Thursday 16th July 2009

Honda S2000 To Go Hybrid?

Next-gen Honda S2000 could be front-wheel drive and hybrid-powered

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Front-drive, hybrid, folding hard-top. Please, no!

When the Honda S2000 dies later this year, it will leave a sports car-shaped gap in the Honda range, and an open question: How will Honda fill it?

Unfortunately, the latest answer coming out of Japan may not fill Honda fans - or indeed fans of sports cars in general - with feelings of happiness and optimism.

Hot on the heels of the news that Honda is to show a production hybrid sports car - the CR-Z - at October's Tokyo motor show come rumours that the next S2000, due in 2012, will also be a hybrid.

It gets worse. Japanese car mag Best Car is saying that the next-gen hybrid S2000, which will apparently be fitted with the same hybrid diveline due to go into some versions of the Honda Accord, will be front-wheel drive and fitted with a folding hard-top.

Seems like the days of 9000rpm VTECS and simple rear-wheel drive dynamics could be numbered. Let's just hope the rumours are wrong...

[carsnapper]

Tragic. A FWD Hybrid S2000.
What ever next?

[adycav]

Hmm, doesn't sound too promising.

Perhaps you could talk/slap some sense into them when you are over in Japan Riggers.

[Groober]

So put simply, Honda S2000 ruined by Honda.

[Miklad]

There is something really odd going on at Honda at the moment. They are cutting costs there and everywhere at the moment.

Looks like Clarkson was right when he said something along the lines of 'In a few years time you won't be able to buy a sports car due to the beardy-eco-lefties'.

That S2000 render is awful. Whoever designed that wants a bullet.

And what a shame about the CR-Z. Sooo much promise and so little return.

Honda fans revel in the fact that they make engines that are pokey, lively and able to be taken to 8000revs+.

V-Tec RIP.

[pilchardthecat]

I thought the retrograde step with the Civic rear suspension was bad - this is an abomination.

[The Wookie]

I must say, while I'm usually the first to say FWD isn't rubbish like some people make out, that is fking tragic.

Honda should be ashamed of themselves, dropping a thoroughbred, 9000rpm, rear wheel drive sports car and replacing it with an overcomplicated saloon derived lump with a pointless hybrid system and a folding hard top. It actually upsets me.

[adycav]

For Honda fans it's probably worth buying one of the last current S2000s with the aim of keeping it for ever.

It might be the last decent car that they ever make...

[Baffled Spoon]

You may mock, but that cars' gonna have some serious performance when the electric motor's vtec kicks in (yo!) when it gets to over 55,000rpm

Joking aside, I thought the next s2000 was meant to look like this rwd beauty from the motorshow;

[Groober]

Baffled Spoon said:

You may mock, but that cars' gonna have some serious performance when the electric motor's vtec kicks in (yo!) when it gets to over 55,000rpm

Joking aside, I thought the next s2000 was meant to look like this rwd beauty from the motorshow;

Now that is lovely.

[TUS 373]

I'm a hybrid convertee, but what they should be doing if they want to go that route is at least make it RWD. Hybrids can go like stink, but you don't want to change the handling - that's alot of what being a sports car comes from. This will be interesting to watch.

[Jonny671]

You want an MX-5

(Not just PH'ing around here.. It seems Mazda are one of the last that are still building sports cars, well!)

[stuckmojo]

Awful news.

No problems with the hybrid, but for fk's sake not front wheel drive!

The S2000 is/was an exceptional car, why ruin it?

Now some dick from honda will come and say that they are doing it to give it better handling or some bullst like that and some idiots will even believe them.

Thank god we still have Mazda (and maybe VW with the new little RWD thing).

[BBS-LM]

Honda Fans must be cringing at all the metal which is turning into boring battery cars, I know I am?

[CorsaScott]

And in one fell swoop, Honda slip further towards being like Peugeot, churning up horrid piles of crap that please their bank manager and remove all possible involvement from driving. Although one good thing may come of this slaughtering of the S2000, the original will now most certainly become a classic now if it's next incarnation is some foul FWD monstrosity (and I don't have a problem with FWD as such, I think they can still be very capable cars, but in a small 2 seater "sports car" RWD is a must)

[The Wookie]

I doubt it's even pleasing their bank manager, the hybrid stuff is expensive to develop and eats into profit margins in build costs.

I can't explain it outside some misguided bid to 'save the world'. Or try and set themselves up as some sort of downmarket/budget Toyota alternative... *shudder*

[Conian]

I am all for bad hybrids, simply due to the fact that we have to have bad ones in order to improve them to get GOOD hybrids.

Like it or not, petrol is running out and its gonna get more expensive.

I love petrol engines, the roar, the smell, the power, but i'm also looking forward to a cheap fast electric motorbike capable of 150mph, 300 mile range all for 10p a mile, and a hydrogen car doing a 1000 miles for a quid and still capable of 130+

but to get there, we gotta put up with the slow crap first.

[havoc]

CorsaScott said:

And in one fell swoop, Honda slip further towards being like Peugeot, churning up horrid piles of crap that please their bank manager and remove all possible involvement from driving. Although one good thing may come of this slaughtering of the S2000, the original will now most certainly become a classic now if it's next incarnation is some foul FWD monstrosity (and I don't have a problem with FWD as such, I think they can still be very capable cars, but in a small 2 seater "sports car" RWD is a must)

I'm not sure I'd go as far as "like Peugeot" (like Toyota without the Lexus arm, maybe), but otherwise I agree 100%. Mk2 Elan sold badly vs the competition, which IMHO is largely due to being fwd, despite having a Lotus chassis...

Can I just point out though - this WON'T be an S2000, in the same way that the (now-canned) 4wd V10 supercar wasn't an NSX.


I can only assume Honda didn't make enough money out of the S2000 and they now believe the market is in 'over-styled-eco-trolleys' not proper drivers' cars. TBH they're (sadly) probably right...

[Riggers]

adycav said:

Hmm, doesn't sound too promising.

Perhaps you could talk/slap some sense into them when you are over in Japan Riggers.

Like it! I'll see what I can do, but I think talking rather than slapping might be a better idea

[Paul 8v]

Oh dear, that's not good. I know Honda can do FWD but not on an S2000, also I don't like the idea of the folding hard top. On a sports car like that the extra weight would be rubbish.

[toothrot]

Groober said:

Baffled Spoon said:

You may mock, but that cars' gonna have some serious performance when the electric motor's vtec kicks in (yo!) when it gets to over 55,000rpm

Joking aside, I thought the next s2000 was meant to look like this rwd beauty from the motorshow;

Now that is lovely.

what? Its a pug 307cc. Shoot yourself for liking it