I am going to look at 2 honda fits on friday for rallycross cars.
Car 1 is a 07 Fit sport with 191k and car 2 is an 09 fit with 143k
the 09 is 1k more than the 07.
It will be used mainly for rallycross.
I like the looks of the gen 2 better than the gen 1.
Gen 2. It's a better built car. I had a 2013 Fit I bought new and sold last year.
HPD will sell you the whole B spec Rally suspension kit you need for the Gen2.
the Gen 1 cars we got at the very end their life cycle.
there were some issues with the 09 Gen 2 cars from what I understand. but I never owned one, I had a final year gen 2 2013 like clutch smoke did and loved it.
the Gen 2 cars are better cars. more cupholders.. so many cupholders....
I'd probably buy a Gen2 just cause the parts will be more available and they made more of them.
gen 2 have no rear camber adjustment options.. there are some rear camber options for the Gen 1 I have been told.
I don't have any experience with the first-generation model, but I loved my second-generation Fit until it met an untimely end in the Carolinas coming back from a family vacation.
I don't know if it counts, but it was a rally car for those few seconds between getting pushed off the road and hitting the trees (don't worry, everyone made it out okay).
I ran mine. Gen 2 will have some more ground clearance. Other then that I think its kindof even. Since itll mostly be for rallyx I'm guessing your not worried about which interior is more liveable. 
so it seems we have 4 votes for gen 2
Which has a limited slip more readily available?
Gen 2 is known to have a much more torsionally rigid unibody which is a benefit for motorsports usage.
captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:Which has a limited slip more readily available?
same transaxle iirc
Our gen 2 felt slightly quicker than the gen 1. They both have similar miles(a bit over 200k), but the gen 2 was purchased new, while the gen 1 was bought with about 160k on it, so that may be the reason.
i do like the way the gen 2 looks vs the gen1
Out of curiosity, any particular reason you are going directly after a Fit vice a Civic? I don't pay much attention to FWD rallycross classes in particular, but is the Fit one of the cars "to have" for FWD classes?
irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:Out of curiosity, any particular reason you are going directly after a Fit vice a Civic? I don't pay much attention to FWD rallycross classes in particular, but is the Fit one of the cars "to have" for FWD classes?
local availability, HPD bspec rally kit available, I cant find a decent manual Mazda 2 or Fiesta hatch. 8th/9th gen SI's still more expensive
In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :
Without knowing (and feeling that fwd is too undeveloped/campaigned to know what's the hot modern chassis to have, as I still suspect a B13 SE-R would dominate fwd stock) i feel the main benefits versus the civic are shorter overhangs, ease of hauling a second set of wheels, tires, Jack and jackstands. I'm not sure about ground clearance, suspension travel or which is sprung more softly, but I suspect the Fit is more softly sprung based on the shorter wheelbase. The Fit really has no natural competition in the market, which is shocking to me, Mini and the Mirage are it, everything else is bigger, and that's sad. I'm just happy that Honda keeps making them and that people keep doing things with them and keep enjoying them. If a K24 swap were easier, I'd be all over building one.
captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :
Without knowing (and feeling that fwd is too undeveloped/campaigned to know what's the hot modern chassis to have, as I still suspect a B13 SE-R would dominate fwd stock) i feel the main benefits versus the civic are shorter overhangs, ease of hauling a second set of wheels, tires, Jack and jackstands. I'm not sure about ground clearance, suspension travel or which is sprung more softly, but I suspect the Fit is more softly sprung based on the shorter wheelbase. The Fit really has no natural competition in the market, which is shocking to me, Mini and the Mirage are it, everything else is bigger, and that's sad. I'm just happy that Honda keeps making them and that people keep doing things with them and keep enjoying them. If a K24 swap were easier, I'd be all over building one.
l15 turbo swaps should start being more common since all civics are turbo now.
also it likely Fiesta ST's that are the top modern chassis imo.
All good points, thanks for sharing. I really was curious.
