Cross posted from Fit Freak:
Rick_a;1473979 said:I had almost 100,000 miles between two 2nd Gen Fits...the best of which was a 2011 which I invested a bit in minor chassis mods, wheels and tires A few months ago I purchased a 2011 Mazda2 after a Dodge 2500 driver decided to total out my Fit. These are my impressions.
Appearance
Totally subjective...but the Fit looks cool from the front. Otherwise, it looks like a four door micro van to me. The Mazda is cute from all angles. My favorite Fit was black. The Mazda2 is red, and while that's normally not my thing it is pretty and it rarely goes unseen in traffic. The Silver and Black Fits may as well be invisible at times.
Interior
Honda all the way...mostly. The Mazda interior is sparse and feels cheap. The Fit has the cargo capacity of a CUV and the interior looks nicer than the price and class of vehicle would suggest. The dash on the Mazda is plain Jane. Functional at best. The Fit instrumentation is so good looking as to be distracting at times. I do appreciate that the red backlighting of the Mazda retains good night vision...although with modern laser beam like headlights it's kinda pointless. It reminds me of a military vehicle or aircraft. That said, the Mazda front seats are better bolstered for my size. I'm swimming in the Fit seats and I'm forced into using my knees to brace myself in spirited driving. In the Mazda I can just sit. The Fit has a typical cargo floor while the Mazda has a poorly cut piece of carpet. I actually appreciate the dedication to keeping things light. This extends to the rear seats. The Fit's are Magically folding and are substantial. The Mazda's are just seats and rather flimsy ones at that.
The Fit fuel gauge is more useful and has that dandy low fuel idiot light if it's really pushed. The Mazda has an LED bar graph that looks like it came from the 80's.
I kinda miss the maintenance minder and the MPG indicator. The trip meters don't even work properly in the Mazda. They reset themselves frequently, it seems.
Chassis
The Fit, despite lowering springs, extended ball joints, camber bolts, a front strut bar, and a rear sway bar...as good as it felt...is not as responsive or stable as the box stock Mazda2. The stock Fit is horrendous on the highway in regards to crosswinds and semi truck drafts. It is work to keep the thing semi straight in either condition. It pitches noticeably in the wind and steers itself accordingly. How irritating. I found that once lowered and with RSB that the tendency mostly went away. Still, even with extended ball joints it could feel a little bump-steery. I also found it quite unstable in hard braking from speed. It would generally travel in a straight line...albeit sometimes a bit sideways. The Mazda has no such tendencies. It stays flatter in corners, isn't affected by gusts much, if at all...it is more stable on the brakes...and the steering feels more direct and precise. While the Honda has a good steering weight, it can feel vague at times in comparison and has a definite dead spot in the middle. The Mazda...no such maladies. The one win for the Fit is that it feels more planted in bumps that are only on one side of the vehicle or that alternate from one side to the other. The Mazda feels better everywhere else. On washboard surfaces the Fit would bounce the rear end some. The Mazda, none.
The Mazda is some 300lbs lighter, and it's a noticeable difference. The entire construction of the car is a little more sparce and I can appreciate the design philosophy. Add lightness, as they say.
Engine
The Fit is fun. It's a bit flat down below, but had a surge of power up top that made it feel like a more powerful car. For me it encouraged driving using the latter half of the rev range. It really seemed to respond well to that and still managed impressive fuel mileage. The Mazda2 is a tractor in contrast. Sure, it is down 17BHP, but aside from feeling a bit flat up top in comparison, it is more usable power everywhere else. Passing is much less drama, and it'll cruise around at 2-3K RPM without protest. For everyday driving I prefer it. I'd say that for a track car the Honda is the one to have. For street duty I much prefer the Mazda. The Honda also has a weird steady throttle surge when going down any kind of a grade, which I found annoying. The throttle was also slow to respond when not under load...such as when rev matching and heel-toe shifting. It also had some rev hang. So, it was necessary to jam the throttle between shifts and time shifts accordingly. The Mazda just requires a gentle dab and the revs drop normally which is taking some learning from what I'm accustomed to.
