The pedals aren't really placed well imo (or maybe it's because I'm tall and can't go rearward enough), and the drive by wire is a piece of crap. I do heel and toe on all of my cars but on my mother's fit and yaris from the work, I can't.

Otherwise, there aren't many people who try to race me where I live, wether I drive my mr2 turbo, my civic, my mom's fit, the yaris from work. Most people who tried to race me had mazda 3 or minivans, and it was when I had my geo metro 1.0, come on...

But the fit isn't slow, it's fun to wind it up with the short gears.

 

I haven't driven a car that I was capable of tap dancing on the pedals on in a long time.. It was easy in old British sports cars that had a the seat bottom about 6" max off of the floor... The 1955 Austin Healey 100-4 was a wonderful car for heel and toe driving as were the MGs and Triumphs.. I would think the Mazda Miata would be as well... I just recalled getting crazy in an old Datsun 240Z that was amazing. Oh, I suddenly feel very old.

 

It can be easy to heel and toe even on a truck if there is enough leg room and the pedals are well placed.

My civic 99 is really easy to heel and toe. It also depends of the pedal feel. On my mr2, the brake pedal is hard to modulate when you want to be smooth, so when I heel and toe I usualy slam the brakes. On street it sucks, during track days it's fine and easy to do it. I just bought a lightweight flywheel too, so the engine should rev up faster.

That's pretty low hp for such a big engine. My Yamaha fzr250 has 45hp for 310lb. Since I drive mostly around town it's enough, and I can rev up a bit (over 17k rpm) without being at illegal speeds.

 

Not at all TC - It's common enough though... Have you ever heard anyone brag about bearing a Mustang V6? Nope! Especially since the older six-shooter mustangs (from the 90's, not OLDER older) had real dogs for engines - 150 hp before 1999 I think.

 

What in the world are people thinking? This car doesn't even look remotely fast. My wife also thinks it's about dog ugly. She misses her Accord V6, it's in the shop. I would maybe try someone in that car. My buddy has a V6 Challenger and I have driven it. I think the Accord would probably beat it. It has some giddyup.

 

I don't know, but I find it relatively easy to heel/toe in mine. I was doing just that yesterday on the circuit like it was 2nd nature. I will say the pedals are not as nicely spaced as my old 5R Teggy, though the Snisen that followed wasn't as nicely spaced either, but it is not bad in the GE that it can't be done. My foot is only a size 10, so maybe that plays a part as well as my bucket being about 50mm lower than the stock seat height.

 

It's hard to get people to race me I don't even care if I win or lose I just want to get a benchmark for where I'm at. The main way I can race is to find somebody who's already driving very aggresively, get him to want to pass me and then floor it. Other than that I just end up doing a bunch of stoplight launches up to the speedlimit with nobody ever trying to race me. Responsible, no, but it is what is, I'm prepared to accept the consequences, and I wont whine if I get caught. My only rule is not to put other drivers at risk. If only I would have been around for the smokey and the bandit era... I'd have my Trans AM and my mullet. Hell yea.

 

Eh... the tests:



Challenger V6:
VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 2-door coupe
PRICE AS TESTED: $31,800 (base price: $25,495)
ENGINE TYPE: DOHC 24-valve V-6, aluminum block and heads, port fuel injection
Displacement: 220 cu in, 3604 cc
Power (SAE net): 305 hp @ 6350 rpm
Torque (SAE net): 268 lb-ft @ 4800 rpm
TRANSMISSION: 5-speed automatic with manumatic shifting

C/D TEST RESULTS:
Zero to 60 mph: 6.4 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 17.1 sec
Zero to 130 mph: 39.2 sec
Street start, 5–60 mph: 6.8 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 14.9 sec @ 94 mph
Top speed (governor limited): 137 mph
Braking, 70–0 mph: 163 ft

Sorry, couldn't find them from the same source.

Nobody would ever look at a Fit and expect it to be fast. I was frequently asked if it was a Hybrid though; I'm thinking maybe because of the jelly-bean shape. I used to get the same thing with the ex-wife's Echo (which is more understandable since it looked a LOT like the Prius at the time).

 

No, it's not. It's a twin. Twins (as a general rule) won't rev as high for the displacement. Hence the 650cc twin in the 650R generates far less power than the 599cc in the ZX6R (somewhere around 110-120, like the rest of the supersport class). It's about the same powerwise as the V-twin in the Suzuki SV650. Specific horsepower doesn't really matter - it's power/weight ratio that counts, and power that is at a useful place in the powerband for your riding style.

