So my friend and I keep a pretty good contact with our general manager at the dealer we work at. He told us over Christmas holidays that he attended a conference with Honda representatives down in Florida (Can't remember where) and after talking with them for a while, it was mentioned that a Fit Si is in the works for release in America in the next year or so.

He didn't get specific details, and none of us are certain as to when, or even if this going to happen, but the reps from Honda did say it was going to still run the L15 platform, but would be turbocharged, producing somewhere between 170 and 180 hp!

I just thought this would be a good insight to pass along to fellow FFers out there! Like I said though, I don't have any more intel than what I just mentioned on here. If he's there this weekend, I'm gonna see if he knows any more than what he's told us.

 

that would be interesting. I am just looking at how that would fair in terms of cost vs practicality and what age group the car will be marketed towards

 

turbo charged? really? sounds like bs, but if true sounds great.

 

that information sounds half right based on the rumormill that honda is developing a 160hp 1.6 turbo engine. i read that the turbo 1.6 would find its way into the fit, civic, and accord. (source: Best Rumor of The Year: Honda CR-Z to Ditch Batteries, Pick Up Turbo.)

i doubt honda would just put a turbo on the L15 and up the displacement by 0.1. i'd imagine the new 1.6 turbo would be a different engine altogether given the L15's restrictive head but i'm not a honda engineer nor am i qualified to make these assumptions -- just a guy behind a computer screen picking cheeto crumbs from between my keyboard keys. mmmmm still crunchy

if the 1.6 turbo Fit finds its way to my dealer then i'm going to stand in line waiting to buy one

 

yeah, a 1.6 would seem like a better Idea than the 1.5, but who knows? Anything is possible. Maybe if they keep the 1.5 displacement, they may have a redesigned head for it.

 

It would be just what the Fit needs... interesting

 

There was a rumor in 2006 that there would be a Fit SI type of vehicle in Europe but would marketed here as an Acura.

 

hahaha....wow, acura fit.

 

Mercedes Benz isn't laughing, they have a B class car hitting the market that is said to be marketed in the states that is a 5 door hatch back.... Guess what it looks like... It is said to have numerous engine options, a couple that are turbo charged and possibly a diesel..... Starting price will be in the area of $30,000 or about $5000 less than the model in the next niche of their lineup.... I need to get a good paying job.

 

yah, i wasn't laughing at you by any means.

ive seen the benz little hatch in person while in canada. considering benz is nothing more than a toyota in euro-land i suppose it's okay. acura is 'suppose' to be honda's lux brand/image in NA so that's why i laughed it would be silly to have a eco-brand (HONDA) while selling eco-hatch as an ACURA.

i would not be buying a glorified eco-hatch at $35K, that's for sure.

 

Took the words out of my mouth.

 

This was told to me in 2006 by the award winning whiz kid top regional salesman at that time and was supposed to be a SI model so it would hardly be considered an econobox unless the JCW Mini comes across as an eco-brand... You are right about your comparison of the Mercedes with Toyota.. I remember seeing an interview with a German dairy farmer by an American news man and him getting excited because the farmer used a Mercedes station wagon to take his product to market because they were so costly here... The farmer was shocked and told the guy that they were cheap cars over there.... It makes me wonder about the Chinese infatuation with Buicks and how much the elite over there are paying for them...

 

If a turbo Fit with a decent power boost and disc brakes all around hits the states, I might just hold off on going back to school for a few more years....

 

I don't think that's gonna happen... What cars does Honda make now that come stock turbocharged? None. Certainly don't think they're going to make that happen on a Fit...

 

Acura RDX is a turbo 2.3 w/ VTEC, and AWD.

 

Lyon has a turbo on his GE and is working on properly tuning it right now and there is a thread here on installing disk brakes on the rear which is factory installed in Asia and Europe so the parts are available.

 

If enough people continue putting boost of any sort on Fits Honda may get the message that boost is going to sell... I wasn't willing to wait and did it myself.

 

exactly my thoughts. Similar to the mugen SI priced over 30k

 

I've run into more info on the little Mercedes mostly from Canadians that have seen them around up there... They aren't in the least bit impressed with the thing either... Kind of the way I feel when I see a tricked out Range Rover I guess.

 

It's not like they can't make a good turbo powerplant. I know it's not a really good comparison, but they got 1200 horsepower out of a 1.5 liter v6 in '88.