What is it about the Fit's rear suspension that does not allow for drifting?

I know front wheel-drive doesn't help, I know it's an econo-car, and I know sliding is not the best way around corners... I just wonder how the rear suspension is set up that so doggedly prevents this!

With my ex-Civic hatch a little nudge of the handbrake worked wonders...

 

I think part of it has to do with it having very good traction, handling, and being heavy for its size also.

the rear torsion beam probably has a bit to do with it as I believe it is countering traction breaking.

I could drift/a$$drag my '86 civic and could do incredible and spectacular drifts/a$$drags in my 01 Civic coupe (especially if I took out the spare tire n jack!!!)

You might have noticed that the Fit succumbs a great deal to squat, which doesnt help drifting/dragging much. Go in a straight line and pull on the e-brake in the Fit...it squats like its taking a duke in the middle of the street.
Put the base model wheels and tires in the back and take out the spare n jack and your view will be a little more wonderful out your side windows!

center of gravity and weight transfer in the Fit are really well controlled which doesnt help either...shorter wheel base (relatively) the list goes on...

 

I real hope your tring the "drift" in the snow, if not damn your hard on your car I would inmagine its as easy as pullin the E-brake as u go threw a corner. I have not real tried it, I had a bad exsperience last year in my grand-am

 

...either way I dont think we get snow where we live

I used to drift a bit and do auto-x and some (I was strapped for cash back in college...so dont judge...) stunt driving. with various training courses and karting with generous FWD light off road trails...I love rally...
And a generous helping of " not so legal stuff "...and we leave it at that.

and if you meant it for me...I am very hard on my cars...but not this new Fit...(its new and I am injured)

Back to the Fit drift/drag thing. I would imagine to do it in stock FS trim, one would have to treat it similar to how I would do it in my old '86 Civic (not AE86...not that there is an AE86 Civic...hahahaa)
1. Right before going into a turn do a quick counter and lift off
2. As you just start to turn in Spank the brake as you yank sharply but not long the e-brake
4. Get back on the throttle quick... If you are in a higher gear punch it...if in a lower gear maybe ease in quickly (too much grip and accel and you will squat, killing the drift/drag and possibly washing out the front )
5. You probably want to counter at this point...but you would know that by that point...

try it in the wet...(not you... the roads) you dont want the rear to squat.
that is what the lift off and counter is about...to unsettle the back and help bring the weight forward and to the outer side.

Ummmm...on second thought....I do not endorse any of this experiment at your own risk...do not try around anyone else and only if you have a family that does not care about you!

Hey I just thought of this...it works with some things I guess...If you have a PS2 and GT4 go buy a Fit and mess around! Heck I might even do that...especially if I get rained in tomorrow...errr today.

 

I love the Fit pic at the bottom of your posts...it has been one of my favorite Fit pics, if it was mine...I would have that sucker hanging on my wall... for all to worship
I love the muted earthy tone and the sharp sexy Fit in the "classic" pose.
I have a NHBP FS too and your pic makes me love mine even more!!!

 

That's probably it.

OK, so who's going to take it off and go for a quick spin?

 

It will be pretty hard to go for a quick spin with your car dragging on the ground... the torsion bar helps hold the car up

 

Ever seen a FWD drift car? Me neither. All the drift cars I've seen are RWD. I don't see how drifting could work for a FWD vehicle

 

wow I don't know about half of these threads lol

 

FWD cars have to wait for snow fall to do any thing remotly close to drifting, or a rainy day. All you have to do is pull up on hte e-bake as you go into a croner and it will get the back of the car to slide out. I use to do it all the time in My Neon and Grand Am every winter untill I had a accident in ther Grand AM.

I went into a unfamiliar, snow covered parking lot and got the car sidewas at 15MPH then bam I hit a curb sidways...that little adventure cost me about $2,000

 

Ouch! Looks like you could have hovered away, like the Back to the Future car.

 

haha fits nor any other fwd cant drift!!! its called powersliding with style

 

LOOOOOOOL Yes, I guess that would be hard to do...

That would be drifting with sparks!

Time to bring out the old cafeteria trays...

 

It is indeed called powersliding/A$$dragging.. like I posted up before... but more often then not it just becomes semantically obsolete/moot...anywho...

no you dont need snow or rain... just determination and experience... and you dont necessarily need to use the e-brake all the time to do it....(although e-brake and rain is really fun especially in FWD...not that I endorse it....heehee, snow must be fun...but I have never been in the snow in any capacity...bummer)
-weight shift
-tires
-suspension geometry
-road type (excluding weather)
-speed
-entry angle
-weight allocation
...are all big factors especially in FWD sliding... you can pour smoke..not as easily or as much...and you can many times look just as impressive as a RWD...keeping speed is much...much... MUCH...harder...though, and many times it requires more effort than in RWD...which can be a bonus or a negative... and much harder to be consistent...

I agree with the "Back to the Future" thing....I WAS SOOOO THINKING THAT TOO!!! glad you were ok! and lucky it was only 2k I could forsee much more...

 

Here you go GT4 FIT DRIFT

 

YouTube - Civic Drift.. Cool

I just have to post this whenever I hear someone say you can't drift in a FWD... I, Personally wouldn't chose to drift a FWD car, simply because it's just too technical, and RWD cars are just much more fun to slid around in, they feel more natural to drift in.

 

RWD cars can drift...
FWD cars can powerslide...
AWD cars stick like glue :-P

'nuff said

 

from my experiences AWD/4WD drifts are quite spectacular and rather unique in the feeling department. FWD's are more violent, but very enjoyable as well.

I will revise to my liking:

FWD-powerslide,a$$drag, and if you prefer "drift" for the look and not a function of the rear wheels under load
RWD-drift and powerslide, A$$drag is moot here(although they can look like they are)
AWD-drift, powerslide, and a$$drag

 

I wasn't gonno jump in this again, but I just have to say that

@$$drag only applies to FWD, since it's the only type of car that pulls instead of push.

and drift is powerslide, powerslide is just the term that americans use before the world drift made to the state side.

AWD drift is awesome, go watch WRC and you ll know what I mean.

 

Good points...but slightly over looked some stuff

RWD can look like they are A$$dragging if they use weight shift and e-brake

FWD-duh!

AWD same reason as RWD, but the added benifit of the front wheels still pulling

just to clear things up a bit...


Powerslide can also refer large slides even if not under "power"
think of "Super" being substituted for "power" best example I can Give...

there really is not reason to be picky when you think about it as "drifting" is at its roots just controled traction breaking...