I just purchased a 2013 Honda Fit with about 40,000 miles on it.
Its a fun little car so far, but have noticed a few things the more I drive it.

1.) Headlights seem to dim while driving and at idle. I have seen headlights dim while the AC compressor kicks on and off, but it seems excessive with this car. Even while driving down the street I can see the headlights drastically dim and then come back to their normal state...is this normal?

2.) When I turn my headlights off, they for the most part turn off, but don't...lol. I have never seen this in a car before, but when I turn my lights off, the brights indicator very lightly illuminates on the dash, and the headlights appear to be dimly on. Is this normal?

3.) When starting the car, it seems to take a bit of extra effort to get it to turn over. Battery is brand new and the car is Honda certified. Normally it wouldn't bother me but it seems a bit excessive.

4.) I live in AZ and drive it quite a bit for long periods of time, AC works great, except towards the end of the night, the airflow sound changes to a more restricted sound. Almost like someone has placed a screen over the vents, and the cold air turns to cool air.

I ask these questions because I know the powerplant is just a little 1.5 liter. I have never had a motor this small before, so I am just wondering if this is something that is to be expected for such a small motor. I do put a lot of stress on the vehicle as I mainly do stop and go driving, and can put about 100 mils on it in about 5 hours....

Also....

Looking for opinions on aftermarket parts....

Exhaust systems, headers, electrical, cold air intake....just want to give those 117 horses a little more umph. Any suggestions will be much appreciated. I really dig this little car. Just want to make sure I am not running into problems right off the bat.

Thanks Guys!!!

 

The lights dimming is due to the tiny battery and a wholly inadequate electrical system in the name of less drag from the alternator.

The lights you are seeing on still are the daytime running lights

My car takes a bit to crank as well

And for the AC issue I would check the cabin air filter first. Pull anything out of the lower glove box push the sides in and it will swing down allowing you to access the cabin air filter.

 

All sounds normal.

 

All normal. My 2013 Fit Sport did all those since new. Never bothered me.

 

If you want a little more oomph just get a K&N drop in filter.

Exhaust isn't really going to give you much more power, so only do it if you want it to sound sportier.

If you want more actual power, you can supercharge it makes it feel like how the car should have come.

 

Disabling the DRLs is just one fuse pull away, and for the hard starting and dimming lights, look at upgrading your battery. New doesn't mean a thing with something that puny, and used car departments aren't going to buy the same battery you would want to have- they're going to buy the one they want to pay for. A decent battery might not be as sexy as adding horses, but you ought to do that before engine surgery.

Performance upgrades should be done backwards from the tires, through the suspension and the driveline to the engine. Speaking of driveline, proper gearing lets the power out, and a soup of hydraulic fluid bogs it down something fierce. Since you were already thinking about performance, you did get a manual, right? You didn't say in your post.

If you have an auto, my first question would be why bother upgrading anything else, but after that I'd look at the randomly dimming headlights. When the transmission shifts, it changes the load on the engine and we don't have much power to work with here. We also have a puny battery, so the alternator carries a lot of the load- and engine speed determines that. See if you can spot a connection- that might be what's going on and a good battery mill go a long way to minimizing it.

It's a great little car, there's a lot about it to love.

 

Or for $2500 less you could do the ktuner piggyback to get a little more go & be able to adjust for aftermarket parts. Not that a supercharged fit wouldn't be fun.