So I occasionally do some spirited driving in certain areas and the tallness of the fit scares me, as well as FWD...
I drive a 2011 Fit Base 5spd. should I have anything to worry about as far as rolling the Fit? What can I do to have less body roll? Any input is appreciated, thanks.

 

Adding a rear sway bar would reduce the roll somewhat. Lower/stiffer springs would do the same, but at some cost to ride quality and (IMO) controllability on a rough road.

Despite its height, the Fit has a pretty low CG; it's probably harder to roll than one might think. There are enough videos on the Web of even stock Fits being driven "in anger" (road tests, for example), and none of them show a tendency to flip.

If this was indeed a problem, Consumer Reports would certainly have noticed and downgraded the car as a result. Instead it's a "recommended" car.

 

I can assure you that on stock tires the fit will slide before getting anywhere near the point of flipping. Same on studded altimax arctics. I just got some new, sticky 205/50r16's though so I will need to see if it will break lose on those as well. I highly doubt you could flip a fit without a lot of work though.

 

I don't think you have anything to worry about unless you're on race slicks, even then, you'd have to try pretty hard to flip.

Your tires will break traction before you come anywhere close to flipping the car.

 

if you use super grippy tires (which stock tires aren't) i doubt you can roll the fit unless you're carrying a fridge or something heavy.

plus, the open diff embarasses you powering out of a turn.

 

Fit may be tall, but all the weight is quite low.

 

I kind of doubt it if you would roll a Fit even some spirited driving. Adding rear sway bar will help you to stay flat in a turn but you also take a little of rear traction away.

I personally love to drive a car with a little more on oversteer rather the car that push out like a brick in a turn.

Fit having a pretty good high roll center. It will give you more on-power steering, a little less off-power. This make Fit a little less responsive, so you wont be snap roll your Fit. Generally if your car have a high roll center you can get away with just a soft spring/damper because you have less chassis roll to begin with.

If you often do some spirit drive on a clean and high traction road you would want to lower your car with a stiff spring/damper. This you make the car feel a little lazy, so your roof wont be on the blacktop from traction roll.

Sticky tire is not always a good thing. Too sticky would make your car traction roll in a turn also.


EDIT:

Knock on wood. Many moons ago around late '80 I used to track Ford Sierra Cosworth RS I never came close to rolling. But about 9 yrs ago I managed to roll a 125CC 10 stinking HP Kart and busted my elbow from traction roll

 

If your that worried or driving your car so hard on public roads for you to be concerned about rolling your Fit, maybe you need to slow it down a bit?

 

I've only had the car for two months now, I have the 2012 Sport, and the ESC cuts in very quickly (my first car with it, didn't realize that 4 wheel drifts were forbidden, can't wait to get my miata out again). Not sure if you have it since I'm new to Fits, but if you do then you have no worries about doing anything that could possible roll the car.

 

Like a few others have stated,
It would be pretty hard to roll your Fit.

I've pushed my 2012 Sport to the limit of the stock suspension/tires
and all I got was body roll and the tires gave up their grip but that was it.

I love how this little car handles in the canyons and I plan to keep the stock suspension and not even lower it at all.

I will upgrade the wheels and tires only and maintain my comfy ride if you can call it that

 

I know someone who rolled and totalled his completely stock Fit, with stock tires.

Don't think that it's impossible to roll the Fit. As with any car, there is always a possibility of rolling if the circumstances are right. The Fit is not likely to roll over, but that should be no reason for you to think that it won't roll.

Please don't read people's responses and think you can go swerving around everywhere without fear of rolling over.

 

Offroad i'm sure?

Or you're saying he took a turn too fast and flipped his car?

You can flip ANYTHING offroad.

 

I suppose if you're yanking at the wheel like a wild man you can do anything, but if you're just probing the limits you have nothing to fear, especially if you have ESC. I was probing the limits when the ESC had enough and the car laid down like a bag of potatoes. I couldn't even get the rear end out when it snowed here recently, the car just stopped in it's tracks then second it started sliding. No fun, couldn't practice my rally driver moves.

 

What city are you in? We might have to trade locations of fun roads.

You typically can't roll a passenger car without some sort of tipping factor, like hitting soft ground or a curb with lots of lateral load.

If you are worried about flipping your car, then you don't want less roll. Then you have less physical stimulus about how fast you are cornering your car. Easier to get in trouble.

 

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