Wednesday 7th June 2006

Will Honda replace the S2000?

Mind-change by Japanese car giant

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Honda S2000

Honda has changed its mind about replacing the high-revving S2000, according to a story in Autocar today. It was intended that the current car would not get a successor but that could now not be the case.

It's started work on a replacement for the roadster, although there's a long way to go. While preliminary sketches are being made, the project has yet to get the green light from the bosses.

Were it to be rubber-stamped, an all-new S2000 would take some five years to come to fruition, pushing the showroom date out to 2011 at the earliest, although to produce a simpler update would be quicker.

What changed Honda's mind? We don't know, although the booming sports car sales currently being occupied by the Porsche Boxster and Nissan 350Z could well have something to do with it.

In the meantime, Honda said that the existing car "has been revised for 2006 with changes to aesthetics and performance. We're just entering the open-topped S2000's favourite time of the year, but it has already clocked up a sales figure of 366 units."

[ZooOOM]

I wonder if they will put a proper engine in it this time?

[ZooOOM]

dinkel said:

S3500: V6 US Accord mill in . . . 300 hp+ and torque.

Exactly.

[ZooOOM]

Sorry, I can’t stop myself from stirring the hornets nest.

Beefmeister - no I don’t think it ruins the point of the whole thing, apart from the relevance of the name maybe. I don’t see how the addition of torque could ruin the experience. A larger engine doesn’t mean that the car need become much heavier.

Gazboy - exactly how am I "kicking TVR while they are down eh?". Honda and TVR are worlds apart in terms of their appeal, there's room for both of them. I'm just suggesting how Honda could make IMO a better car. I imagine it'd be easier to make a new NSX though. But I bet they'll bung up the price to an unreasonable level too.

By the way I did have an S2K once upon a time. So I'm not entirely speaking out of my hat. I know its a great car but the lack of torque really wound me up. It was great when the revs were up but you still had to get them there. So, 1. your compromised from a standing start, 2. you have to rev the nuts off it to get the best performance, and 3. you constantly need to waggle the gear leaver to get the necessary revs i.e. your compromised when you’re moving too.

NDT - I thought they were competing with the 350Z, BMW Z4, SLK and Elise. All of which can be quicker, regardless of the ethos, though most of them have bigger engines.

Frankly, (harristc) 6.2 sec is not fast enough.

By the way I get pretty much the same MPG from my Tiv as I did in the S2K, but the Tiv is more fun to drive.