How do you figure? They look pretty evenly matched, even with the Dodge hampered by a slushbox. It's close enough that I would expect minor differences in drivers' skill and payload to be far larger variables that the cars themselves. And also note that the Dodge is a WAAAAY chepaer car, powered by the base engine. $22,6 invoice compared to $26,5. Reliability and resale notwithstanding, I'm not sure whether wrong-wheel-drive or a slush-box is a bigger detriment to the fun factor.



It's a 650cc carbed single... old school, but damn near impossible to kill. It's not fast, but should be decent enough (Motocycle Consumer News test):

Top speed 93
0-60 5.88
1/4 mile 14.40@87.0

May be a bit buzzy on the highway, but should be alright.

I'm digging the Blue/Silver color combo:

 

haha nice! i get spanked off the line by everything

 

I'm usually not even tempted to mess around on the street...especially not in a car as anemic as the fit, but the guy had been riding my ass all the way out of the neighborhood, where I always keep it at the speed limit. Once we rolled onto the highway, I figured "I'll lose this a**hole." Who's the a**hole now? Those Vortec 4.3's > 1.5 litres of hamster-driven fury.

 

a little off topic, but isn't the fit's 09+ chassy pretty tight, next tighest in honda's lineup would be s2000?

I think i read this somewhere

 

No offense taken!

You're probably right.
And all I was trying to do was tone down the chrome and red a bit.

I thought the Altezza style red and chrome were what boy racers put on their cars. I'm always behind the eight ball...

I wonder if GTI's and Mini's have this problem? (Smoked tails or not)

 

So far I haven't gotten any challenges, but I sure do worry that I'm giving people the wrong idea with my still-poor shifting technique (first stick-shift).

I doubt I'll get too many challenges in the base Fit, though.

 

I don't know why but when I see Altezzas I think... mexicans! It's probably just a regional thing though. Around here the trailer trash all have lifted pickups rather than the altezza bearing civics you might expect. And then there are the lifted caprices with 24in wheels, we all know who those belong to.

 

I think a guy in an Evo (or maybe just Lancer) was trying to goad me into racing him. (well before the lady in the CRV bumped me).

At two lights, I played stupid and let him take off, while I "casually" sped up.

After the second light, we were approaching another traffic signal, but it stayed green, so we didn't have to stop... BUT, I noticed the lanes after that were merging... I hate sitting behind people that make moving roadblocks. So... I downshifted an took off, FINALLY passing him. But since he moved to the left and turned at the next light, I guess he didn't care.

Oh well.

I had Altezzas... in the Mirage. http://www.cardomain.com/ride/655670...subishi-mirage

Now that car definitely went through an "identity crisis." Because of the headlight swap I did... you might think I was in a BMW if you saw me in the rear view mirror at night (since all you could see were the halos). Then, when I moved to San Diego... my brother bought used BMW wheels for it!

 

Why do people try and race fits? maybe because they think it might be that one with the pirate ship on the side that they keep hearing racing stories about

~SB

 

I don t understand it eather. But,,, as they say. It is more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow.

 

Picking on the runt of the litter is about all some people can hope to be good at... Out where I live, I get a lot of the "fast in a looooong straight line" idiots in pickup trucks with wheel & muffler upgrades trying to intimidate me.

Don't tell my wife, but I actually DO participate in some of the informal challenges, choosing my battles carefully. Drag racing? Yeah, whatever. I tend to form the big "L" on my forehead when someone tries to goad me into a straight line race. But if I'm on the twisties out in the country, I'll definitely drop a gear or two and run in the VTEC RPM band and hammer the curves. With my Fit mods, if I can maintain speed on the right road, I can leave some of those d-bags scratching their heads.

About a month ago that very thing happened when a lifted pickup with some mudder tires (racing equipment? seriously?) came running up on my ass on a two-lane. I know the road well, and there were too many turns and too much oncoming traffic to pass, but I had clear sailing in front of me. So I decided it was time to see if the guy was a driver or a d-bag. I think you know where this is going...

Long story short - while trying to keep up with me doing 80 through a 45mph turn, dude got squirrely, the rear end started to drift, a back tire slid off the pavement and he damn near spun out, or worse. He was done at this point (his passenger probably wasn't too happy). I'm sure he scared the shit out of the oncoming traffic as well. The only real danger in this is if you have to stop or slow down. Typically, after an incident like that, the d-bag is pissed and looking to get even by picking a different kind of fight. It's the whole Brains vs Brawn story. If I can't beat you with my limited skills, I will beat you with my overwhelming force...

