Honda S2000: Spotted
Standard S2000 or BBR-tweaked MX-5? Decision time!
This Honda S2000 is a 2006 car, the year traction and stability control was added to the S2000's options list. The advert doesn't make clear whether these are fitted but there's plenty to be encouraged by; it's a standard car in decent condition with no apparent interior, hood or paintwork issues. Of course you will take a copy of the PH S2000 Buying Guide to a viewing to be especially diligent in your checks but, on first inspection, it looks pretty good. With the MOT due next month there should be some negotiating room on the £8,995 price too.
And the MX-5? This NC look like a good basis for some BBR fettling. A 2.0-litre Sport with low mileage (45K) but also at the bottom of Mk3 values by virtue of its age (£5,570) it would surely suit 204hp rather well. Add the £3,788 and the total price is £9,358. With the £745 exhaust that sounds like a worthwhile investment you're just over the imaginary £10K threshold.
Even with BBR's tweaks, the S2000 still has the more exciting engine. The MX-5 is revvy and eager with the Super 200 boost but a standard S2000 is something else again. As mentioned in the buying guide it's a key part of the appeal for many people and the major turn-off for others. But given both cars are fairly light on torque (the BBR MX-5 makes 161lb ft at 4,000rpm and the S2000 151lb ft at 7,500rpm) so you'd assume a prospective buyer of either isn't afraid of revs. Having said that, Dan's driving impression of the BBR would suggest there's a more linear delivery in the MX-5 than the archetypal VTECness of the Honda.
It's hard to make a call on handling without driving the two back to back but you would think the MX-5 would be the slightly sharper device with its uprated components and lighter weight. Again there's nothing to stop some tweaking of an older S2000 either...
Some will argue standard versus modified isn't a fair comparison but we'd like to think PH car purchases aren't always the most logical. As something of a VTEC convert I would probably plump for the Honda. As a man mildly in love with his Eunos Dan would surely opt for the Mazda. Either way you'll have an excellent roadster with one of the sweetest manual gearshifts ever known for less than £10,000. And that's got to be worth celebrating.
HONDA S2000
Engine: 1,997cc 4-cyl
Transmission: 6-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 240@8,300rpm
Torque (lb ft): 152@7,500rpm
MPG: 28.5 (NEDC combined)
CO2: NA
Year registered: 2006
Recorded mileage: 67,000
Price new: £27,940
Yours for: £8,995
See the original advert here.
These little cars are all 9 or 10 tenths, which also means the corners. If a car is rear-snappy, like the S2000 seems to be from the comments from the owners, the limiting factor seems to be not the car but the owners minds, once bitten twice shy and all that.
Test pilots in planes talk about pushing the envelope, with cars it is the same, but you want the car to be forgiving if you do push that envelope and then make a small mistake.
Having said all that the S2000 still looks better than the MX5 to my eyes and of course the engineering is (Alan Partridge voice on) sooperb. Why Honda are not doing a follow up rather than being distracted by supercars with battery and turbo charged Civic I am not sure.
Mazda has sold 87 billionmajillion MX5's since they came out. Honda and Toyota have missed out on this, which is shocking especially considering Toyota had the MR2 but let that particular field go fallow.
Imagine if Mazda, Honda and Toyota had got into a battle for 2 seater top down motoring like Subaru and Mitsubishi competed in the 4WD saloon segment, the cars would have been epic. But Honda and Toyota just had too many other things to think about in those years rather than the 2 seater road car it seems. So Mazda got a bit lazy to be honest.
As long as this market segment does not get forgotten we will all be happy, I just hope the next MX5 does not fall into the trap of not having traditional old fashioned steering.
But with the imaginary 10k surely the modified car will cost more to insure for the younger chap/girl or is the S2000 as silly as i've heard for insurance.
Also you'll need to do more servicing etc I imagine on the 5. More cost.
http://www.trdparts.jp/english/parts_engine-3s-ge....
The 160bhp 2.0 engine in the Mazda on the other hand may not have been engineered to take on the tuning offered, so future reliability would be a question, not to mention potentially higher insurance resulting from it being 'tuned or modified'.
Finally, in its latest guise the MX5 just looks ugly.
As for the torque 'issue', in my experience the car only feels gutless in the lower range because of the contrast to the manic shove when VTEC does its thing. In fact, when poodling and mostly staying below 6,000 I find it decently lively. Anyway, what's the point of having a great gear change if you object to changing down a couple of cogs as and when required?
Overall, I enjoyed my Mazdas and I love the sound of the BBR conversions but the Honda just feels like a league above.
These little cars are all 9 or 10 tenths, which also means the corners. If a car is rear-snappy, like the S2000 seems to be from the comments from the owners, the limiting factor seems to be not the car but the owners minds, once bitten twice shy and all that.
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