Could be a couple of things: Engine is broken in and loosening up a bit. Your last tank of gas might have been better quality than those previously. It's colder this time of year and you're not running your a/c nearly as much as you were during the first 3,500 miles. Of course, it could be a combination of all three. Or it could just be you adjusting your shift points higher as you get more familiar with driving your new car.

 

The fit is fun... and so what if it is slow. Its like the original Mini's, they had VERY little power, but were fun and got people where they needed to go.

My other car is a 300hp Genesis Sedan and a 560whp/588ft-lb mustang (Weights 3100 lbs wet). The mustang is just generally a tool around car and I enjoy it, yes I can run 10s time slips, yes I can take almost any exotic around the track (open track car). I enjoy it, but the fit is just as enjoyable.

PLUS i get 35mpg acting like a retard. That's plenty of reason to own one!

 

I admit to only reading the first page and then skipping to the last page so I'm sure it was mentioned but I own a GD3 MT and, although it's not FAST it's certainly not slow. I outrun MANY cars! For an immensely practical car it's quick, IF you got an MT. The difference between the MT and the AT is considerable! I owned an 85 MR2 which many in the car community respected. It wasn't FAST either but the fit fit's performance isn't far off. It's a fun little car not a street racer. it is what it is. If you want a fast car get a new camaro (which I'v seen up close and thinks it looks gawdy and tacky) andd prepare to hang out at the gas station an the Chevy dealership a lot. I'm not Chevy bashing my first four cars were Chevys but got tited of their lack of dependability. My fit not FAST but NOTHING not even a rattle has gone wrong with it.

 

Mine seems to become progressively faster as I accrue mileage and fuel mileage improves as well.... Some of the power increase you are feeling could be a result of cooler temperatures this time of year.... It won't be nearly as strong during the summer months.

 

Perhaps it's what an individual needs 'fast' for. Yesterday, my Fit surprised the shit out of me- it showed balls.

We've all done it- you commit to turning into on coming traffic that's bearing down on you. You know it's gonna be close. Why you commited is anybody's guess, but the LAST thing you do is whimp out like so many morons do. Nine times out of ten you wouldn't put yourself in that situation, but there you are NEEDING the damn car to step up. I put myself in this unfortunate situation yesterday while boogying around town. I stepped on that gas pedal and BAM- I rocketed! LOL! Left on coming traffic in the dust! I was actually whoo hooing out loud! That's the kind of fast I need from my Fit...my automatic Fit, I should mention.

Balls. It stepped up, roared, and responded without a single hesitation. I was impressed. It does 80 mph on the freeway and I can't feel the speed. You KNOW it can go a bunch faster. It picks up like a mofo, and keeps up plenty good. That's enough for me!

Dan

 

Boys, quit pissing about who or what has the biggest shlong...

The Fit is, what the Fit is.

You can't compare apples to oranges.

Have fun, save gas, haul stuff.

I love my Fit. It gets me where I need to go, it has enough power to get there, and NO I will not compare it to one of my former cars, a 2000 Mustang GT, V8 thank you very much. I won't even compare it to my last car, a 2004 Honda Accord, V6 fully loaded with all leather etc.

However, I will say that since I put in the Clazzio seat covers....it has now become one of my favorite cars ever....these seats covers are great! No more lint magnets!

 

A couple of points:

My automatic Fit is slow. Not quite as slow as stock, now that I've done some things to it. That's not why I bought it.

2000 Ranger, 4.0 OHV (the "old" 4.0), of my Dad's, was terribly slow until we did a catback exhaust and a chip. Gets maybe 16 MPG. I've heard the SOHC is stronger.

If you want a faster Fit for acceleration, try a throttle controller and 93 octane fuel. Makes a surprising difference.

Finally, I want a stick shift.

 

Upgrade your entire radio system and itll be worth more than 100 whp.

Whenever some idiot speeds past you or cuts you off just wait till the next red light, pull up next to them, and apply a little bit of the "BOOM BOOM POW" treatment. Pull out the frequency generator and set it to 60 hz for maximum volume or 40hz for maximum vibration.

 

On the tank of gas; I think they stopped blending ethanol (they only do that in the summer months) with the gasoline here in Atlanta. I think that's probably the extra kick in my pants and boost in mileage. Maybe a bit of being broken in. I played with the A/C, plus it's so eager to disengage the compressor under acceleration that I don't think that's the difference.

Still running on the factory radio.

 

In Thailand we have a choice of ethanol 91 or 95 Octane or just gasoline 91 or 95 octane.

I must say running on gasoline 95 octane the car is like a race horse with an extra 2 or 3 KM\L. Sorry about the ozones.

 

A lot of people on fitfreak just don't have a clue to the power potential of these little engines and their ability to adjust timing and A?FR ratios to exploit the performance potential that they have..... There has been many a thread where those that use the 93 octane fuel here have had their level of intelligence questioned and even called names because they can tell a difference in power using the good stuff...... Personally I use premium with a shot of octane booster and Lucas fuel conditioner and have been told numerous times to spend the money for a dyno run to prove to them I am benefiting from doing so after I have been accused of wasting my money by not using 89 octane fuel..... The power increase and improvement in fuel mileage justifies the expense to me and I can't figure out why so many other people don't get it..... The owners manual states that fuel below a certain octane is not to be used and people interpret that to mean that the car is meant to use only that grade of fuel.

