but then again, 4000 rpm yields a respectable ~145 lb/ft. hrrm.... I still say its a hopped up sewing machine. HONDA: Get that motor back in your racebikes!

 

It is still more powerful @ 4,000 than my 1987 944 NA.

 

Rage, Justed posted and then saw your post. About a 1.5% ratio of jackasses would be my guess. Probably the same ratio of jerks that take their new Porsches and total them because they don't know how to drive at the limits of the car IMO. Like any car, if you repetitively abuse it, it will fail. If my girlfriend buys this car, it will see the occasional run to the red line, but I doubt it will happen often. It won't be raced and it will see regular sertvice with synthetic oil. I have no worries about an engine failure.

 

Thanks again guys, but you didn't read the original post. She's not considering a used car and she doesn't have the budget for an SLK (or for a TT unless leased).

Honda's aren't sewing machines no matter what your prejudices are. They are very well engineered cars or they wouldn't take all the friggin abuse the ricey boys put them through. It's too bad they are becoming synonmymous with the bad aftermarket abortions that are done to them. I'd have any number of stock Hondas over lots and lots of other cars I can think of.

 

Tis easy!

TT 180 Roadster...

Even with the options, you're still in the mid 30s?

5 speed and the bulletproof 1.8T, lots of low end touque, great service plan and schedule...

I just wish I could sell you one!

The Mercedes is neat, but pricy... Z3, depends on engine,,, S2000, tis a hell of a honda, a 4 wheel sportbike, which sucks around town unless looks are most important!

IMHO....

 

An employee of mine is one of the creators and administrators of the Honda 2ski forum. He drives an S2000 and is an instructor at a number of DE events held at Laguna Seca, Buttonwillow, Thunderhill.

His car experienced some body damage at Laguna, results of a bad choice made lending the car out to a friend. The car has since been repaired and is running strong and straight. It held up, remarkably so...

-



Needless to say, I see a lot of aftermarket S2000 parts offloaded from the UPS truck and hear lots of "working from home cause I got new wheels today" It's cool by me Mr. H

I'm reasonably informed by lots of second hand stories about what people are doing to their cars and hear a lot about how they hold up. They seem to hold up well to abuse. I've seen some very clean supercharged S2000s as well, that seem to scream on a track and on the street, and hold up in the face of high boost and heavy feet. Regarding engine failures on their board? If you sampled members on our board, you'd find a significant number of damaged heads, prematurely failed water pumps, idle stabilizers, steering racks, oil coolers, motor mounts, etc.

My general impressions of the car? It's too tight for my 6'3" frame. I like the headroom in the 951 better. Being used to a 951, the torque issues with the S2000 are a non issue for me. It is a very stiff, very tight, very precise handling car. The one I've driven has Kumho DOT legal race rubber and a stock suspension. It made my Koni suspended, tightly sprung, weltmeistered 951 seem soft in the body. The frame in the S2000 is pretty remarkable for a convertable. There are some areas that could use improvement, 4 piston calipers for example, but all in all, I'm really impressed by the car.

I've driven against them at Thunderhill, I had the only Porsche at an S2000 DE, and mine was the car that was off track due to mechanical issues with the greatest frequency. Blown off intake pressure hoses, loose fuel injection connector, it was a sad day...

My buds car is not a service headache. He gets in it. He drives it. And it's a high performance sportscar. I'm impressed by what Honda has done. I think your girlfriend would do well with one. I think she'd have fewer reliability problems and have a great looking new car as well.

Cheers,

Steve Cooper

 

I thought long and hard about the S2000 before I bought the 951. Money decided the issue. I'd buy one if I could.

Thaddeus

 

So I looked at a number of convertibles for my wife......

In the end... for the price and what you got.....nothing and I mean nothing came close to what I bought for her..... MustangGT........(we will see how it holds up over 10 years ..it may just shake itself apart ... LOL)

but thats my opinion....... as a daily driver...light to light machine....there is no substitute for cubic inches.

We test drove the three finalists.... Mustang GT, Camaro SS, S2000

1. S2000 ...seemed gutless and too small (Primarily because she would not wind up the RPMS passed 4,500)

2. Camaro SS ...holy crap! Fast.. but big and bulky and about $6,500 more than the mustang...

3. Mustang GT with $3,000 in factory performance upgrades (suspension, throttle body, exhaust etc)...... very fast... and not too big. It was in her words "just right"

She can be driving at 2,000 rpm in fourth ......and this thing pulls and pulls all the way to the redline. (you can almost drive this thing like an automatic....with the stick in fourth)

I missed the torque of a V8

 

[quote]Originally posted by Dan in Pasadena:
<strong>Rage, Justed posted and then saw your post. About a 1.5% ratio of jackasses would be my guess. Probably the same ratio of jerks that take their new Porsches and total them because they don't know how to drive at the limits of the car IMO. Like any car, if you repetitively abuse it, it will fail.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Actually, if you go though that thread on s2ki, you would see that a lot of failures are during the break-in period. Plus all of them failed on cylinder #4, reminds me of our 951's #2 rod bearing design flaw. Some of those failures are at around 1000miles, no amount of abuse (other than a missed shift, but those would not damage just 1 cylinder) could require a rebuild so quick. Some of those failures haven't even seen 4000rpm!

