RE: Honda S2000: Spotted
Discussion
Red 4 said:
The bolts were never greased at the factory ( which would have solved the problem ).
If they are seized it can involve cutting the suspension arms off and replacing them ( remembering to grease/ anti- seize the new parts ).
Honda S2000 had always been my hero car if only because it wasn't a Porsche or BMW & it must never be in silver. If they are seized it can involve cutting the suspension arms off and replacing them ( remembering to grease/ anti- seize the new parts ).
Within days of buying a new 2006 (black with red interior) I realised that something was seriously amiss as the car was all over the road & wouldn't track in a straight line.
Drove 200 miles to have the geometry properly set up for my weight & style of driving whereupon it was discovered suspension bolts NOT greased. Best thing I ever did too.
High driving position, lack of torque & poor gearbox ratios spoiled the fun compounded by the fact that severe back pain meant long distance driving an utter pain without having the facility of cruise control. Maybe one shouldn't meet your heroes after all.
Still - wish I still owned it just for pottering about & looking at. And yes it is already a classic & yes to the last models had serious engine maladies - shame on you Honda.
Cheapstraightsix said:
tim-jxv5n said:
I viewed this exact car last weekend. Ended up putting a deposit down on a standard 2005 car in the end for 2 reasons; cheaper tax bracket and modified examples nearly always have a harder life
Was it a grey one on autotrader?I booked a train to see this one, but decided not to go when the seller insisted I took cash with me then lied about where the nearest bank was. Blatantly a trader pretending to be a private seller.
Enquired about the grey one and just missed out!
Had 3 lined up to view on Sunday but they all sold on Saturday. Low mileage examples are in huge demand at the moment.
Pick it up next week, I can't wait!!
aka_kerrly said:
Water Fairy said:
I must also take issue with the assumption a modified car has a harder life. I have modified several cars and they have all been treated well and maintained over and above any recommendations and cost me a pretty penny to be honest. A car modified correctly is a loved car in my experience.
I agree, in the case of the RED S2000 in the OP which i must say looks very nice with some good upgrades..Ohlin suspension at £2k & Im pretty sure it's a PasswordJDM intake £500 (gives 10+Hp + 12ftlb tq) spends money on geometry an by looks of it decent tyres is often a much better person to buy a car from than a someone selling one for only marginally less that's been run on a shoestring budget consisting of potentially 15year old steering/suspension/brake components just good enough to pass an MOT .
Also, the guy selling wasn't the owner who had done the modifications, the car had been traded in and this guy was a trader. Things just didn't stack up for me
I just love it how you're all balled over with the advert without viewing the car!! If you were an employer and I was to send you my CV full of fairy tails are you automatically going to give me a job?!?!
yonex said:
One of the most disappointing cars I’ve ever driven. I tried to like them, borrowed various incarnations from the local dealer but the DC2 was just massively superior on the roads I use. Lovely gearbox and engine, but the springs and general setup, not for me. Boxster or Elise, I think it really missed the opportunity to carve a niche between them.
I sort of agree (the DC2, down a back-road, is near-untouchable IMHO - not pace per-se but composure, confidence, involvement and reward, and I'd have a third DC2 in a heartbeat were they not c.£10k for mediocre ones)....but the S2000 with bracing and the right geometry set-up does become rather good...only the last tenth or so reveals the suspension limitations...and by all accounts Nitrons or Ohlins fix most of that.
Elise is rather more 'hardcore' ( / focused - YMMV), but does show what can be done with the right chassis set-up.
Boxster is beautifully balanced but the engine was deliberately hamstrung by Porsche so as not to step on the 911's toes...S2000, as others have said, is more of an event to drive.
I went through a phase of really wanting one of these a few years back but prices have now risen and I think I'd probably now prefer the VX220 that was on PH in an article recently for just under the £10,000 mark. Similar straightline performance (The S2000 may be a little quicker), torquier engine and I reckon more fun when just blatting about and not banging off the red line. About 16 years ago, My brother in law had a S2000 and also brought down a then new E46 M3 and VX220 - I drove the S2000 and got taken out in the other two. My favourite was the VX220. Just so much fun at any speed and good in that crucial 50-80 range at overtaking dawdlers.
WJNB said:
And yes it is already a classic & yes to the last models had serious engine maladies - shame on you Honda.
08/09 cars suffered more than the odd engine failure. Sometimes at very low miles.In my opinion Honda had no incentive to acknowledge or address the issue - the cars were out of production and therefore there was no money in it for them.
They tried their best to sweep the problems under the carpet but some owners were running their third engine in a 2 year old car ( some replacement engines also failed ! )
Apparently the failures were down to defective crankshaft thrust washers resulting excessive end float/ misalignment of the crank.
I agree - shame on Honda for not getting to grips with the issue.
IMO the brand is pretty crap these days and they don't make anything remotely interesting.
It's a pity the last S2000s were, in some instances, lemons.
Had mine, a 2005 plate, for 7 years now, used as a daily driver and put 50,000 miles on it. Bit of a love/hate relationship at times but just cannot bring myself to sell it despite coming close to it several times. I spend hours looking through the classifieds, but cannot think or find anything else at the price that is both such an event to drive yet so damn reliable. Driven hard everyday, yet wanted for little other than consumables and regular oil changes.
ChickenvanGuy said:
I'm on my 4th. All black with red seats. There's something about them - the rawness, the looks, the rarity.
