on each chart is different for cars in the same car class.)

Using statistical techniques, IntelliChoice "connects the dots" to form a curve that defines, for this car class, the relationship between the car's purchase price and car's ownership costs. This curve is our "expected cost" curve. The curve defines, for any car in the class, the five-year ownership cost that we would expect to see at each possible purchase price. If every car in the class were an average value, then all the dots would fall exactly on the curve. However, it's rare that any dot is exactly on the curve. Some dots are a little higher or lower, and some are a lot higher or lower. The dots that are a little lower are better than average car values, while the dots that are a lot lower are excellent car values (A dot that is a lot lower than the curve has ownership costs much lower than expected for a car of its purchase price). Conversely, a dot a little higher than the curve is a poorer than average car value, while a dot that is much higher than the curve is a poor car value.

Value is a relative term, not an absolute term. It is performing better than the logical expectation.

So is a Mercedes-Benz E320 expensive to own and operate? Certainly in an absolute sense. Most other cars cost less. But, when its cost to own and operate is plotted against cars with comparable invoice prices, the E320 costs less. So the E320 is not expensive to own and operate - it is a good car value. The Mercedes does not have low ownership costs, but it has low ownership costs for its invoice price.

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Article From Motor Trend Magazine

Economy Car Comparison: Honda Fit vs. Nissan Versa vs. Toyota Yaris

Fuel costs continue to rise, and you've been digging for coins under the couch to fill the tank. Time for a reality check: subcompacts are no longer just for the credit-card challenged. / By Allyson Harwood / Photography by John Kiewicz / Article provided by: Motor Trend Magazine

Back in the halcyon days of $2.50-a-gallon gas, subcompacts were perceived mostly as transportation for college students. If there wasn't a Delta Tau chi sticker on the back window, you could expect to see a rental-car frame around the license plate. Either way, premium unleaded isn't getting cheaper, and you have to stop raiding the kids' piggybank to fill up your prized sport/utility. No wonder subcompact gas-sippers are becoming more appealing-and more sophisticated. Variable valve timing, side-curtain airbags, and six-speed transmissions are now standard equipment in some of these cars-and most of them now cost less than $13,500. Add to that three hot new entries from Honda, Nissan, and Toyota, and the niche that was once a punch line is now all grown up.

The Honda Fit, known as the jazz around the world, is a five-door that slots into the American lineup below the Civic. It's the smallest offering from Japan's big Three, but, as is Honda's way, contains concentrated doses of ingenuity and Versatility. The Nissan Versa is a more powerful version of the Tiida hatchback. It has the most European styling of the trio, along with the longest wheelbase and heaviest curb weight. Like the others, the Toyota Yaris has already been on sale in Europe and Japan. It's offered here as a three-door hatch or a four-door sedan, but for a fair interior comparison, we put the sedan up against two hatchbacks. Our testers were the loaded models, equipped with optional transmissions and all available safety items, including ABS and front, front side, and side curtain airbags.

The styling of all three fits their differing personalities. Despite the limited success of the tall-wagon-meets-micro-hatch in America, the Fit's design works and is instantly likeable. It's clear Honda's aiming at a younger market, and this car's lines and attitude are edgy enough to steal sales from Scion. The Versa, which one staffer describes as "a Quest that shrank in the dryer," takes longer to get used to. Most of the lines are pleasant enough, but the rear side windows that slant forward at the bottom, countered by the back-sloping rear hatch, creates an odd triangular c-pillar (a combination that won't be in the sedan, available in early 2007). The attractive if nondescript four-door Yaris takes on a familiar shape: Meet the corolla jr. The Yaris doesn't need to appeal to the youth market-that's what Scion's for. This one will bring more conservative subcompact buyers to dealerships.

While none is lightning fast, all do an admirable job of getting up to speed. The Yaris and Fit have 1.5-liter fours with variable valve timing, producing 106 and109 horsepower, respectively. The Toyota uses a four-speed automatic, and our Fit Sport came equipped with a five-speed automatic with steering-wheel-mount EZ paddle shifters. The Versa, the heaviest of the three, is powered by a 122-horse,1.8-liter four, controlled by a CVT for improved fuel economy and performance. The Nissan has the second best weight-to power ratio, but its gearing advantage over the four-speed Toyota made it the best performer at the track, reaching 60 mph in9.7 seconds, over two seconds faster than the Fit (11.9) and 0.7 second faster than the Yaris. It also clinched the quarter mile, reaching that distance in 17.4 seconds at78.6 mph. The middle-of-the-road Yaris came in second-best in acceleration, braking, and handling. The Fit, however, is the agile go-kart-like handler of this test: it ran the slalom at 64.1 mph, a speed 2.1mph higher than the Yaris's and 3.5 better than the Versa's.