I test drove a Yaris when I was buying a new car for myself. I was looking at either a Yaris, a Honda Fit or a Nissan Versa. I test drove all three, plus I've gotten a Yaris as a rental car since. Out of the three I ranked Yaris the lowest. It was the cheapest of all three and it felt it. Around the city it was alright but on the highway it felt really jerky and hard to keep going straight, as if the steering ratio wasn't proportional to the speed driving. I found the engine to be windy. I could never get used to the gauges being in the middle of the dash.
The Versa I liked more. I drove the 6 speed manual which was fun. It's also available with a CVT which I've only driven in a Dodge Caliber before and I can't say I'm a fan of it, although I suppose if I didn't know how to drive stick I might like it. Hated the Caliber in general! Anyway, the Versa... it was a comfortable ride, had good get up and go. You could feel the difference in power between it and the Yaris. I liked how roomy it was but the seats didn't fold down all the way and the back hatch had humps where the tail lights were which I thought would restrict me from putting larger things into it. Also, the gas mileage was poorer in the EPA figures than the other two models I was considering, although not by much. The dealer was more flexible with the price than Honda or Toyota are (read not flexible at all!) but the cons won out and I didn't buy it. Turned out to be for the better as the first model year Versa reliability figures don't look very good at all.
Now, the Fit. The Fit was my favourite. I test drove the 5 speed manual sport. It was a chore even finding a dealer that had one to test drive as no dealerships could keep them on the lot long enough. Someone at the dealership actually owned this one. It was nice. It could move, didn't sound windy, handled like a champ -- the manoeuverability was amazing! I liked the dash better, the aux in for my satellite radio was a nice plus, the MP3 CD player was good, too. The Sport model included power everything, key fob remote, aluminum 15" wheels, fog lights, spoiler, etc. The seats are so versatile! There's like a half dozen ways you can put them. Of course they all fold down and unlike other models, they fold down flat into the floor. This makes a big difference when you're loading your car full of furniture from Ikea and you're not having to crawl in there trying to get it on top of the foot high hump from the seats just to have it all at an angle and slide out the hatch. The back split bench seat bottom will come up giving you tall storage area like big plants or whatever. The front seat can fold all the way back giving you long storage that's long enough to fit a surfboard or an 8' tall Christmas tree.
I think you've figured out by now that I bought the Fit. I had to drive to a dealership 3 hours away to find one in stock (2.5 years ago). To order one would take 6 months at that time. I have 71,000 miles on it now and have driven it all over the place from Newfoundland down to Virginia over to Tennessee up to Michigan, Ontario all the way up to James Bay and everywhere in between! I've gone through mountain ranges and trusted it through vast expanses of isolated wilderness (including a 237 mile stretch with no towns, houses, gas stations, cell phone service, nothing!), gravel highways and it performed flawlessly. I love road trips having driven to 40 some odd states now and there's no other car I'd rather do it in than a Honda Fit. It's the perfect combination of performance, fuel efficiency and utility. It's also reliable. I haven't had to do anything with it but oil changes and a new set of tires. The 09 is even better. Test drive one and see for yourself; you won't be disappointed.
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