Hi guys,

So, I normally don't drive like an asshole, but some times I want to push my little fit. Have your found its better to just use s mode and ignore the paddle snifters? Theoretically on a cvt, using the paddle sifters moves us to a preset ratio. This car seems to do better maintaining rpm and sliding the ratio to increase speed. Am i incorrect in thinking it does better without useing paddles?

Also, how bad is it for the motor to be almost redline? I come from a TDI which didn't like to go much higher then 3000 rpm, so i'm a little concerned when the fit wants to do 6 or 7k when i put my foot down. It the motor designed for this or is high rpm really gonna shorten it's life? (I'm still getting used to how the CVT over revs compared to a traditional auto)

If you use the paddle shifters in D it seems to go back to shifting on its own pretty soon. If you use them in S it seems to be stuck in manual mode. Is there away to make it go back to auto after using them once?

Also, is it a bad idea to downshift with padles for braking. I do this all the time on my class8 truck, but do gas motors get damaged being used for braking with high revs?


All in all, what's the best way to screw around without damaging the motor? paddle shift or not? Traction control on or off for driving like an idiot?

 

This is the only car with paddle shifters I've driven where they make sense and are a pleasure to use. Sport is great and the paddles enhance it.

 

When do you shift for max acceleration? do you let it wind up to near red line or shift early?

 

There's no one answer. It depends on conditions. If I can redline it, then I'll consider doing so. But usually it's not necessary to get the progress I desire.

 

Theoretically, a CVT should be able to be optimized at matching power/engine with gear ratio for the "best results." But how they tune it, and how you use it, depends on what "best results" means. Most economy? Most performance? Most responsiveness to throttle changes? All these are trades they programmed and you make when paddle shifting.

(Assuming you will be calm during a decent break-in period of 2k or so.) Most Honda vehicles I've owned (eight now) haven't seemed to mind being driven like you stole 'em. (My '92 Civic Si and '95 Integra GS-R loved it!) Might shorten engine life a little bit--but probably not much--and sure screws with economy. I'd be way more worried about the durability of the CVT than the engine. Not sure whether there's a foundation for that, but Honda has made *way* more 4 cylinder engines than CVTs.

I think this behavior is pretty much the point of S-mode and paddles. It assumes if you are in S and want to play with the paddles you are all in. My BMW 135i worked exactly this way as well.

Shouldn't be an issue for the engine. See caveat above re. CVT.

Whatever amuses you. If you get too into this, you'll probably wrap it around a phone pole before the engine will fail from overwork.

Different problem. And the VSA is a lot more than just traction control. VSA is like so many other newfangled safety systems. It makes most drivers safer in most conditions by keeping them from getting themselves into problems they aren't well trained to handle. And it removes some measure of driver control in order to do so, assuming, a decent assumption, that it can do better controlling wheel slip and stability that most untrained, inexperienced, drivers who only occasionally get themselves in these kind of states. How lucky do you feel? What are the conditions? How good/trained/experienced an extreme conditions driver are you? If spinning tires and skidding about are fun, you can certainly have more fun with VSA off. (Although in a Fit, it may not be by much.)

(I read of some people who turn VSA off every time they get in, for who knows what reason. Of course, I also routinely read here of people who think it makes great sense to turn off the engine--and the EPS and the brake boost vacuum--every time they can coast for a while.)

 

Pull back on the right paddle and hold for a moment to cancel manual shift mode.

 

If you're coming from a TDI and had spent more than 30 minutes on the tdiclub forums, you know the TDI actually needs to be driven hard to prevent coking of the intake as well as to keep the variable vane turbo actuator free and moving clear (again, due to coking). (at least with the ALH engine)

Honda makes motorcycle and other engines that have even higher redlines than our Fits - I have no qualms revving it up if needed (using the "lift and stomp" method to make it rev even closer to redline).

I played with using the paddles for a while, but have gone back to letting the computer select the appropriate ratio. I find "upshifts" with the paddles to be slow. Downshifts are okay, though.

es

 

If you wanna go fast, why did you buy a fit? Lol

 

Good point. Definitely not the zippiest thing in any neighborhood.

 

Well, "fast" is certainly relative, but, IME, it's much for fun to drive a slow car fast than to drive a fast car slow.

Nothing like having 500 HP under the hood, and no place you can use it.

 

Until we moved across the ocean, I had a 2009 BMW 135i. Effortlessly crazy fast. After owning it for a while, and upon internalizing the notion that it really was possible to drive too fast, I found myself driving everything a little more calmly. There is something to be said for knowing it's there and it would if you asked it to.

 

Honda also makes industrial engines that never go above 3600RPM so it just as logical to say that a Fit shouldn't go over that RPM!

 

Wonder what the redline is on my Honda rototiller? I know my CR-V accelerates better.

 

Not trying to negative or anything but everyone realizes that "paddle shifters" and "cvt" in the same sentence is an oxymoron. There is no shifting going on. It's almost laughable that they put paddles on a car with a cvt. IMO of course.

 

In "S" mode, the paddle shifters do create a fixed ratio, much like a regular automatic transmission. So if you consider that 'not shifting' too, then yes, it is the same.

 

Nitpicking over exactly how to change gears in an automatic transmission (or even debating whether or not the particular AT can be said to have "gears"), especially in a car with... rather limited power like a Fit, is a lot like arguing over just how to arrange the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Especially if you want to go fast, or efficiently, or anything.

 

It's not an automatic transmission. It's a CVT and again there is no shifting involved. In "S" mode the computer holds the band or chain in the CVT in one position. When the paddle is flicked it moves the band or chain to another position. This gives the simulation of a shift similar to an auto trans. But it is only a simulation.

Also we are not arguing but are simply having a polite discussion about our cars. If you would like to add something meaningful or join in, by all means please do.

 

I've rented lots of cars with paddle shifters but this one is the only one I could make sense of and have fun with...whatever it's doing.

 

One redline per day keeps the mechanic away.

 

Power mods on a Fit just seems like a big waste of money to me. By the time you've spent enough money to gain 10hp, you might as well have just saved up a little longer and gotten a much faster Civic SI.