Honda Snubs Touchscreen Controls: Good Idea, or Great Idea?

As the status of the North American Honda Fit remains unknown, its more evolved global sibling (the Jazz) hasn’t held our interest. With sales of economy vehicles still losing ground to crossovers and U.S. Fit volume going from modest to borderline meager over the last five years, there’s a good chance Honda may not bother updating it here.

The 2020 Euro-market reboot only offers a hybrid drivetrain — a 1.5-liter Atkinson-cycle engine mated to a 96-kW synchronous AC motor — and adds a plethora of standard safety tech and connectivity features. While other markets will see internal-combustion version, the best Honda has on offer is a pint-sized i-VTEC (988 cc) making 120 horsepower. Frankly, it doesn’t seem like a good fit for this market and may explain the company’s reluctance to confirm anything for North America. But Honda has made some changes that we hope carry over to all of its future products, regardless of the name carried on the rear hatch or the engine lurking beneath the hood.

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  • Theflyersfan Then what caused that odd melted crayon smell that new VWs had for ages? Was that the smell of the soft touch plastics beginning their slow but endless march back into their base elements?And you know what gets rid of any new car smell body killing emissions? Top down, drive fast. Cures everything.
  • IBx1 I had the displeasure of driving a CTS5 while my 1st gen CTS-V was in the shop for a brake line recall, and that was an absolute pile of garbage. Hyper sensitive brakes, stiff crashy suspension, a horrible sounding 4-cylinder, and this is what people fawn over?
  • Jkross22 The CX9 we leased and will be returning soon smelled like a dentist's office for the first 2 years. Big Dental must have paid dearly for that.
  • Tassos BP investing in enhancing people’s right to free travel sounds like a good thing. I wonder how the regressive cognitive decline crowd will interpret it though.
  • Rover Sig Market placement: One good (large) car, one good (mid-sized) SUV, plus the Escalade (because).Attention to detail. I see nice looking caddies with some ugly features (wheels, trim). I don't know about interiors because no one I know has a caddie.The world does not need another BMW. Not everybody is in sales. Cadillac could be selling cars to all of us Boomers, who remember the large Oldsmobiles, Buicks, Mercuries, etc., of yesteryear and their comfort and, yes, style of a sort.