RE: Honda S2000 GT 100 Edition

[riojamille]

I had two of them - a 2 year old cherished 10,000 miler and a 7 year old 80,000 miler. The old car was just as taught as the newer car. Both were bullet-proof mechanically and the memory of the scream from the VTEC engine at 9k still gives me chills. A fabulous car that somehow I think that I will be returning to at some time.

[baxster]

GT introduced in 2008???? Thats funny I bought one new in january 2003. The GT was introduced in MY02 and was exactly the same as the roadster only it came with a hardtop, stand and hardtop cover.
I also have had 2 and loved them both. Just as I got bigger I found it harder to get in and out. All they needed really was a lower seating position and adjustable steering column and 6 inches of extra leg room.

[Paper Lawyer]

Beanoir said:

"week-old lettuce"

....couldn't put it better myself.

I guess that very much depends on whether you are comparing the performance against another 2 litre NA car or against its on-paper competitors (in terms of performance stats) which have 3 litre+ engines. It is a bit of a marmite car, as an owner for 7 years I can appreciate its shortcomings as well as its strong points, and really it is a question as to whether the driver wants the low-down grunt of a greater capacity and/or turbocharged engined car or if the driver is willing to use the gearstick to get full performance out of the car.

[hondafanatic]

Paper Lawyer said:

Beanoir said:

"week-old lettuce"

....couldn't put it better myself.

I guess that very much depends on whether you are comparing the performance against another 2 litre NA car or against its on-paper competitors (in terms of performance stats) which have 3 litre+ engines. It is a bit of a marmite car, as an owner for 7 years I can appreciate its shortcomings as well as its strong points, and really it is a question as to whether the driver wants the low-down grunt of a greater capacity and/or turbocharged engined car or if the driver is willing to use the gearstick to get full performance out of the car.

What, in your 7 years of ownership are it's shortcomings? What would you change? It's a serious question as you can see by my username, I'm no hater. The missus is after one and I've tested a couple, but it would be nice to get a longterm owner's view. Thanks.

[Jont999]

propgressive?

[snorkel sucker]

possibly one of the more "talked about" cars on PH in terms of its handling traits; most comments of which are borne from those who have never driven one...

but i defy anyone to take an S2000, in the dead of a summers night, xenons glaring, roof down....and drive it like you are being chased by the devil himself.

for the money, few cars come close to offering such mechanical perfection as an S2000, and few cars offer as emotive an experience when wrung out to the redline

i want another!

[Mclovin]

bloody taxman put the nail in....

[LuS1fer]

HAB said:

El Guapo said:

LuS1fer said:

Another Honda let down by it's bland styling IMHO. I think they would be remembered far more fondly if they looked interesting.

Many, including me, would call its design elegant and understated.

Yep me too, always thought the S2000 was a good looking car.

That's what I said....anonymous. For most average people, not enthusiasts, I doubt they'd even know Honda ever made it. The MX5 has a much higher profile. I just don't think understated is what a sports car needs to make sales.

[PaulTypeR]

Paper Lawyer said:

Beanoir said:

"week-old lettuce"

....couldn't put it better myself.

I guess that very much depends on whether you are comparing the performance against another 2 litre NA car or against its on-paper competitors (in terms of performance stats) which have 3 litre+ engines. It is a bit of a marmite car, as an owner for 7 years I can appreciate its shortcomings as well as its strong points, and really it is a question as to whether the driver wants the low-down grunt of a greater capacity and/or turbocharged engined car or if the driver is willing to use the gearstick to get full performance out of the car.

VTECs aren't for lazy people Beanoir, you probably wouldn't like Ferraris either.

[PaulTypeR]

coogy said:

Really want one! I think thats gonna be what replaes the Integra, may not be as raw as the ITR but RWD and the looks make up for it. Yum.

I found my mates S2k to be much more go kart like than my old DC2.

[Paper Lawyer]

hondafanatic said:

Paper Lawyer said:

Beanoir said:

"week-old lettuce"

....couldn't put it better myself.

I guess that very much depends on whether you are comparing the performance against another 2 litre NA car or against its on-paper competitors (in terms of performance stats) which have 3 litre+ engines. It is a bit of a marmite car, as an owner for 7 years I can appreciate its shortcomings as well as its strong points, and really it is a question as to whether the driver wants the low-down grunt of a greater capacity and/or turbocharged engined car or if the driver is willing to use the gearstick to get full performance out of the car.

What, in your 7 years of ownership are it's shortcomings? What would you change? It's a serious question as you can see by my username, I'm no hater. The missus is after one and I've tested a couple, but it would be nice to get a longterm owner's view. Thanks.

Based purely on my experience of two MY02 cars:

Postives: screaming engine (if you like that kind of thing); great gear change; quite raw, very reliable

Negatives: Mr tax man for newer cars; rear shocks are slightly under damped (I had the first Nitron set up for the S2000 which was much better); the steering feedback could be more communicative and breakaway on the Bridgestone tyres could be more progressive (this may have been addressed in the more recent suspension revisions).

