2009 Honda Fit and Suzuki SX4: Which Is The Better Highway Car?

Seeing how SX4 is basically a Fiat engineered product, it isn't surprising that the Euro handling won over the Japanese way of driving dynamics.

SX4 is a hidden jewel in the American car market.

Where do you read that it's a better handler than the Fit? It isn't. They said the SX4 may have better highway on-center steering feel.

I still think that the Fit is better. I love the Fit.

The SX4 is a FIAT designed product, but not engineered whatsoever.

I thought SX4 was manufactured at the same plant in Poland as Fiat's companion product?

Wobbly_ears, that is one of the plants that makes the Fiat Sedici, but I believe our NA-market SX4's are made at Suzuki's plant in Japan.

@misterfusion,

Is it Suzuki rebadging a Fiat product or the other way around? Or, is it a collaborative effort? (Like the Toyota Matrix/Pontiac Vibe)?

In either case, I personally find Fit's value quotient to be lower than SX4 (More space, cheaper price & slightly longer warranty)

I would choose a fit, if only because of better resale, and slightly better MPG.

Can't say I enjoy my Fit's highway manners - it truly doesn't handle windy conditions well at all at highway speeds and feels rather unsafe.

There is quite a discrepancy between the noise figures for the Fit between the reports linked in the above article, and the ones from the Jetta TDI comparison article from today. I think the figures of 78 dB (full throttle) and 70 dB (70 mph ruise) are the right ones. I can tell you : I test drove the SX4 and the Fit the same afternoon and the Fit is A LOT noisier. That is one of the many reasons I picked the SX4.

It's a Suzuki, on a stretched version of the Swift platform. Fiat's contribution is economy of scale, and the diesel engine option in Europe.

For some unknown reason, the SX4 they were taking around Canada for journalists to test had a Peugeot-sourced 1.6 L diesel.

No mention in the articles why it wasn't the Fiat diesel.

Probably because the 1.6L Peugeot engine is the most fuel-efficient of the two. It gets about 5L/100km combined, but it is only about 89 HP. The 1.9L diesel has 120 HP. Don't know about its fuel-eff., but it must really rock!

That before & after U2 photo is priceless.

I have an 09 Fit... definitely not our highway car.

That before & after U2 photo is priceless.

I have an 09 Fit... definitely not our highway car, but a super in town commuter.

"and slightly better MPG."

Are you kidding me. That's like saying a Buggati Veyron is slightly faster than a Toyota Prius. The Fit gets dramatically better gas mileage than the SX4, especially the one Edmunds has with the AWD and 4-speed automatic. Even if you were just to go by EPA numbers the Fit Sport has an average gas mileage of 29 mpg, the Suzuki SX4 with AWD and auto 24 mpg. That's 5 mpg better. When gas is back up to $5.00 a gallon, well, you can do the math on it. But then you have to factor in what Fit owners (such as myself) are getting in real-world gas mileage and it's much worse for the Suzuki. The Fit gets much better gas mileage than the EPA and the Suzuki gets worse. I would say the real difference between these two is 10 mpg. That is hardly a "slight" difference.

As far as this blog goes, I have no doubt the SX4 is the better highway cruiser if comfort is your main concern. If getting good gas mileage on a long highway trip is most important than the Fit is the much better choice. The Suzuki wasn't even on my radar when I was shopping for a small, affordable, reliable, fun-to-drive, and fuel efficient vehicle, as I don't think it is any of those things (maybe affordable).

Yes, if you look at Edmund's chart, the Fit's average is 10 mpg higher than the Suzuki's:

http://blogs.edmunds.com/roadtests/2009/05/big-list-of-fuel-economy---april-edition.html

Wow there is some very incorrect information here from posters. The Suzuki SX4 IS NOT a Fiat, and much less a re-badged Fiat. Suzuki SX4 was 100% engineered and developed by Suzuki of Japan based on the Suzuki Swift Global platform. Fiat had ZERO to do with it. The ONLY area where Fiat came in to the picture or "joint-venture" ;) , was when it comes to re-badging the SUZUKI SX4 as a Fiat Sedici, and fitting the SUZUKI SX4 with a fiat Diesel engine. Suzuki allowed Fiat to re-badge the SX4 and sell it under the Fiat name in exchange for Fiat giving Suzuki the right to manufactor Fiat diesel engines to be fitted under the hood of several Suzuki vehicles that are sold in India and other "emerging market" nations.
As for where the SX4 is built, that is in the Magyar Suzuki plant in Esztergom, Hungary. This is a SUZUKI auto manufactoring plant. And this is also where the Fiat Sedici is made. Get it now? THE FIAT SEDICI IS MADE BY SUZUKI, AT A SUZUKI AUTO PLANT, BY SUZUKI WORKERS. Fiat makes >ZEROZERO< SX4's. THEY ARE BOTH, AND ALL, MADE BY SUZUKI.

We owned a 2009 Fit for 6 months. I finally traded it on a Civic. I couldn't stand it anymore, and I was 2 inches shorter from the (lack of) suspension . I drove it once on a trip out to my in-laws place and back. This, for those of you who may be familiar, involved a trip from metro Kansas City up to St. Joseph, MO, and then across about 100 miles of rural Kansas on US Highway 36. By the time I got home, I was ready to kill someone. It was a windy day, and literally the car felt like my old 1984 VW Vanagon--a total handful. On flat, straight highway in the wind, the super sensitive steering was a liability. The engine struggled to maintain 70mph on even slight upgrades. I must have looked like a drunk driver for about two hours. It's been a long time since I've driven a car that was this much of a pain to drive on a windy day at highway speed...again, my old VW Vanagon is the closest thing I can think of. Combined with the incessant jittery ride, I almost parked the car and rented something to get back to Kansas City. Having driven an SX4, no comparison on highway. The Civic I have now clobbers the Fit in every area except the hatch configuration, even MPG. Funny, I almost bought an SX4 when I got the Fit, but my practical side won out, and I picked better resale, great rear seat arrangement, and Honda reputation over the Suzuki, which was not nearly as fashionable of a choice. If the MPG on the Zook would have been better, I would have taken the chance.