FWIW, the fast FWD cars in our area are indeed Mazda2, as well as Andy Thomas dominating in a T230 Celica for years.
If your intrested in the Honda factory support, it's supposed to be a pain to get them to sell it to you. Hotbits can sell you the same coilovers though
Isn't the first generation ultra rare in the states since it was only sold for one year?
I like the Fit to drive, it has wonderful chassis dynamics at 5/10s, but it scares me for rolloverability. I'd want to find a way to lower one without screwing up suspension geometry or travel.
Oh look, guess what I am driving home tonight? A 2009 Fit Sport. Definitely do not want to waste any momentum but that is part of its charm.
I find funny the notion that front wheel drive is not common. Used to be 75% of fields were front drivers, mostly Golfs and Civics. If front drive is rare now, wow how times have changed 
Fits are just Japanese Golfs with engines you have to rev the wee out of instead of Germanic revhatingness.
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
we got the 1st gen fit for 07/08 model years.
MrChaos said:In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
we got the 1st gen fit for 07/08 model years.
From what I've seen there seem to be more gen-1 cars for sale at a given time. I suspect it's at least partly because the gen-2 is much better & thus people keep them forever.
Personally I would want a third generation. Not really all that much more expensive than a second generation (WHY do these hold their value so well? Rusted out dented up 200k mile cars are still $ridiculous!) but they have 130hp from the DOHC. And, in stark contrast to every other car line ever, they are practically the same size/weight as the previous generations. THAT shocked me, I thought the ugliness alone added 200lb over a second gen
I think I know why they hold their value.... They just don't break. There are no serious pattern failures, no common maladies, other than the A/C clutch relay, because it IS a Honda. But other than that, they don't eat transmissions, they don't burn oil, they don't wear out timing chains, they are light on wheel bearings and suspension parts, heck the brakes generally die of rust and boredom than actually wearing out. Even the rust problems are mainly the first generation ones that had a lot of water intrusion issues because Honda missed a few spots when weather-sealing them at the factory.
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
3rd gen cars have the same DI injector sooting/fouling issues other high mile DI cars car.
they're still great cars, but the early gen 3 cars are also almost all if not completely all built in Mexico.
the Gen 2 cars are much simpler SOHC motors that just refuse to die.
the HPD Formula F engines are the L15B7 from the 2nd gen fit and they were chosen because they're so damn reliable.
buy a gen 1 or gen 2 or buy a 2018+ gen 3 they made a few updates in 2018 to help with the DI issues.
and yes, these cars get good money because they're solid. my parents 08 continues to soldier on with oil and filter changes and 2 window switch recalls being the only times it went to the dealer for service.
it's got 150k miles on it now and they will drive it till my dad is incapable of driving it and at that point I have already stated I'm stealing it to drive it till the wheels fall off.
In reply to spacecadet (Forum Supporter) :
Induction cleanings every year or so make a huge difference.
Unless you mean to say they have the same injector problems that the V6s have?
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
the 3rd gen cars with high miles will probably need the injectors replaced. it's not super hard. just annoying and DI injectors aren't the cheapest things.
I'm not familiar with the V6 DI issues.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:Isn't the first generation ultra rare in the states since it was only sold for one year?
I like the Fit to drive, it has wonderful chassis dynamics at 5/10s, but it scares me for rolloverability. I'd want to find a way to lower one without screwing up suspension geometry or travel.
Oh look, guess what I am driving home tonight? A 2009 Fit Sport. Definitely do not want to waste any momentum but that is part of its charm.
I find funny the notion that front wheel drive is not common. Used to be 75% of fields were front drivers, mostly Golfs and Civics. If front drive is rare now, wow how times have changed
Seems to vary a lot by the region. Our region isn't very FWD heavy because it's extremely RWD heavy (Typically we have 25-30 RWD cars entered, most of them in MR). FWD classes have 2-5 cars in general. But I've heard other regions have giant FWD classes and hardly any RWD cars. Guess it's just where you are.
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