Yillb.com

After just Youtubing the 2009 Honda Fit to see what changes Honda made to my car all I can say is that I’m glad I bought my Fit last year.

Based only on pictures (and video) and only on the layout of the center console and changes to the dash and steering wheel, do I think that the new Fit just isn’t as good as last year’s model.

Honda seems to have added space for a “Satellite-Linked Navigation System with voice recognition” which also seems to double for the audio controls as well.

I guess the problem is that when you don’t get one of those fancy GPS systems you are left with a lot of space to fill. Unfortunately Honda filled the space with tiny buttons with lots of space between them.

Looking at my 2008 Honda Fit Sport you can see that the buttons and knobs are all large, which are easy to find while driving compared to the new Fit’s buttons, which I would think would be harder to find and use.

And the other thing Honda did with the 2009 Fit was to disrupt the overall downward flow of the console with pushing air control knobs to the left and putting them on a downward curve and they made them different sizes.

Last year’s Fit on the other hand simply flows, with everything situated below each other.

The volume/power knob for the audio system is huge, and around it you have big buttons for audio source and options. Then there is the big old display for the player that has its own big buttons for presets, with large buttons below those for seek and tune.

Then you start your air controls with a big slider for air flow and two more big buttons for simple reach, hit, forgot action. Sure the slider is still on the new model but the other air controls are not near it, compared to the 2008 model.

Now it ends with the temperature, air speed, and air output controls with more big knobs – easy to find and use while driving.

Everything is centered and flows down with nice big buttons and knobs while the 2009 Fit has small buttons and disorganized layout.

They also added another display to the driver’s dash, I’m guessing it might be the same display that is found on the right side under the fuel gauge on the 2008 model – seems bigger and out of place. And of course I have no idea what they were thinking with that steering wheel layout, buttons crammed into the nooks and crannies of the wheel, blah!

Now granted if you drive a car everyday I’m sure that you can get used to the layout and being able to use the controls but I can’t get used to the fact that the size of the buttons and downward flow has been broken.

Images from Honda.com and PopularMechanics.com.