BTW - I've "abused" my 951... launches, run up to redline every chance I get, corner hard, track, you name it. I drove it like I stole it. The car was chipped, and I ran nearly 100k miles before I "broke" it... #2 rod bearing! =).

 

Ok, I haven't driven one of these but they were in full force during an autocross at Chicago Motorspeedway at the end of last season. I have never seen so many of the same car do so well in stock form. For anybody with claims of peaky power, I would beg to differ. You see, since you have such a great range of RPM's to work with, power coming on at 4,500 is the equivalent of around 3,000 rpms in our cars. Also, these cars are very light and have the same balance we do in our 944's. As for reliability, I would take the Honda anyday. All in all other than a good place for golf clubs I feel its hard to find many flaws with the s2000.

Just as a side note, a new Camaro SS Convertible in this model year might end up being a nice collectors item to have. Last year, 345 horsies, convertible, ss version, etc. Something to chew on.

 

Well, for those who haven't driven an S2000, please hold back your judgement until you've tried one out on the track; this is really what they're designed for!!!

I've been following the S2Ki.com guys around with Wurth Motorsports (<a href="http://www.speedventures.net" target="_blank">http://www.speedventures.net</a>) and the S2000 is a very competent track machine. Doug Hayashi and Aaron Bitterman (<a href="http://www.nsxfiles.com/stories.htm" target="_blank">http://www.nsxfiles.com/stories.htm</a>) have pretty much been wiping everyone's butt all over the tracks here in SoCal. (including Vipers, Z06 Corvettes, Ferraris and 996TTs).

Check out the results from last weekend's event at Sears Point on Sunday 3-31-02:

<a href="http://www.speedventures.net/event_results.asp" target="_blank">http://www.speedventures.net/event_results.asp</a>

They beat everyone except for the race-prepared SpeedvisionGT BMW M3 car. I was catching people left & right, and making up 1/4-lap gaps at a time on just about everyone. But Doug & Aaron just blew by me.

If I could find someone or a site host somewhere to upload my vidoes, I've got clips of some action against an Audi-S4, 928-S4, Miata, S2000, etc...

 

More good opinions. For he who promoted the Mustang...yes, I thought of it and the Camaro SS too. But she wants a smaller two seater. My son has a pristine '97 30th Anniversary Z28 with over 300 HP, 6 speed, etc. Crap it is fast and handles well too for what it is. Cars like these are not her style. She's the S2000, M Roadster, Miata or MR2 type- if Mazda and Toyota would offer a turbo or otherwise decent power in those last two.

I drove the crap out of the S2000...briefly. No question to me that it has plenty of poop and certainly handling. That it is more like a Civic in around-town driving is probably okay... actually a plus for her and what I suspect Honda was going for.

Stever Cooper - Your info was informative - thanks again.

Rage - Didn't mean to implay you were in the "1.5% jerk" category. She (and I too) are just not the types to rev the **** out of any car from stoplight to stoplight. Whatever car she buys, it won't see that type of duty. Thanks all, I'll go over to S2Ki.com and check out the info

 

[quote]Originally posted by Dan in Pasadena:
<strong>Rage - Didn't mean to implay you were in the "1.5% jerk" category. She (and I too) are just not the types to rev the **** out of any car from stoplight to stoplight. Whatever car she buys, it won't see that type of duty. Thanks all, I'll go over to S2Ki.com and check out the info</strong><hr></blockquote>

Hey Dan.

I actually feel that I am in the "1.5%" category, I drive all my cars a lot harder than your average owner. I was just trying to pass on information on a known engine problem with the S2000's even though the engines were not subject to abuse. I see a lot of comments regarding the S2000 has near perfect reliability because it's a Honda, and this issue should be known by any would-be owner in case the unfortunate does happen to them.

By the way, I drove the #%!@ out of the S2000 and it didn't complain at all =).

 

I think I am in the 1.5% whoe drives the snot out of his cars as well, taking it to the track, auto-x and just driving it hard. But I also feel that most of us on this board are in the 1.5% who do more maintance to their cars. Mobil 1 Every 2500 miles, or after ever driver school, checking every little thing we can think of etc etc. So I would rather have a car from one of us than someone who didn't drive the car but failed to check out anything on the car in the last decade.

Well regardless of anything else I think honda has put together quite a nice looking package. Time will tell if the motor holds up, or it they hold a good resale value.

 

Rage & Ian, Not to beat a dead horse, well, okay - just beat him a little. My comments about 1.5% jackasses was really about unthinking abuse not guys like you (or me? ) that drive hard but also service our car "hard" too. I agree that people on this board are largely the type that drive hard but also agonize over keeping their cars in good tune, properly set up and are very attentive to little noises, etc. My comment re: the new Porsche that gets totaled is people that drive beyond their abilities, probably scare themselves but are too dumb (not to mention irresponsible) to stop. They keep doing it, I suppose thinking they will get "better" by magic instead of taking some DE courses. Certainly every car has an Achilles heel (what about our timing belts, #2 rod bearing, oil cooler seals, etc). If the S2000 has an occasional problem with the #4 cylinder we are ready to risk it while under warranty. I think the car will likely be very reliable. And Yes, I will post if the naysayers are right and we regret the purchase. In the mean time? This will be a fun car <img src="graemlins/xyxwave.gif" border="0" alt="[bigbye]" />