Just drove home with 09 FIT

[luminaria]

I picked it up in Staunton, VA a couple of hours ago and really like it. Clunked in my beloved Jeep Wrangler - but it was time for that.

[manxman]

Congratulations on the new Fit, and more congratulations for being able to use Federal funds to pay for part of it. You may not miss the 4WD of the Wrangler, but I guarantee that you will miss at least SOME of the ground clearance (the first time that you scrape your front lip on the asphalt just driving out of a driveway). You will get used to the "crunch" sound (or you will go crazy).

[claymore]

Welcome aboard. If any problems develop from using the clunker system please let the other members know.

[EXWRX]

Congratulations on the new Fit, and more congratulations for being able to use Federal funds to pay for part of it. You may not miss the 4WD of the Wrangler, but I guarantee that you will miss at least SOME of the ground clearance (the first time that you scrape your front lip on the asphalt just driving out of a driveway). You will get used to the "crunch" sound (or you will go crazy).

So Dave, did you get used to the crunch sound, go crazy, or both? :p

[manxman]

So Dave, did you get used to the crunch sound, go crazy, or both? :p
Since the crunch sound seems to be unavoidable, no matter how careful you are in leaving parking lots, etc., I go crazy for a few minutes of swearing and then settle down until the next parking lot or driveway.

[macbuddy]

Since the crunch sound seems to be unavoidable, no matter how careful you are in leaving parking lots, etc., I go crazy for a few minutes of swearing and then settle down until the next parking lot or driveway.

Geez Dave, you are still at OEM ride height, and yours scrapes? I should let you try to pilot my Fit some time. With my present "drop." I confess that I deal with a lot of daily $¢raping and ¢run¢hing $ound$.:)
I'am guessing Jeff prolly knows what I'm talking about, since he gave the Skunk2 lowering springs a try.

FYI, tonight was my first experience of "trying" to straddle a water bottle at 65 mph. Apparently, it is impossible to drive over a water bottle at that speed without causing it to lift up, and make contact with the undercarriage. From the sound of the impact, I'm guessing that the bottle wasn't empty either.

Getting back on subject:
Hey "luminaria" welcome to the "Fit Experience." Congratulations, you made an excellent choice in cars. I too love my Fit. For the price, you can't beat the handling, mileage and cargo space. I have become addicted to "paddle shifting!" Of our 3 cars, I choose the Fit for 99% of our trips. As a result, I have over 80,500 miles of happy motoring!

Note:
Hopefully you are the type that is capable of leaving your Fit in stock form, and enjoying the car the way Honda R&D meticulously designed it for you. Just to let you know, I'm driving a lowered '07 GD3 that has but 10mm of ride height, so don't let my "water bottle" experience scare you.

Here's a picture for reference:
http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20937839.jpg

[manxman]

Mike,
The frequency that my stock height Fit drags the front lip makes me think that you and all of the other lowered Fit owners are CRAZY.

[EXWRX]

I actually need to raise it up a bit and use the adjustability of the coilovers to get some more clearance. I am lucky in that my house has a very shallow driveway, so I don't have to worry about it there, but I have to be careful with speed bumps and some other driveways. :o

[claymore]

WAY to low for me. If I was that low around here I would tear my front lip off in no time. HA even at stock height the bottom of my lip looks like the grand canyon upsidedown with all the scrapes in it

[macbuddy]

Mike,
The frequency that my stock height Fit drags the front lip makes me think that you and all of the other lowered Fit owners are CRAZY.

WAY to low for me. If I was that low around here I would tear my front lip off in no time. HA even at stock height the bottom of my lip looks like the grand canyon upsidedown with all the scrapes in it

Hey Dave and John,
It's really not all that bad, at least where I live. I had to really alter my driving style tho.

RIDE HEIGHT
As for ride height, I have experienced problems that I really wasn't ready to deal with. Yeah, everyone hates scraping over speed bumps. At one parking lot, I had to drive ridiculously slow. On that rare occasion, I discovered a parking lot that had speed bumps that must have been ~6" high. No matter what speed anyone drove, the center of their chassis would bottom out. Just for fun, I sat in my car for lunch just to watch the action. Nearly 1 out of 3 cars scraped. The only ones able to clear the bumps were pick ups and SUVs. I am certain that this shopping center has had it's share of complaints about those "oversized" speed bumps.

DRIVEWAYS
As for going up and down over most driveways, I don't usually have too much of a problem, as long as I approach them at a 45º angle, and crawl no faster than .10 mph. Yeah, I have run into a few inclines that will not let me enter and/or exit without some scraping. Unfortunately, one of these exists at my Chiropractor's office. So, 2 times a week, I get to experiment with different "entrance/exit" techniques. After 2 months of practice, I found success! My final technique is to enter up his driveway, and exit down the driveway at the other end of the parking lot.

DANGEROUS?
I didn't think that lowering a car could be a hazard, well, that wasn't until I met up with that water bottle! So far, I've been lucky enough to have steered around a "gator" left by some trucker, and also swerving past an animal carcass on another occasion. I was lucky that these obstacles were to the side of the road, and not in the center of the road. If for example, I ever had to straddle a brick, or log in the middle of my lane, I definitely would be looking for a new front spoiler, or worst yet, maybe even a new car.

CONCLUSION
Some people will do anything for "Image." I guess I am one of them. My goal was a build a "performance" oriented GD3. I have probably spent a bit too much time, energy and money in the process. To date, I've spent $450 on coilovers to lower the CG, then added another $50 for replacement coils in hopes to bring the ride back to stock. Heck, I could have left everything alone, and achieved that goal for free! In hopes of squeezing out more performance, I spent $200 for headers, $250 for an intake and $125 for an exhaust to produce maybe 10-20 extra hp? To help handling, I bought a RSB, $155 and stickier, low profile tires, $360. To liven up the drivability, I installed the $350 Blitz TC.
So, after spending nearly an extra ~$2K, I've ended up with a twitchy, rough riding car that is almost too low and too noisy to drive spiritedly as a daily driver............. and my wife hates it!

Kind of ironic, I modded my Fit to go faster. In reality, I have to drive slower!

Knowing what I know now, would I do it again? Hell yeah!

-macbuddy-

PS-Hey luminaria,
Glad you're enjoying your new Fit!

WARNING!
Don't get started modifying your Fit, doing so can and will get addicting.

[manxman]

And I have to repeat post #7 (but if you are happy, your craziness is OK).