"Tracing the Roots of the 'Supercar' – You Might Have Never Even Heard Its Name"

Original: Honda誌 – 日系車迷誌 – 2025-04-01 06:07:30

Fit, in China—especially in southern regions—can be said to be a very well-selling model.
The editor believes there are three reasons for its popularity. 💬

🌟 Hello, my friend...
Welcome to a hidden gem—OLD FISHER DISCOUNT, your one-stop online shop with 9,999+ unique finds waiting for you. 🎉
🛒 Explore a World of Discoveries
Dive into our collection and uncover special treasures that will delight and inspire.
🔗 Start Your Journey Here: www.fisherdiscount.com
Come and see why we’re more than just a shop; we’re a place of endless possibilities! ✨

The first reason is the price.
From the first generation, although the Fit was still slightly expensive—around 110,000 to 120,000 yuan—its price kept dropping over time. 📉
Configurations also decreased, but being able to get a joint-venture car for 70,000 yuan was really attractive. 💸

The second reason is practicality.
Although the Fit is a B-Seg (compact class) car, you’d never guess how spacious it is inside just by looking at the outside. 🏠
Honda clearly “stole” a lot of space with the Fit. Add in the magical “Magic Seats,” and many people even used it like a small van! 🪄🛻
That practicality? Unbeatable. 👍

Logo is the root of the Fit.
It was derived from the second-generation City and offered both 3-door and 5-door hatchbacks. 🚗

Logo wasn’t very popular—mainly because it lacked practicality. 😅

The third reason is playability.
From the first generation, the Fit has always been super fun to modify. 🔧🔥
It’s not a performance car and its engine isn’t legendary, but countless brands—both domestic and international—offered upgrade parts.
Modification cases are everywhere. 🌍

Later, the third-gen Fit adopted the Earth Dreams L15B2 engine, which dominated its class in power.
That attracted tons of new fans and even gave it the slightly sarcastic nickname of “supercar.” 🏁

Such a familiar car really has lots of stories behind it.
So naturally, we had to dig this “hole.” But if we only talked about four generations of Fit, that wouldn’t go deep enough.

Let’s trace the roots first—then fill the hole. 🕵️‍♂️🪤

It came with an engine derived from the 4th-gen Civic: the D13B.
This 1.3L SOHC engine was upgraded from carburetor to electronic fuel injection.
Honda also reduced it from 16 valves to 8, aiming for earlier torque output. ⚙️

Later, a 16-valve version was added for the sport variant, with much higher horsepower. 💪

To trace roots, we go before the first Fit.
The model before the Fit was the Honda Logo—though it wasn’t famous.
But it was derived from the second-gen City, which we are familiar with.

Confusing? A little. 😄
The chain goes like this:
City ➜ Logo ➜ Fit.
Both Fit and City were sold in China—cool, right? 🌏

Anyway, Logo was a B-Seg compact car, born in 1996.
It only lasted one generation before the Fit took over.

Logo came from the second-gen City platform.
Another car from the same platform was the Honda Capa.

Because of their shared platform, the chassis codes matched:

• City = GA1, GA2

• Logo = GA3, GA5

• Capa = GA4, GA6

👉 Here’s the 5-door Logo.
From this angle, doesn’t it look a bit like the first-gen Fit?

Ever wonder why the City spawned two models?
Simple: to make up for its limited body styles.
City had only a 3-door hatchback.
Logo came with 3-door and 5-door options, and Capa became a mini-van. 🚐

Why were they all so small?
That goes back to the 1st-gen Civic—praised for its compact size.
Honda wanted to recreate that success.

But this time, Honda guessed wrong. 🤷‍♂️
Sales for Logo didn’t meet expectations.
The focus on stylization made City, Logo, and Capa impractical.

The Fit learned from their mistakes.
That’s why it’s been so practical since the start. 💡

In terms of power, the Logo used the D13B, updated from the 4th-gen Civic.
Though the same name, it was fuel-injected in Logo, not carbureted.

This was the car’s biggest highlight:
Honda made this low-displacement engine produce good torque.
They dropped 16 valves down to 8, emphasizing torque. 🌀

So even though it only made 66 hp, torque was 111 Nm!
More impressive:

• 90% of torque hit at just 1300 rpm

• Peak torque came at 2500 rpm
  With only 890kg curb weight, it felt light and comfy in the city. 🏙️

In Japan, they even called it a “half-throttle high-performance” car. 🚀

There was also a 16-valve version—used in the Logo Sport (after 1998).
Power rose to 91 hp and 114 Nm torque, but full torque came at 4800 rpm.

Transmissions included:

• 3-speed automatic

• 5-speed manual

• Honda's own CVT 🌐

CVT + low-rpm torque = perfect pairing. 🛠️

This is the Logo Sportic, the sport variant with 16-valve D13B engine—91 horsepower!
Even the steering wheel was upgraded to a sporty 3-spoke design. 🕹️

But due to lukewarm sales, the Logo ended production in 2001.
Its replacement? The newly redesigned—but still compact—Honda Fit. 💫

And the story of the Fit...
We’ll keep telling it next time, so stay tuned! 🎬