There is also a suspension bush issue which many of us have spent some money correcting on our cars. Your best bet is to read the technical FAQ on s2ki.com:

http://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=301...

[RichyBoy]

Have they sold all the 100 edition cars? I looked on autotrader and none except the typical demonstrators for nonbuyers to abuse. They've also deleted the s2000 from the honda website.

[Beanoir]

PaulTypeR said:

Paper Lawyer said:

Beanoir said:

"week-old lettuce"

....couldn't put it better myself.

I guess that very much depends on whether you are comparing the performance against another 2 litre NA car or against its on-paper competitors (in terms of performance stats) which have 3 litre+ engines. It is a bit of a marmite car, as an owner for 7 years I can appreciate its shortcomings as well as its strong points, and really it is a question as to whether the driver wants the low-down grunt of a greater capacity and/or turbocharged engined car or if the driver is willing to use the gearstick to get full performance out of the car.

VTECs aren't for lazy people Beanoir, you probably wouldn't like Ferraris either.

My comment wasn't really aimed at the car itself. I appreciate that, it is what it is, an engine that requires hardwork to get it moving, thats not of course to say that it's not a good car.

In my personal experience (which i'm afraid does not include Ferrari) I prefer a car with a bit more torque and more drivable on the UK roads, it's priced to compete with offerings from BMW, Porsche, Lotus etc etc, in view of the competition I think it loses out theses days as other car manufacturers are producing much more exciting alternatives, hence I guess why after all these years with little change to the model, it's time for the S2K's swan song...

Maybe Honda will please us all with a new and exciting replacement in the not too distant future.

[havoc]

Beanoir said:

...it's priced to compete with offerings from BMW, Porsche, Lotus etc etc, in view of the competition I think it loses out theses days as other car manufacturers are producing much more exciting alternatives...

A £26k Lotus is one of the 135bhp "Elise-S" models (which is still a good, if much slower, car).
A £26k BMW (up to '07) is a well-specced Z4 2.0 or a poverty Z4 2.5...both of which are slower than the S2000 and IMHO aren't much different, handling-wise (pros & cons to both).
A sub-£30k Porsche hasn't existed for years...


The S2000 'lost out' as you put it due to badge snobbery, the same as the NSX did - people want a car like that to say "look at me", which sadly in Europe means the badge, not the substance... Look at the US and the S2000's substantially outsold the Z4 throughout their comparative lives...

[Beanoir]

havoc said:

Beanoir said:

...it's priced to compete with offerings from BMW, Porsche, Lotus etc etc, in view of the competition I think it loses out theses days as other car manufacturers are producing much more exciting alternatives...

A £26k Lotus is one of the 135bhp "Elise-S" models (which is still a good, if much slower, car).
A £26k BMW (up to '07) is a well-specced Z4 2.0 or a poverty Z4 2.5...both of which are slower than the S2000 and IMHO aren't much different, handling-wise (pros & cons to both).
A sub-£30k Porsche hasn't existed for years...


The S2000 'lost out' as you put it due to badge snobbery, the same as the NSX did - people want a car like that to say "look at me", which sadly in Europe means the badge, not the substance... Look at the US and the S2000's substantially outsold the Z4 throughout their comparative lives...

I think you'll struggle to prove a Lotus Elise "slower" than the S2k in all honesty unless possibly you were drag racing, and lets face it, I dont think anybody here is really into that kind of game...especially in a 2 seater sports car.

Looking at new prices is not the be-all and end-all of comparing a car. In the majority of cases people buy cars second hand (especially now as the Honda is no longer in production). Lets say you're Mr Joe Average, you had £15k in your back pocket, you were looking for a 2 seater sports car that was anywhere between 3 and 7 years old and then compare the competition, it starts to get a bit more interesting then. Thats true real world comparison.

As I said before, i don't dislike the car, i've considered buying one many times, I like the way it looks, I like the way it sounds, has a pretty straight forward cabin layout, fun to drive, its cheap to run and has Jap reliability, all great reasons to buy one I agree, but for me, it lacks one important thing that most Jap cars just dont seem to able to offer...character.

[slowDC5]

PaulTypeR said:

coogy said:

Really want one! I think thats gonna be what replaes the Integra, may not be as raw as the ITR but RWD and the looks make up for it. Yum.

I found my mates S2k to be much more go kart like than my old DC2.

Agreed, even with my full coilovers an S2k makes my DC5 feel a bit loosey goosey.

[vz-r_dave]

Beanoir said:

havoc said:

Beanoir said:

...it's priced to compete with offerings from BMW, Porsche, Lotus etc etc, in view of the competition I think it loses out theses days as other car manufacturers are producing much more exciting alternatives...

A £26k Lotus is one of the 135bhp "Elise-S" models (which is still a good, if much slower, car).
A £26k BMW (up to '07) is a well-specced Z4 2.0 or a poverty Z4 2.5...both of which are slower than the S2000 and IMHO aren't much different, handling-wise (pros & cons to both).
A sub-£30k Porsche hasn't existed for years...


