Calling automatic Honda Fit owners
First post here so here we go, I have a 2008 Honda Fit sport automatic I bought new years ago, I've been lurking here on and off for years and finally a few months ago decided to get serious about efficiency with it. I’ve done a few mods to it currently, I have lrr tires a decent hot air intake setup pulling off the fan shroud, a temporary upper grill block made of styrofoam and electrical tape, I’m soon going to do a lower block and block heater to it, but my biggest nag with my car is the tcc engagement, it will engage lightly at pretty slow speeds but even then any throttle kicks it off, 50mph seems to be the magic speed that it gives you more throttle before it disengages but even then it’s too conservative.
I want to do a lockup mod but I’ve acquired a wiring diagram for the transmission and don’t see a tcc wire on there, has anyone successfully done one on these cars? I’ve searched the forum pretty extensively and found the other threads but didn’t see any especially Honda specific information. I’ve gone from a tank average of 27ish to 35 with mods and behavioral adjustments in mixed Atlanta suburbs driving. Great community here I’ll try not to lurk in the shadows anymore :turtle: |
Nice car! That's actually the exact other car I was looking at buying before I decided to go with my Civic. The reason that decided me was that Civics get better MPG once you reach speeds of 55 mph or higher (or so I've read from various sources). Fits decrease rapidly at highway speeds due to being taller, but excel in city driving due to the small engine and light weight construction.
Do you have pictures of your mods? Any plans on mods such as air dams or wheel covers? |
The tank average improvement is great. Welcome to the site (again). At 35 mpg, you now are beating the Fuelly.com averages for a 2008 Fit Sport (32.2 right now). I don't know if an '04 Civic is necessarily better than the '08 Fit on fuel economy. On Fuelly the 04 Civic sedan gets 31.8 mpg. I think their CDA figures are siilar, Fit might be slightly better aerodynamically actually. I don't know the number. But the Fit has significantly shorter gearing at highway speeds: 5th is 0.757 and the FD is 4.294, whereas the 04 Civic base model had 0.711 and 4.111.
Quote:
EDIT: More trnasmission specs for Fits on my honda manual transmission specs thread: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ios-26279.html But come to think of it, you have a automatic! Oooops! You might have nice tall gearing, not sure. Generally automatics are taller these days. james |
Quote:
I honestly thought the Fit would get similar MPG on the highway and significantly better on the city, but most people on the internet say that the Fit beats the Civic only on slower speeds, but that (varying based on source) 55-60 is usually where the Fit starts sipping more. The Fit's taller gearing is responsible for this. I just looked up the coefficients of drag for both; the '08 Fit's is 0.35 and the '04 Civic's is 0.36. Both are very fuel efficient vehicles and have Honda's legendary reliability and excellent fuel efficiency, so honestly both are good choices. The longer highway trips I plan on taking won't account for slower speeds and excessive hypermiling, so I wanted something with better standard highway MPG, while I can hypermile in the city to get good city figures too. Although if I could afford one, I would go with a 2015 or newer Fit, since they beat the comparable Civics by around 10%. |
Quote:
I don’t currently have any pictures I am contemplating a lower air dam than the factory one, not sure about wheel covers yet but I have a decent amount of coroplast coming so who knows haha |
Quote:
|
Weight reduction will have very little (or zero) impact on highway fuel economy. Just as an example, with my aero trailer, I get basically the same economy at 55mph pulling 1500lbs behind my 1900lb car as with an empty trailer. Stop and go is another matter, and it does improve acceleration if you can shed weight.
Definitely add coroplast. :D |
You could go for a set of 1st gen insight rims, and either swap over your stock(?) 175/65/14s or go for the famous re92 165/65/14s.
|
Holy cow! You have really short gearing for an FE car on a Fit Sport auto from '08:
5-Speed Automatic Transmission Gear Ratios: 1st:2.996 - 2nd:1.679 - 3rd:1.067 - 4th:0.756 - 5th:0.550 Final Drive:4.560 Without a transmission swap, look for taller wheel/tire combinations to reduce RPMs at freeway speeds. Honda lists the factory tire size as 195/55-R15. I am confident you can get a 16" wheel that will be as light or lighter than stock and bolt onto your 4x100 hubs. But even with your existing wheels and stepping up to 195/65-R15 gives you a 4.2% reduction in freeway RPMs. Go to a 16" wheel and use 195/65 tires and you'll prolly get 9% or 10% reduction. Good luck. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
Also hey there GA friend! |
Actually, I want to correct my last post a little. The Fit auto's freeway RPMs, in top gear are 23% LOWER than a Fit manual would be. Your RPMs will also be significantly lower than the Fit manual in 4th gear (I did not calculate how much but maybe near 20% lower). Basically, the final drive gear is significantly shorter on the auto, but most of the auto's higher gears seem so much taller than on the manual that they way over-compensate. Highway cruising RPMs in your Fit should be significantly LOWER than a 2001-2005 Civic HX manual (like maybe 8% without accounting for wheel/tire size).
You could certainly work harder using a Fit manual trans and get better FE (check out the "PaleFit" on this site), but your auto is serving you pretty well. Get the taller 195/65-16 wheel/tire combo I mentioned and your actual cruising RPMs on the freeway might match the legendary Civic VX fuel sipper. I think I got it right this time. |
Quote:
Insight wheels acquired, RE92s coming soon, do you think a ~700 lb heavier car will be too much for them? |
Quote:
|
Well I got the wheels installed still going first few tanks but it definitely seems to be helping I can feel quite a difference in rolling resistance
https://imgur.com/a/YW2D58I |
Just noticed your username; I assume you're referencing the commercials from the Fit's US introduction ("THE FIT IS GO")? Post some pics of the Insight wheels on the Fit if you get a chance, I'm curious to see what they look like.
|
Quote:
I tried to post a pic in the last post but it didn’t work excuse the dirt https://i.imgur.com/ABi28bW.jpg |
Rims look stock. I just wish they came in 15" sets.
|
I think that it is weird that tire places will happily sell you rims an inch or two taller, but when I tried to get a taller tire they refused, saying it wasn't safe.
It is safe with metal, not rubber? :) |
Quote:
I just buy them online and mount them myself but I have access to a shop so that helps |
Quote:
Back from the dead…. Again I’m on a 24 hr test drive with a 2013 Honda Fit (base/auto) with 5,500 miles Gonna try my 110 mi (highway) commute tomorrow, and see what this thing will do (My current 2010 Prius with 222,000 miles and significant front end raccoon damage is getting 50-52 in the summer and 46-48 in the winter) OP, are you still here? Did you ever get that tranny locked up? How are those RE92’s and insight wheels treating you? |
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 12:42 PM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Content Relevant URLs by vBSEO 3.5.2
All content copyright EcoModder.com