It hits the sweet spot of it's powerband from about 6500-8500 RPM, if you care to spin it out that high. I'm likely going to replace it with a KLR-650 which generates somewhere around 35 hp with it's big carbed single. I rarely rev mine over about 6000 RPM, and the KLR has far better low end torque at the same speeds. I also want a larger frame - the 650R is more comfortable than the 250R was, but it still feels like they compromised it so that women and wee-folk could still put their tippy-toes down to the tarmac. The KLR has a stock 35" seat height, which means that I can flat-foot it and still have plenty of seat-peg distance.

 

I had no idea the Fit would elicit so many “let’s race” responses.
It seems Subaru’s, Mazda’s and many Honda’s view my Fit as a hot rod and want to challenge me.
I am usually about 25-30 years older than the perps and have no interest in any speed contest.
I also get many owners of BMW’s, Acura’s, and even the occasional Jag and Mercedes, who suddenly develop lead feet when they see my car.

I find it somewhat amusing that I now drive a 1.5 liter car which, evidently, screams “performance”.

In 1984 I bought a Volkwagen GTI convertible. It was pretty pimped, for 1984 standards, sporting “Plus Two” 15 inch aftermarket wheels, (The low profile tire was fairly new back then), an aftermarket front spoiler, and a few other add-ons. It not only looked like a performance automobile, it WAS a performance automobile. It would keep up with many of the high performance cars of the day, and would dust some of them.

I almost never had street challenges back then. Now, I have several a week, though I do not participate. Weird.
My Fit Sport is mildly pimped, just some tinted tails, very lightly tinted windows, and a sharkfin antenna. The whole package must look pretty tight though because it does not go unnoticed.

Oh well, I take it as a compliment. Just yesterday a co-worker looked at my Fit and said: “That thing looks like a Rice Rocket”. I smiled and told him that it is pretty gutless. But I appreciated the comment just the same.

 

Next time a big 4 door high hp sedan wants to race, take them to nearest mountain pass or hill road and have fun dusting them.

 

I would have thought that the KLR 650 had more power than that... Do you know if there are after market parts available for that engine?... I rode a little BSA 441 Victor in the 70s.. It was right at 30 HP and weighed under 300 lbs.. It sucked real bad in comparison to the dual purpose bikes of today when ridden off road and wasn't strong at accelerating but it was a blast to ride in the city.. It would top out at 110, was easy to wheelie for a block or more at a time and sounded amazing with a short reverse cone megaphone with snuffler plug until it would break and shoot off into the air. The KLR 650 is a great bike.. One of my former neighbors in Dallas is still riding one he bought in 1994.

 

That's definitely a race I would chance. A few sharp turns and the Fit leaves many in the dust. Just this morning, I had an SUV riding my tail aggressively and I took two sharp turns with minimal braking and quickly put a football field between us. Have fun trying to not roll over, buddy.

I love how just lowering the car a bit makes it so much more fun. Now only if I had a rear sway bar...

 

It's the smoked tails. I see that in any car and I assume it's a boy racer. Not tryin to offend at all, just my opinion.

 

Looks like the Accord pretty much wins.

 

Except if you have to go uphill for a while. This thing is so weak I wouldn't take it up Pike's Peak.

 

So a 1.5L NA wouldn't be a hot rod at ~14k above sea level? Ya don't say. If you don't like the Fit why join a Fit Forum?

How about you quit your bitching and do something about it, like sell it.

Better yet, boost is pretty cheap and easy. You live in Illinois, Lyon and/or I could do it for you if you lack the know how. Or at least walk you through it if you can swing a wrench.

 

Yes, I do notice people jumping out ahead with more than the usual pickup, but I attribute it more to wanting to get out in front to change lanes rather than 'racing'.

I guess they take a look at the little car and figure they can get in front of it pretty easily so instead of hanging back and trying to cut in, they just squirt out ahead and cut in front.

 

Old is what's between your ears, not what's on the calendar. And you're right about the Datsun Z. Mine's just frikkin' amazing on the twisty roads. Lotsa power and sticks better than a scared cat on carpet.

geo

 

I was smoked by a 90's Astro Van full of passengers yesterday. I'm okay with that.