This is going to sound strange, but my ideal model for this car is the Evo IX MR. Yeah, I know the Fit is nowhere close to the level of this purpose-built rally car for the road, but I admire the idea behind it. A no-compromise asphalt assault vehicle. Sticks to the road like glue, looks good, practical (mostly), and quick. While the Fit will never had all wheel drive or a rally pedigree, my vision for the car is similar – build a well balanced performance vehicle. This has been the mission from day 1.
Overall, the Fit is taking to mods nicely. Let's start with the outside - It looks a lot less girly and the stance is where I want it – functional and purposeful. The black headlights, black wheels, meaty tires and tinted tails add a touch of sinister to this otherwise pedestrian vehicle. The HID's and LED tails look great at night from inside or the outside.
Driving this thing is ridiculous. This car is one of the lightest 4 door cars available at around 2500 lbs and this is reflected every time the car moves, whether side to side, braking, accelerating. The car has an effortless flow thru the turns that keeps me searching out the best winding roads to nowhere. There isn't much power pulling this car, but once it gets up to speed, you rarely need to keep accelerating. Just keep the momentum up and let the chassis do the work.
Speaking of chassis – the springs are the make or break mod here. They are firm and give the Fit the edge it is missing in stock form. The flipside to the coin is the ride. Even after driving the car almost a year with these, I am still not sold on them. The ride is harsh and bouncy at the same time. This could also be the fault of the stock dampers. If the ride height wasn't perfect and they didn't perform so well in the bends, I would be looking for other springs by now. The swaybar has also dramatically changed the handling characteristics of this car. Instead of wanting to plow to the outside, the car seems to want to rotate around the driver's seat, sometimes requiring a quick nudge of the wheel to keep things in check.
The Nitto NeoGen's have been a perfect match for this car. They have a decent life, good price and great performance. Only once have they let go on me – Moonshiner's Run when I seriously overcooked a corner – and they broke away predictably with a slight squeal. The lighter wheel combination has helped performance and ride dramatically over the 18's that I had on there for just a few days.
The brakes are an area that need some improvement. In stock form, they were grabby, stopped on a dime and warped rotors every 15k miles......The new wheels help get more air to the rotors and should improve cooling. The slotted and dimpled rotors add to the performance theme of the exterior. The pads, unfortunately, aren't convincing. They grab eventually and provide good grip at the 2nd half of the brake pedal's travel. A change to Motul brake fluid is in order soon.
My favorite mod right now is my cross bar. Every time I look in my rear view mirror, I see the top half of the bars. It not only helps improve the stiffness of the car, but looks awesome to boot. Even better, I got a great deal on it used.
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