The S2000 'lost out' as you put it due to badge snobbery, the same as the NSX did - people want a car like that to say "look at me", which sadly in Europe means the badge, not the substance... Look at the US and the S2000's substantially outsold the Z4 throughout their comparative lives...

I think you'll struggle to prove a Lotus Elise "slower" than the S2k in all honesty unless possibly you were drag racing, and lets face it, I dont think anybody here is really into that kind of game...especially in a 2 seater sports car.

Looking at new prices is not the be-all and end-all of comparing a car. In the majority of cases people buy cars second hand (especially now as the Honda is no longer in production). Lets say you're Mr Joe Average, you had £15k in your back pocket, you were looking for a 2 seater sports car that was anywhere between 3 and 7 years old and then compare the competition, it starts to get a bit more interesting then. Thats true real world comparison.

As I said before, i don't dislike the car, i've considered buying one many times, I like the way it looks, I like the way it sounds, has a pretty straight forward cabin layout, fun to drive, its cheap to run and has Jap reliability, all great reasons to buy one I agree, but for me, it lacks one important thing that most Jap cars just dont seem to able to offer...character.

No its not, if your comparing two cars by price it has nothing to do with second hand purchases. The Honda was a better car for the money then any BMW coupe offered at the same price.

How on earth you can say that the S2000 lacks character is beyong me haha. A twitchy rear end, high reving 4 pot NA engine. You obviously have very very very little experience with Japanese cars to be able to make such a generalising statement. Honda have produced several as well as Toyota and Nissan. Jump out of your little UK bubble and see the bigger picture.

[Beanoir]

vz-r_dave said:

Beanoir said:

havoc said:

Beanoir said:

...it's priced to compete with offerings from BMW, Porsche, Lotus etc etc, in view of the competition I think it loses out theses days as other car manufacturers are producing much more exciting alternatives...

A £26k Lotus is one of the 135bhp "Elise-S" models (which is still a good, if much slower, car).
A £26k BMW (up to '07) is a well-specced Z4 2.0 or a poverty Z4 2.5...both of which are slower than the S2000 and IMHO aren't much different, handling-wise (pros & cons to both).
A sub-£30k Porsche hasn't existed for years...


The S2000 'lost out' as you put it due to badge snobbery, the same as the NSX did - people want a car like that to say "look at me", which sadly in Europe means the badge, not the substance... Look at the US and the S2000's substantially outsold the Z4 throughout their comparative lives...

I think you'll struggle to prove a Lotus Elise "slower" than the S2k in all honesty unless possibly you were drag racing, and lets face it, I dont think anybody here is really into that kind of game...especially in a 2 seater sports car.

Looking at new prices is not the be-all and end-all of comparing a car. In the majority of cases people buy cars second hand (especially now as the Honda is no longer in production). Lets say you're Mr Joe Average, you had £15k in your back pocket, you were looking for a 2 seater sports car that was anywhere between 3 and 7 years old and then compare the competition, it starts to get a bit more interesting then. Thats true real world comparison.

As I said before, i don't dislike the car, i've considered buying one many times, I like the way it looks, I like the way it sounds, has a pretty straight forward cabin layout, fun to drive, its cheap to run and has Jap reliability, all great reasons to buy one I agree, but for me, it lacks one important thing that most Jap cars just dont seem to able to offer...character.

No its not, if your comparing two cars by price it has nothing to do with second hand purchases. The Honda was a better car for the money then any BMW coupe offered at the same price.

How on earth you can say that the S2000 lacks character is beyong me haha. A twitchy rear end, high reving 4 pot NA engine. You obviously have very very very little experience with Japanese cars to be able to make such a generalising statement. Honda have produced several as well as Toyota and Nissan. Jump out of your little UK bubble and see the bigger picture.

So you buy all of your cars brand new do you?

[TommyBoy]

The S2000 has loads of character! Just because something is Japanese doesn't mean it's devoid of style, that's a comment which really bugs me.

I've had mine (MY06) for about four months now and I love it! I have no regrets about buying one, despite some of the car's quirks, and would recommend an S2000 to anyone...especially with the airbox lid off! It sounds brilliant.

I was in a turbod VX220 a few weeks ago and it was MILES quicker than my Honda and for a second I thought...'should I have had one of these, God it's quick'?!

But after an exhilarating drive with lots of tail action (not me driving!) we parked up. And the car's radiator waved a white flag and blew up in a cloud of steam. I'll take the Honda, thanks! As for an Elise? Lovely and, yes, quicker than the S in the twisties, but lacks the practicality. The S2000 balances everything for me: a bit of speed, good looks, practical(ish), reliable. It's a shame it's going really.

[shoestring7]

ConorNZ said:

The gearbox was the best I have come across

+1, the pedals are also well placed and the brakes nicely weighted, making h&t as you go a cinch.

Whoever developed it know what they were doing, its a shame exposure to the public meant it had to be dumbed down.

SS7