I have an 07 Automatic that is the love of my life and I have taken it in almost every canyon and mountain road (I know it was not designed for this but it does hold up well) in the greater LA area. I've had fun, but I know I can get more out of my little plastic box.

Since I am ignorant (obviously, since I didn't get a manual) I have no idea how to improve much of anything on it. I've been reading up on the different modifications and part replacements that can lead to improvements in acceleration, braking, handling, but they seem to be only for manuals (aka "real cars"). Although I'm not so dumb that I don't know that any car can benefit from some decent suspension or brakes (already replaced out of necessity) and I know that my life is tragically limited by not being able to control how my car shifts. But how limited am I?

In short, what would help? A chip for the computer? If so, which one(s)? How about other engine modifications?

Even a list of the possibilities to get me started on research would help.

 

Is your Fit a Base model or a Sport? If its a Sport, use the paddles to change your shift points. If you have a Base, you may be able to force your Fit to relearn its shift points via removing the negative battery cable (will need your radio's code) for a few mintues and put the cable back on.

In the case of performance modifications, it really depends on what aspect you want to improve upon since most (aftermarket) parts are interchangeable between the manual and automatic Fit with the exception of certain cold air intakes, Limited Slip Diffs., final drive gears and transmission gears (excluding the transmission specific parts like clutches and torque converters).

Quick and easy bolt on performance parts would consist of short ram intakes, axle back (muffler) or cat back exhaust, lighter wheels, stickier tires and even indexing your spark plugs. Mind you, some of these alone won't make a drastic difference in performance.

There are not any plug and play computer tuners for a factory spec Fit on the market (that I know of); however, some companies such as AEM, GReedy, and HKS have programmable piggy back units that can be used to tune the Fit's ECU.

As far as other engine modifications, there are quite a few forced induction kits out of the Fit including a nitrous kit. ZEX makes the nitrous kit, T1R, GReddy, along with HKS all make turbo kits, and Kraftwerks USA makes a supercharger kit for the Fit which is pretty much plug and play and comes with a "supercard" which is programmed with the appropriate ECU tune.

 

I'm assuming you have the base AT since you say you can't control gear shifts. Not sure if you should bother if that's the case but that's just me.

Lighter wheels, better tires.... KW supercharger if you want more power. Change intake from stock box to sri or cai for better response (from my experience). The KWSC makes even the AT super fun to drive with plenty of torque, but if I weren't able to select my gears in sport mode I would definitely not have spent that kind of money on this car.

 

First off don't let any one tell you, you don't have a "real" car because it's auto. There are things like intake, header and exhaust hat can be added but won't add a sugnifegent gain. You could try a piggy back like the AEM FIC (I have one with boomslang harness laying around) to see if you can tune it a bit. Your best bet as far as performance would be the supercharger with all the upgrades u can get for the A/T. I had that set up and went from 85whp to 120 whp. It's not like OMG power butthere deffintly is a difference. Aside from that dome light wheels, good tires and suspension the car can be alot of fun to drive.

 

As people are saying, lighter wheels and grippier tires, as well as suspension upgrades, will help any car regardless of the transmission As far as handling goes, I would start with some lighter wheels and stickier tires, and see how it feels then and whether you want to do anything else.

 

First, note that every latest model high performance car comes with a paddle-shifted automatic, from Porsche to Ferrari. Some can only be gotten with automatics, though they are often hydraulic shifted manuals. Try to find an F1 with maual.
In any case, I have no qualms about literally race-shifting my paddle-controlled automatic on the race track or A/X course. And in 40,000 miles doesn't appear any worse for wear. Besides, its relaxing downtown and quieter and more economical on the interstate. For a driver who went 60years without an automatic because all they had were hydramatics, the recent automatics with paddleshifting are better than any manual shift.
Latest autos shift about twice as fast as manuals and even have rpm matching to minimize synchonizer wear and tear.
Second, if you have a base manual, sorry, but you can't get much help in shifting nor in power (true of both manual and auto Fits). The best thing you can do is get better tires and wheels and perhaps a good, not overdone, lowered suspension. Its the areas where Fits can be improved a lot. All the rest is merely spending a lot to get a little cuteness.

 

do keep in mind that the sequential transmissions on these high-end cars are something completely different from the auto w/ paddle shifter on the fit.

sequentials are more like a clutchless manual transmission, whereas the fit's automatic is an automatic with the option to select gears. the first produces lightning-quick and crisp shifts (often on par with or better than a manual transmission), while the latter shifts like a regular automatic transmission.

automatic fits do not shift twice as fast as manual ones, nor do they have rpm-matching

 

Do read second sentence again. And again the one about latest automatics shifting quicker than manuals. Typically 0.050 seconds versus 0.100 seconds. Do you thimnk F1 iusn't on the cutting edge ?
And you should time your shifts manually : 0.2 seconds isn't too quick., about the same as an auto Fit.
Things have progressed rapidly since the old days of the Chevy 2 speed automatic and the Dynaflow.

 

If an automatic isn't designed for canyon and mountain roads, what is it designed for? Obviously you have let someone convince you that you are stupid idiot for not driving a "manly" manual transmission. It's a shame you have such low self esteem.

There's nothing a manual can do that your automatic can't do. I'm sure there were some people who, at one time, still swore by the crank start after the electric start was invented. As mentioned above there are some very desirable cars that have automatics and some "only" have automatics and don't even offer manual transmissions. When you watch the Indy 500 how do you think they're shifting gears? If a manual was faster what do you think they would be driving?

Drive the car you want, not the car someone with archaic ideas wants you to drive.

 

^Amen

Unless you decide to go with a turbo or SC, you wont get much of a gain in power. However, you mentioned that you like to go canyon carving so suspension work is a must. Definitely get a progress rear sway bar to make nice tight turns as well as lower the car. I agree with everybody else, wheels and nice tires make a big difference.
If you still want some extra power then do some research on the best intakes, headers and exhausts.

for my suspension i have the progress RSB, Tein springs (~2in drop) and front strut bar. Also BBS wheels with Nittos wrapped on them. It handles like its on rails
for the engine i have the weapon r intake, intake manifold and headers with a cat delete and an EP3 exhaust. with this setup it gave the Fit a noticeable difference, but nothing like the KWSC kit. IMO if you want a big difference in power, get the SC

 

i have a base auto. i just wish that i could get some performance out of the transmission. better shift points, firmer shifts, exc. i have an intake, and i know i will never ger a whole lot of hp without spending alot.