SA Road Tests

Welcome

This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Many of the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.

My most recent drive is on the home page. Archived reviews and opinion pieces are in the active list down the left side. Hover your cursor over a heading or manufacturer's name and search through the drop-down menu that appears.

Editor's note: SA Roadtests accepts multi-day vehicle loans from manufacturers in order to provide editorial reviews. All vehicle reviews are conducted on our turf and on our terms.

For out-of-province vehicle launch features however, travel costs are covered by the manufacturer concerned. This is common in the motor industry, as it's more economical to ship journalists to cars than to ship cars to journalists.

Judgments and opinions expressed on this site are our own. We do not accept paid editorial content or ads of any kind.


The fourth is with you: 2021 Honda Fit 1.5 Elegance CVT

Remodelled

Posted: October 18, 2021

The numbers
Price: R370 700
Engine: 1498 cc, DOHC, 16-valve, inline four-cylinder
Power: 89 kW at 6600 rpm
Torque: 145 Nm at 4300 rpm
*0-100 km/h: 10.9 seconds
*Top speed: 190 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 6.7 l/100 km
Tank: 40 litres
Luggage: 309 – 849 litres
Turning circle: 10.0 metres
Ground clearance: 141 mm
Warranty: Five years, 200 000 km with three years’ AA roadside assistance
Service plan: Optional four years, 60 000 km with services at 15 000 km intervals
*Overseas tests

Honda Jazz, aka Fit, has been a favourite for years because they are compact, comfortable, spacious and easy to drive. And those clever back seats add useful extra load space. The famed Honda reliability factor has been a drawcard too. Many were bought by retirees on their children’s recommendations with additional sales coming about because those younger adults realised that “what’s good for Mom could be good for me too.”

Thanks to extensive remodelling in 2020, this fourth-generation car is 89 mm longer and 13 mm taller than its predecessor although width, wheelbase and fuel tank size remained the same.  For some reason its luggage capacity apparently shrank; now rated at 309 to 849 litres VDA rather than 363 and 881 previously. Weight increased by 24 kg.

As for appearance, the short answer is that everything is similar, but different, so we won’t try to describe the changes.

Our local range consists of three regular models - Comfort, Elegance and Executive - fitted with Honda’s 1500 cc, DOHC L15ZF, i-VTEC motor generating 89 kW and 145 Nm. Transmission is CVT - only. A hybrid with Atkinson-cycle motor and “electronic” CVT offers a fourth choice.

We drove the Elegance version with its mid-range fixtures and fittings. Common across the range are pushbutton starting; disc brakes at both ends with ABS, EBA, EBD, hill start, brake hold and vehicle stability assistance; six airbags; automatic air conditioning; ECON mode; cruise control; manual seat height adjustment for the driver; two ISOFix mountings; Honda’s famed “magic” rear seats and a 7” TFT multi-information display.

Elegance increases wheel size to 16”; adds LED head-, DRL- and fog lamps; fabric and leather combination seats; nine-inch Display Audio touchscreen with CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility; rear view camera and an alarm system. Full leather upholstery with warmed front seats, parking sensors and walk-away locking are fitted to Executive level while additional safety kit – automatic high beam, adaptive cruise control, collision- and road departure mitigation and lane keeping - comes with the hybrid.

Unfortunately, selectable Sport mode, available on regular models, appears pointless. It just locks the transmission into higher revs without allowing manual override or any other control element.
 
We liked the ultrawide view provided by the forward-set windscreen and narrow pillars, its solidity and easy handling and the back seat cushions that can be lifted individually to provide space for tall loads, like plants from the nursery or small items of furniture. An unexpected use for the cup holders at each end of the dashtop is that they provide useful temporary storage for folding umbrellas.

Confession: We have tried hard to love CVTs in naturally aspirated cars but the best we can manage is that, at best, they can work almost as well as traditional torque converter boxes - particularly if the attached engine is more powerful than this one. Turbomotors with broad, flat torque bands, on the other hand, offer marriages made in Heaven. But that’s a different essay entirely.

Co-pilot loved the car’s overall performance though so one could, hopefully. get used to it.
 
This new Fit is neat and tidy, solid and comfortable in its natural, asphalt road habitat, nice but not exciting, and let down only by the fact that one is locked into CVT-only transmissions.

Test unit from Honda SA press fleet


What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.

Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads or goat tracks as well. As a result, my test cars do occasionally get dirty. It's all part of the reviewing process.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material.

If ever I place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with a very similar vehicle already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. There are no advertisers and no “editorial policy” rules. I add bylines to acknowledge sponsored launch functions and the manufacturers or dealerships that provide the test vehicles.  And, as quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so you can see I do actually exist.

Comments or questions?
Want to ask a question, comment or just tell me you completely disagree with what I say? If you want advice or have a genuine concern, I will be happy to hear from you. All I ask is that you write something in the subject line so I know which vehicle you're talking about.