I have a friend in Thailand who has driven the 7 spd CVT and his description was disheartening to us with 5 speed non-cvt at.

You really know how to make us jealous and you didn't even mention you have rear disc brakes to boot.
Speaking of brakes and sponginess you need to 'bleed' the brakes now after the hard service and get rid of the bubbles that form with heated brake fluids. The bubbles usually come from the tiny bits of water absorbed in the fluids. And if you have a Hawk brake pad distributor in Austraila contact him about some HPD 412 pads for your Fit front brakes. (the rears don't matter much). Check the shape tho as your calipers may not be the same as USA.
And you should experiment with deactivating the front antisway bar by removing the driver's side link between shock and bar to reduce the terminal understeer.
I have tracked my Fit at Virginia International Raceway (see you tube "hyundai sundae at vir" to see the track tho not in a Fit - takes too long) and found the handling really good sans antisway with 7x17/42 wheels and Hankook K106 and our AT and my installed rear disc brakes. Fit is not lowered, didn't like the dynamics when tried. Used 98% 2nd (to 60 mph) and 3rd (to 90 mph) with top speeds in the 96 to 97 mph catagory (the BRIEF) periods in 4th.
cheers. right on
PS mods beyond wheels, tires, brake pads and antisway bar are superflous.

 

A friend of mine with a 2004 Accord V6 AT drove my car once and played with the paddle shifters. He said that the paddle shifters on my car responded faster as opposed to him manually shifting his AT in his Accord.

It may be a gimmick, but a nice gimmick.

 

If you go to you tube "hyundai sundae at VIR" you can see what its like to manually shift an automatic at speed. And your friend was right the Fit auto does shift faster than the Accord - or Hyundai. While it is a bother to chase the paddles you can easily make a ring for each half of the steering wheel that means chasing is unnecessary. And it means shifting precisely when you want and pretty quickly tho not as quick as BMW's (which are a real pleasure). That precision improvement is worth the A/T. Now if it just had 6 or 7 speeds instead iof 5 ....

 

i have a 7 speed cvt here in Thailand.
I blew the radiator going round Pilla Track in Chonburi, Pattaya. great great great fun though! certainly dont need a huge engine to have some great fun on a track.... but clarkson has a point (top gear) POWER..... lol

 

the aussie spec jazz, aka fit, does NOT come fitted with the disc brakes. It comes standard with drum brakes. Personally the drums are adequate. so i'm the one jealous here that you americans have more goodies in your cars

removing the antisway bar, now how do i got about do that?

and your last point i seriously agree with.

 

i have never autox'd the fit but i have put it through hell at least once a day everyday since i hit 2000 miles. i work really close to the toughest road in the austin area. the majority of turns on this road are the kind that even bikes go 30 on. i always stay between 2nd and 3rd gears with the paddles and run it as hard as i can. and i have had absolutely no problems with the car besides my tires, after having the car for three months i took it in to the dealer for an oil change and rotation, i was actually a little shocked when the dealer told me that i had about 25% tread life left on a set of tires that only had about 10k miles on them.

 

Wow. I thought all Fits made in Thailand had disc rears. I got a set of rear discs from Thailand for a customer car . Took some machine work as there are axle differences between US and Thai cars. Supplier here is less costly.
You are correct that the drums are adequate. Being an engineer and racer though just couldn't stand not having discs and their easy maintance and hunkered down braking. Guess that's why I'm investigating getting a 7 speed CVT to replace my 5 spd. (no, I doubt very seriously if it will fit. bound to be casting misalignments but who knows)
cheers, and enjoy.
PS what kind of km per liter are you getting? thanks.

 

Yeah same here. I have never(but will soon)AutoX'd my Fit. I have down countless canyon runs and it does way better then i would expect S mode really shines on the canyon runs. From what i have seen while pushing my car through the twisties, it will do just fine in AutoX.

Tyler

 

Its not the control. The problem with the paddle shifters is the automatic gear ratios are suitable for track duty only in the first three gears. The manual has closer ratios so could be used in 4 gears.
I drive with my paddles 100% of the time; I find I get better mpg and comfort in not having the auto my itself shift all the time.

 

For best performance the manual transmission is always best.

For AT, on the street it is fine, sport mode is usable and paddle shifters work ok. On the track with long sweeping turns and faster speeds the paddle shifters are OK.

For autocross with very tight turns and many complicated parts on a short course the paddle shifters are lacking and the Sport mode doesn't cut it.

The ability of the AT and sport mode to adjust is too slow in autocross.
The paddles cannot easily be controlled when you both shifting and turning the wheel in tight corners. The paddles will be reversed in orientation when the steering wheel is upside down in the middle of a turn. The AT doesn't allow a downshift if rpms are too high, it stays in 2nd and doesn't respond.

2nd gear in the AT is too tall and slow for tight turns, 1st is OK but it's a hassle to downshift. 3rd is too tall for any autocross course designed for speeds up to 50 - 55 mph.

 

What you are referring to is the poor gear selection for the AT compared to the manual, which has almost always been the case.
I haven't had trouble using the paddles in confined testing much like A/X.
Mine downshifts if rpm drops too low but will hold 1st all the way to redline
If youre having fun the AT is fine but if youre trophy hunting the manual is mandatory. Even then if you have a Mini in your class you will likely only see a trophy someone else takes home.

 

Sure the auto is not as good as the manual but the difference is the gear ratios chosen.
BTW if rpm are too high surely you mean upshift not downshift. The Fit has too many shortcomings to be a good crosser especially if there's a Mini there in F.