www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday September 6, 2006 - 29 EVERYTHING Auto your guide to everything auto in Oakville By Bradley Horn SPECIAL INSIDE: Nissan supercar is North America bound . . . . .page 30 Hatchback to the (19.3 in.) shorter and 71 mm (2.8 in.) narrower. The unibody structure is made up of 36 per cent high-strength steel, mostly for crash worthiness. There's a conscious effort throughout to engineer as much cargo room as possible into the Fit's compact proportions. While the front suspension is a McPherson strut design similar to the new Civic's, the rear is a torsion beam layout -- chosen because it allows the cargo floor to sit 72 mm (2.8 in.) lower than a multilink design. By the same token, Honda moved the Fit's fuel tank from the usual space behind the rear seats to under the front ones, freeing up room for the car's flipping and folding seats. In the end, the Honda ended up 170 mm (6.7 in) lower than its main competitor, the Toyota Yaris. Perhaps more important than the cargo space, pushing all that stuff down into the body, gives the Fit a much lower centre of gravity. Throw in the electric power-assisted rack and pinion steering system from the new Civic Si, and the Honda suddenly takes on a sporting character. We ran it through a handling course back-to-back with the Yaris, Chevrolet Aveo, Kia Rio, etc., and were pleasantly surprised by how much of Honda's performance DNA is here. The steering is worlds ahead of the others in feel and short lockto-lock turning. The suspension is firm, but not too harsh, while the brakes -- front disc/rear drum with standard ABS -- provide fine Honda's changed quite a bit since those heady days when the original Civic hatchback debuted. Over the past 33 years, it's gone global, with a full battery of vehicles, gone luxurious with Acura, giving the Germans pause, and gone racing with a full-fledged Formula One team. Funny then, that Honda's latest offering, the 2007 Fit, brings the automaker full-circle -- back to its affordable motoring roots. The 4-door, 5-seat Fit comes to Canada as Honda's new entry product, under the much-loved Civic. According to Jim Miller, executive vice-president of Honda Canada, subcompacts currently make up 10 per cent of the Canadian market -- double that of the U.S. Furthermore, the segment is expected to grow by 38 per cent by 2010, thanks mostly to increasing fuel costs. "Civic has moved up in size and stature, making room for a new entrylevel product," notes Miller. The hatchback "has been long anticipated" on our shores, he says, with scuttlebutt about its Canadian debut circulating since the car's 2001 debut in Japan (where it's also built). Concurrently, the Fit spread to 117 countries (including Europe under the Jazz badge), won several awards and has already surpassed the 1 million sales mark. Canada gets three models: DX, LX and Sport. Compared to the Civic, the Fit is 89 mm (3.5 in.) taller, 490 mm future EVERYTHIN Continued on Page 31 FORD EDGE Oak-land Ford Lincoln LINCOLN MKX EXPEDITION & EXPEDITION MAX 570 TRAFALGAR ROAD, OAKVILLE · AT THE QEW · WWW.OAKLANDFORDLINCOLN.CA 1-866-398-4270