I remember reading that the most prominent tuner in Japan asked Honda to bring out a version of the Jazz that tuners could play with - and the Fit was born. Or something like that. Does anyone have a link to an article that articulates it Acura-ly?

 

i've never heard anything like that and i find it unlikely. the fit is also called a fit in japan; it is called a jazz in some other countries though. the 1.5L engine is also available in other countries (along with other variations that we don't have, like a 1.3L or AWD) so ours is no special version really. it's got some subtle differences for the US market but nothing really drastic. honda probably brought it over because they did some research and predicted it would be a profitable move.

also, "the most prominent tuner in japan" doesn't really exist. that'd be very opinionated. i don't think there's a "most prominent tuner in the US." but i could be wrong. if you find a link to your article pls. share.

 

I think what your refering to is 'how the VTEC Fit came about', initially the i-dsi(intelligent dual sequencial ignition) was released and a prominent drifter or racer in Japan wanted Honda to make a Type-R version of the car. Honda's compromise was the VTEC, which had a healthy jump in power but nothing that would be considered 'Type-R' territory. And yes its the Fit in Japan, USA and some other parts in the world. In Europe, Africa, Australia, Brazil etc its known as the Jazz. (if your wondering why, its cause 'fitta' means something rather rude in Danish or Norwegian). The 1.5L 81kw/110hp is the VTEC and the rest were 1.2/1.3 (some badged as 1.4's) i-dsi's. Hope this answers your query?

 

interesting stories, I just thought that Honda brought the Fit over to the states to compete with Toyota.. but what do I know? haha

 

LOL. yeah, fitta means vajayjay. HAHA

 

This is the version of the story I know of. Temple of VTEC Asia has it.
GD3 Honda Fit Jazz VTEC Full Review

I believe it was the video magazine Best Motoring, and their presenters "Drift King" Keiichi Tsuchiya and Naoki Hattori, who test-drove the early GD1 Fits with the L13A engines. According to them, they liked the chassis - which had all its stiffening at the bottom, they said - but found the power output lacking.

The GD3 Fit VTEC was then released two or three years after the first Fits were made. CMIIW

By the way the Jazz and Fit names do not signify any particular engine variant. The Fit name is used in the US and Japan as far as I know, with the Jazz moniker used just about everywhere else. There are 1.3L and 1.5L Jazzes just as much as there are 1.3L and 1.5L Fits - only the 1.5L made it to the US.

Spot on with the 1.2L engines - those were sold in the UK and Europe, where they don't seem to get the 1.5Ls

 

Wow.. it feels like I just finished watching the discovery channel.

 

I was just putting down what I recalled from memory

 

Yep I was agreeing with you I just filled in the details

 

I did find the articles I was looking for, thanks - the info I was referring to is in the first paragraph of the first article. The next two are engine worship - the third has some sweet photos including our L15A1 stainless steel OEM header.


http://asia.vtec.net/Reviews/JazzVtec/

http://asia.vtec.net/Series/FitJazz/lseries/

http://asia.vtec.net/Series/FitJazz/lseriesphoto/