2009 Honda Fit Sport

Months in fleet: Six
Mileage to date: 10,615 miles

Along with city car, people mover, and cargo van, we've stumbled onto another role at which our Four Seasons Honda Fit Sport excels: camera car. Copy editor Rusty Blackwell was on hand during a recent photo shoot for an upcoming issue---as was the Fit.

"Photographer A. J. Mueller loved using the Fit to photograph from," writes Blackwell. "The flat-folding rear seats provided a perfect perch for him, the wide-opening hatch gave him many options, and the car's low height easily permitted aggressive camera angles. The only thing missing was a way to open the hatch from the inside."

That latch may be missing from the Honda's cargo hold, but space certainly isn't---a fact not lost on assistant editor David Zenlea, who seems to be abandoning his pro-Civic rhetoric and warming to the Fit. "I loaded the rear compartment with $200 of groceries and didn't ever have to think 'Hmm, where should I put that?' Honestly, I'm not sure as I once was that I'd take a Civic over a Fit, simply because of how much crap you can stuff in the latter."

Zenlea's not completely bowled over, mind you. "I'm still not happy with the Fit's road manners at higher speeds. At a mere 45 mph on the overpass, I was making steering corrections to keep the nose straight."

Editorial intern Jeffery Jablansky, who drove the Fit from Ann Arbor to New York City and back, witnessed similar behavior. "With a wind-at any speed, really-the Fit's tracking gets twitchy. I was nervous about crossing the upper deck of the George Washington Bridge but did manage with nary a problem." He did, however, echo our cries for a sixth gear for long highway stretches ("Please, Honda!").

With all these miles racked on the odometer, our Fit was finally ready for its first service. An oil change and tire rotation were all that was needed, which ran us $47.90 at a local Honda dealer. If only there were a way the service techs could squeeze in a six-speed transmission...