The Hondas also used a quart of oil between oil changes and the Mazda nearing the same mileage might end up at half that figure. They all had over 100,000 miles.
Transmission/Clutch
The Honda here has the more refined shift feel. The Mazda feels clunky and notchy in comparison. That said, I can shift the Mazda with better accuracy. I think a lot is due to the forward location of the shifter and going into gear has a positive, detent-like feel to it. The Mazda2 takes twice the transmission fluid and requires replacement twice as often. Not the worst thing.
In the clutch department they both have a good feel. The Mazda feels more progressive despite having a fraction of the pedal travel. Here again, I prefer the Mazda2. All the free travel past the engagement point seems unnecessary. The Mazda idles a bit lower, so it crawls a little better and is harder to stall. The Honda has an annoying anti stall auto rev thing that seems to hit when I least need it. The Mazda did start shifting poorly after a 600mi trip. Thankfully a fluid change fixed it. The fluid wasn't dirty, so I'm guessing that someone used the wrong type.
Features
The "Magic" seats in the Fit are bad ass. Although I didn't have to use them much, they were certainly nice to have at times. The Mazda rear seats don't even fold flat. The Fit had cruise control, a USB data port, and the windshield defogger worked really well. The Mazda defogger can be used without the AC which most of the time is inadequate. This took me a minute to figure out, as I initially thought that the defogger feature just sucked. Both are okay in the climate control department. The Fit shudders when the AC is turned on at any speed. The Mazda only does it at idle. The Fit AC is barely adequate on really hot days. I've yet to test the Mazda in this regard. I like to use minimum fan settings to save on gas and the Mazda will keep my legs cold on our coldest of days.
Without cruise control the Mazda actually does pretty well. The gas pedal in a neutral position takes little to no pressure so the foot/calf pump that can normally happen is a non issue. That was a pleasant surprise.
For road noise neither one is great. The Fit has more wind noise and the Mazda lets one intimately hear what's going on underneath the car. I prefer the radio on the Mazda, though on factory settings it tries to play more bass than it can handle. The Fit sounds less clear in the higher frequencies. The Mazda radio gave out on a really cold morning. It's a common issue, with the fix being a well placed strike to the dash (really). After having to do that once, on really cold days it needs to be warmed a little before it decides to work.
Other notes
The Fits always had AC problems. The blower fan, blower resistor, and compressor clutch all go out at around the 120,000 mile mark. Easy fixes, but still a PITA. A careful search can produce a cheap complete AC clutch assembly instead of having to deal with replacing a perfectly good (and expensive) compressor assembly.
The Mazda has everything super accessible underneath. Since it is missing the six additional inches of overhang that the Fit has, I can change the oil, filter, and transmission fluids without lifting the vehicle (aside from driving onto wood blocks). It's pretty cool to be able to just reach underneath and do what I have to do. That additional six inches of Fit bumper also make getting in and out of tight parking situations tougher.
Both my girlfriend, her kids, and my son like the Mazda better. My girlfriend feels that I drive the Mazda in a smoother and more sensible manner. My kid likes that the Mazda feels more racecar to him. Her kids think it looks sportier and is the nicer car.
I'm with the zoom zooms now.
I plan on keeping things milder yet with this Mazda with lowering springs, camber bolts, lightweight alloys and stickier tires. I'm tempted to make an undertray for it...but it is so convenient as it is.
I'm sure I missed something...but if TL/DNR...I like the Mazda better even though the Fit is more practical and more refined. Due to the cruisability, steering feel, stability, and more tractable power delivery, I'm with the Mazdas now.
I will also say that the Honda under acceleration over rough road surfaces would at times trip the traction control where the Mazda does not over identical surfaces. There is one railroad crossing and a rippled intersection that would frequently trip the Honda traction control and won't the Mazda. I'm assuming that the Mazda suspension is keeping the tires on the road more effectively.
Thanks for reading if you have. Feel free to comment/ask questions.