Be careful out there, Fit racers!

 

Any vehicle can be raced and more than likely will. The upcoming sbox class that includes Fits against fairly even competition just shows that. Especially when the cost of racing is pretty low by comparision. Back in the seventies when showroom stock SCCA got going it was the same way.
Personally, I'm looking forward to watching the Sbox racers go at it; I expect theem to be a hefty level of compoetition with only driverskill, car prep, and luck deciding winners. There will be lots of rule interpretation. A horde of Mazdas, Hondas, and the like contesting every square inch of track will be entertaining as all getout. As for street racing, most is a complete fake. Even my company pickup will easily outrun my Fit on any road course more than a parking lot. As it should.

 

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area with a white fit..,seems like every other day someone wants to race or basically drive faster/drive ahead of me. But I can say this, no one eases off if they think I am "trying to race" them.... hmmm
In fact, I never race because I'm a mature driver and respect Safety!

 

I dont intentionally race but will not be punked on the road just because someone thinks I would get intimidated by an suv...I smoke most suv's....

here's a funny stop sign story....while driving in queens, NY on some crappy, chopped up jamaica ave I made a slow left since the street was cut low exposing manhole covers and such. A van tried passing me on my right (single lane sidestreet mind you) so I reved up and maintained my spot giving him the finger in the process.

drama ensues when a dude in a rapist van gets the finger from a fit. He jumped the curb and zoomed ahead of me anyhow, slammed the brakes repeatedly while cursing me out.

After backing the fit up to a reasonable distance he continued with the f, b, n words asking me to come out....

so I did, all 6 feet 280 pounds of me....I approached the van but he sped off...

i normally wouldn't do that but i was through with his threats to me and my girl, and my fit too.....

 

and while most racer boys do mod up their cars, there is nothing wrong with modding, and tieing mods to race and culture is wrong....even when you're usually right.

The fit is a fun car and I treat it as such. Some tints, some visors, magnetbra and some anime decals is all in the spirit of fun, not race, and certainly not rice....

now if I started throwing CF all around I would be pushing it, but to each their own...most people trying to race or bully me are either in SUV's, Trucks, or luxury brands...most wrx, evo x, mazdaspeeds and such actually give me the thumbs up!

 

Because we can.

 

Pardon me fellow Fitters,
I don't understand how many here have claimed great handling when our fits are so disbalanced in weight distribution....something like 62% front/ 38% rear..... ? (In stock form).

 

On my way back from town a couple of hours ago I hammered it in 2nd gear up a hill on the loose surface road to my house. I let off of the throttle as I crested the the hill just before redlining and felt the car's ass end swing wide to the right and then to the left before straightening out after getting back on the throttle while going downhill... The trick to not loosing the rear end is staying on the throttle even when you are experiencing under steer, which is easy to do on a stock engine but scary as hell with 10PSI boost..... I love boost.

 

It's always the SUVs that want to race or try to intimidate me. Never do I give them an inch I'm kinda sad to say. Not two days ago I had a Nissan armada want to try and keep me from passing even though I was going 15 mph faster than him. End up dropping into third and going around an 18 wheeler before he could get in front of him, never knew the girl could get to 95 so quick.

I remember the first time I lost the ass end of the fit. Down right scared the shit out of me. But I was able to give it throttle instead of mash the brakes like my brain was telling me to do and it sat back down and straightened up.

 

And that would be because you don't really know what those numbers mean in terms of the Fit's handling limits, right? Your question/statement tells me that you've never pushed your Fit just to see how well it handles at the extremes. The weight distribution ratio as a lone measure will NOT tell you how well a car handles in every case. Is it FWD or RWD? Is it AT or MT? Wheelbase directly affects what that ratio translates to in real terms as well. Suspension design/dynamics, tires and driver skill also come into play.

This video might help explain - even with an upgraded chassis/suspension - the weight distribution ratio is still pretty close to stock (unless they put a 200lb box of bricks in the back) on this Skunk2/Kraftwerks Fit, and it seems to be holding a line just fine.

YouTube - ‪Skunk2/Kraftwerks Fit Eats BMW M5‬‏