I should never have sold my last one, but I did, so I am not selling this one. Ever. I've fitted heated seats, rustproofed the rear arches, changed the audio and lots of other little mods which make it mine. OEM+ is the plan. Only driven in the wet twice by me, comes out on dry weekends and occasional drives to work as a treat.
Mine's a late 2009 car, 52k miles. Any weakness of the 09 engines would have shown itself by now.
These are the last of their kind - screaming N/A engines, fantastic manual gearbox, few driver aids or assist systems. We won't see their like again.
When petrol is rationed and ICE cars are no longer sold, this will put a smile on my face every time I have enough fuel to take it out.
Despite my own criticisms you may a fair point & we all have our personal views.I should never have sold my last one, but I did, so I am not selling this one. Ever. I've fitted heated seats, rustproofed the rear arches, changed the audio and lots of other little mods which make it mine. OEM+ is the plan. Only driven in the wet twice by me, comes out on dry weekends and occasional drives to work as a treat.
Mine's a late 2009 car, 52k miles. Any weakness of the 09 engines would have shown itself by now.
These are the last of their kind - screaming N/A engines, fantastic manual gearbox, few driver aids or assist systems. We won't see their like again.
When petrol is rationed and ICE cars are no longer sold, this will put a smile on my face every time I have enough fuel to take it out.
I did think that Honda had chosen a too simple design of alloy wheel for the 2009, the earlier polished face & non-polished face versions were much more distinctive.
I spent £300 in 2006 with Centre Gravity, who dismantled and greased all the suspension bushes and set the car up for fast road use and the handling in the dry was brilliant even compared to a factory fresh S2000.
Centre Gravity the company whose name I forgot & had to sort out my 2006 car within weeks of purchase. Fabulous bloke at CG but what an appalling reflection on Honda having to take such action. Should have sent the bill to Honda as it cost me time & money to sort what Honda should have done in the first place.
Centre Gravity the company whose name I forgot & had to sort out my 2006 car within weeks of purchase. Fabulous bloke at CG but what an appalling reflection on Honda having to take such action. Should have sent the bill to Honda as it cost me time & money to sort what Honda should have done in the first place.
havoc said:
trails said:
Black S2K said:
Yup.
But even with the 16" cars, a set of chassis braces transforms the sensation of impending breakaway and seems to improve the steering feel. It makes them a lot less unpredictable.
With those and 17"s, it's more akin to a GT86 with rather more power.
I know about the lower cross brace...any others that make as much difference?But even with the 16" cars, a set of chassis braces transforms the sensation of impending breakaway and seems to improve the steering feel. It makes them a lot less unpredictable.
With those and 17"s, it's more akin to a GT86 with rather more power.
I'd also agree with a poster above that 04-06 is the sweet spot - facelift, 17"s / revised suspension, lower tax, no DBW (so no ESP).
Engine - I believe the block was shared with the K20 (and some other bits, but not sure how many). Head was unique and of course it's an in-line not a transverse (as almost all other Honda motors are).
The upper & lower fronts permit the feeling of increasing tyre slip.
It's baffling that they weren't like this from the factory, since it's usual on Type-R Hondas. Perhaps they were saving it from the Type-R.
I don't think the block is actually shared with the K-series; the ladder main bearing carrier is unique to the F20/22C. What is confusing is that the bore spacing is identical across many Honda 2.0 engines, so 'Frankenstein' engines can be quite easily built if you know a good machine shop.
Bibbs said:
Has an S2000 for a few years, now have a Boxster 987 3.4 S.
The Porsche is better designed (but still pretty sparse), more comfortable, and a whole lot quicker as stock.
But my S2000 had a load of suspension work and 375hp at the end, and then the engine expired.
Yup - they're chalk and cheese.The Porsche is better designed (but still pretty sparse), more comfortable, and a whole lot quicker as stock.
But my S2000 had a load of suspension work and 375hp at the end, and then the engine expired.
A Boxster is probably more of a 'poor man's NSX' than it is an S2000 and there's nothing wrong with that!
My first engine expired with 237 BHP. I did reverse off a few tracks in it early on, which might not have helped the oil pressure.
No-one really knows exactly why some suddenly throw rods and most others don't.
Lewtyper said:
I had a ‘99 import. My dad still has his ‘07 facelift.
Great cars but not a patch on my DC2 in terms or driving experience IMO. YMMV.
The steering must feel terrible driven back to back to a DC5. I understand why they did it...it’s just a shame the s2000 doesn’t benefit from that granular feel you get from a decent hydraulic set up.Great cars but not a patch on my DC2 in terms or driving experience IMO. YMMV.
I bought an S2000 from new and took it on a drive around Europe. The torque issue was prevalent when trying to accelerate on hills...because it couldn't, added to the fact that Honda fitted a restrictor so that you couldn't dump the clutch and wheel spin, i traded it in the moment i got home and bought a 3 year old M3 which i kept for years.
trails said:
The steering must feel terrible driven back to back to a DC5. I understand why they did it...it’s just a shame the s2000 doesn’t benefit from that granular feel you get from a decent hydraulic set up.
Indeed, the S2000 with early electric power steering a full 20 years before it was perfected feels utterly wooden.RossP said:
andyp03 said:
Honda fitted a restrictor so that you couldn't dump the clutch and wheel spin
What is the restriction you speak of? Neither my current or previous model have this issue.cb1965 said:
RossP said:
andyp03 said:
Honda fitted a restrictor so that you couldn't dump the clutch and wheel spin
What is the restriction you speak of? Neither my current or previous model have this issue.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff