I live in the mountains of North Carolina and have been driving Miatas for about 3 years, enjoying some spirited driving on curves. My wife has a 2013 stock Fit automatic (non paddle shifters) that I've played around with on the curves. We also had an 07 Sport Auto that was a blast to drive around town. I really like the Fits, but wondering of a manual vs paddles would help some in the mountains.

I'm considering getting rid of the Miata. Can a Fit be modified with sway bars, etc to have some fun on the curves? If so, how would you compare the fit vs the Miata in handling?

If there are threads addressing this topic, please direct me.

Thanks

 

not sure you will like a AT Fit considering you drive a miata which i am assuming is MT.

at minimum get a MT Fit, otherwise if you're into hatches go for the GTI/GolfR also check out the current gen WRX. these are cars with power and handling.

 

i test drove a 17 BRZ limited MT a few months ago thinking it would be like a mini STI.. lol not even close. sloppy and cheesy feeling car. i couldn't feel any resemblance (how mags use to say it was like a poorman's cayman) between that and a cayman my buddy let me drive. brz felt like a late 80's tercel

 

Actually I've driven Miatas with both MT and AT with paddle shifters. I'm not a car guy, but was considering a MT Fit if I could get some decent handling on the curves and mountains around here. I've seen folks modifying their Fits; so, I just wondered if anyone had done that for my purposes.


Thanks again for the reponse.

 

no problem.

i had the GD 2008 and GE 2012 both MT's and they were modded. they were pretty fun to drive, especially the 2012 MT. handling wise they were a point and shoot kind of car, it followed the curves nicely, just not very gracefully especially when pushed due to the open diffs. with the right tires these Fits can turn pretty well for wat they are.

 

Really? I think you already know the answer? The Fit sucks compared to the Miata handling wise. One is a purpose built Sports Car the other is an econobox with a target market of cheap people who worry about getting 80K miles out of a set of tires. Sure you can make it better, but the money you'll spend, you might as well just go buy a used NA Miata.

Niw for the lecture part. Instead of endangering someone's life with spirited driving through the canyons go do a SCCA autocross and really see how fast or slow you are. Typical cost is $25-50. Plus if you' you tell them you're new they'll get you an instructor free of charge. If course you can continue to to what your doing and one day make a mistake and at best hurt or get killed. Worse yet hurt or kill someone who hasn't given consent for you to endanger their life. Then you can think about what happened while your in jail.

 

Thats because you probably weren't driving it anywhere at it's limit. It's a whole lot more fun to drive a 200HP car with 7" wide wheels at its handling limit where you can feel it loose grip, catch it and continue on at the edge. Add another 100HP, wheels that are an 1-1/2" wider with 2" wider tires and that "edge" gets narrower There's tons of video on YouTube showing drivers who ran out of talent smashing their WRX or STi

 

Fun car does not have to be high power. Sometimes the most fun car is a small car that is lightweight and has decent power. I can certainly understand the fun of miata. if Fit can boost power to 160hp. It will be amazing. I have 2017 fit with cvt. I also have front bar and rear bar installed. It does improve cornering ability. I do not know how it compare to miata though.

 

I had a 1975 FIAT 126. Two cylinder, air cooled, 23 bhp, 4 speed manual. It had drum brakes all round but did have Pirelli run-flat tyres, which were wide, very low profile and very soft. It was the most fun car I have ever driven. You had to treat it like a big truck, maintaining momentum and getting in the right gear well in advance. You don't need a lot of power to have fun (or scare the sh*t out of yourself). Not a lot of fun on the open highway, but on country roads (the bulk of my driving back then), it was a blast.

 

The suspension and chassis are the Fits real limiters compared to a Miata IMO. The solid beam rear suspension really holds back the Fit as any bump in the rear seems to upset the car, especially in a turn. Plus the RWD of the Miata allows you to rotate the car with the use of the throttle, not as elegant with a Fit haha.

Sure you could spend the money to modify a Fit to get close to a stock Miata, but why bother? The Fit is a great commuter car and that's why I bought it for. There are no illusions for me that it's a great canyon carver, but it'll do if that's all you have. I had to do a work trip, and was able to swing by and do the Back of the Dragon in SWVA. It was fun in the Fit, but I would have had more fun on the SV650 for sure.

I've spent some miles on 2 wheels in western NC. The mountains roads there are a hoot. Especially like Cherahola (sp?) Skyway, more so than Tail of the Dragon. You're lucky to have those roads at your doorstep on a daily basis.

 

yep as long as it's not a fast looking car that is slow it can be fun for sure.

 

Man its like this question was meant for me haha.

So I have a '13 Fit Sport with manual trans on 15x8 wheels/tires and several suspension mods, adjustable coilovers, rear sway bar, cusco lower tie braces. I will say that these have greatly improved the Fit in the handling department. Coilovers helped with the height/roll, rear sway helped significantly with body roll (its not 100% gone but significantly reduced vs stock) and the lower braces tightened up steering a bit.

As others have mentioned, the torsion bar rear suspension is a HUGE limiting factor in the Fit. Despite improved handling, all my prior cars with rear independent suspensions performed on par or better than the Fit even without similar suspension modifications.

Funny you're comparing Miatas as I just got one myself. 2001 Miata NB. Only complaint is its automatic (investigating a manual trans swap)...but since it was more or less gifted to me, I can't complain about free "fun" car haha. It is entirely stock and I've been driving it the last 2 weeks the same routes that I have driven my Fit in the 2 years of ownership. The fact that the Miata is a low slung little 2 seater sports car makes it on-par or better than my modified Fit on the same routes/speeds etc. And thats with the auto trans, worn 144k miles suspension and 15x6 stock wheels/tires. If I put similar suspension mods on the miata (which I plan to do) it'll handle above and beyond the Fit's capabilities. There's a reason there are dedicated spec classes for the Miata

Sure the footprint of the cars are similar. But the Fit has all that cabin which lends to the body roll, whereas the miata's highest point is the convertible top/windshield.

 

Put your Gram Lights on the miata!

 

in my case dat would be my pumpkin head dat disrupts the vert's handling.

 

Considering it! But its stock height right now so it'll look goofy...3-4 finger gaps all around
Think some Konig dial-ins/hyper grams or avanti S1s would be an option too.


LOL That is me too..my head peeks over the top of the windshield frame if I sit completely upright....but then my vision is obscured by the top of the frame...so I have to slouch/recline a little so I can see properly.

 

hahahahaha!! peewee yah definitely lower if running aggressive offsets.