 

Any perceived gain from burning higher octane fuel exists only in your head.

Higher octane gasoline actually burns more slowly than lower octane. The reason that high performance cars require higher octane fuel is because they typically have higher compression ratios within the cylinders. The result from burning lower octane gas is that during the compression stroke, the fuel mixture ignites prematurely before the spark plug fires. This is called pre-ignition, or 'knocking'. The explosion within the cylinder occurs before the piston reaches the top of it's stroke, and tries to actually push the piston backwards. This is bad, and can cause serious damage to the engine.

Higher octane fuel retards pre-ignition, preventing knocking because it won't ignite as easily. It waits until the spark plug fires before it burns. So unless your car is knocking, burning higher octane fuel doesn't provide any performance boost and is just wasting your money. Sorry to be the one to break it to you...

 

25 cents a Liter more expensive.

 

See... Up pops another one with misconceptions about the abilities of the automatic tuning adjustments performed by modern ECUs.... We are about to enter the second decade of the 21st century things have changed since the 1980s..... Premium does not burn slower but ignites at a higher temperature to prevent pinging.... The systems in modern engines have the ability to retard the timing to a level that reduces ping when it is necessary to do so like when you are using low octane fuel and advance for higher octane fuel We aren't talking about points and condensers and manual timing adjustments any more..... This ability has been a feature on most cars for over 15 years and actually existed in the sixties on military multi fuel vehicles that were used world wide.

 

So if we agree that higher octane gas doesn't ignite as easily (sorry for the 'slower burning' terminology -- I was attempting to oversimplify, which is obviously not necessary in your case), and the ECU has to retard the timing to prevent knocking, then where does the performance benefit come from?

From what I can find, higher octane gas doesn't contain any more energy per given quantity. The only difference I can see is the higher ignition temp. I'm hard pressed to understand how that provides any performance benefit. If it's simply the change in the timing, then why wouldn't the ECU retard the timing for any given octance if there's a performance boost? On the contrary, I would imagine that the standard timing is optimum, and the retardation is simply a adjustment to prevent engine damage at the expense of total power output.

 

With more advance there is more fuel fuel burned on the power stroke and less unburned fuel exiting the exhaust system..... This results in more efficiency, that in turn provides better fuel mileage and power..... The Fit has a 10.4 compression ratio which by the standards of the past are used make it a high compression engine.... The ECU also fattens up the fuel ratio a tad to prevent destruction of the piston tops, exhaust valves and spark plugs..... FitFlowjoe can attest to the difference octane booster made in a before and after drive in my car... I thought that he wasn't going to bring it back for awhile but he did ..... He uses it in his Fit and took top honors in his class in autocross last weekend in Houston, but he is a hell of a good driver which I am sure had a lot to do with his win and me letting him drive my car.

 

I seem to recall a few years back when they revised SAE net Horsepower to SAE certified horsepower, several engines (cough! Toyota cough!) were severely revised downward. It turned out that they were basically designing the engines to run on 91, testing them on the dyno with 91, and then selling them as engines that run on 87, since the ECU could compensate.

 

I use a ScanGauge II, and I noticed a significant difference in the range below 2500 RPM on 93 octane. At higher loads and low RPM, what would have been single digit advance on 87 octane jumped to 15-21 degrees on 93. Just looking at the numbers, in case you don't feel like checking it for yourself, it's obvious the ECU is changing things.

I went back to 87, the timing went back, and low-end torque went away again. I only use 93 now.

 

Well, I'm not too big to admit when I'm wrong. I stand corrected.

 

mmmmm at the risk of being a spoilsport, I still don't believe higher octane fuel will produce more power in an engine designed for regular gasoline.

The amount of energy gallon for gallon is the same regardless of the octane rating.

A higher performance engine produces more power by packing more fuel in a tinier space and then igniting it. The fuel doesn't produce more power by making a bigger explosion due to a magical octane rating.

High compression engines, and engines with forced induction (turbos, superchargers) require a slower burning fuel which ignites at a higher temperature to avoid pre-ignition and detonation (knocking) that is damaging to engines. Pre-ignition happens when the fuel ignites before the spark due to heat caused by compression or other factors. Knocking occurs from areas of fuel detonating separately from the main spark ignited burn. Because the fuel burns too quickly the maximum energy is achieved on the compression stroke, not the power stroke causing damage and loss of power.

Higher octane fuels burn more slowly and ignite at higher temperatures. But once they are burned completely, the amount of energy is the same that the same quantity of lower octane fuel provides.

The observation that the Fit is advancing its timing if you put higher octane fuel in it, indicates the Fit's ECU is smart enough to do this so it all burns before the piston is too far into the power stroke wasting energy. Engines that aren't this smart end up exhausting unburned fuel reducing the life of the exhaust/catalytic converter (where it winds up getting burned).

Conversely, if you put low octane fuel in a high compression or boosted engine, modern engines sense knocking and retard the timing so fuel ignites later, avoiding knocking but dumping unburned fuel in the exhaust and losing power. The Fit is smarter than this.

Someone needs to dyno test their manual transmission Fit on both regular and premium gas and show us the results. If this shows the Fit produces more power on premium, then it's dumping unburned fuel on regular gas causing shortened cat life. I don't think this is happening on a 1.5L well designed economy car. I do think you are doing a disservice suggesting people run premium gasoline in it though.