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Honda S2000


Moff S3
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MY03 Honda S2000

I have now had the car for a year and I have done over 18000 miles. My last car was an Audi S3 225, which is now my bird's car.

The S3 and S2000 are so 'chalk and cheese'. The S3's engine is effortless on very linear, the S2000 loves to be revved and is the best sounding NA 4 pot engine I have ever heard. There are a lot of scare stories about S2000's generally about twitchyness, loose backend etc. To be fair, most of this is just scaremongering. The car has 240bhp, RWD and has dry weather tyres with no traction control or ESP. Too many FWD drivers move to the S2000 and crash due to inexperince of RWD. If the road is wet / greasy / icey and you boot it in a corner in any RWD car (without ESP) e.g. a TVR, the backend WILL step out.

In the 18000 miles of driving that I have done I have driven in rain, snow, ice with no drama's. The only drama's that I have had are when I have deliberalty provoked the car or been silly (e.g. cold tyres, wet road, slight backend moment laugh.gif ).

The S2000 is quite a unique car. For £26,800 you get the most powerfull n/a 2 litre engine in the world that has won the engine of the year award (for its class) for god knows how many years. The performance is stunning. The car is not very good at standing starts, bogs down to easy, but once going it is awesome, I and do not have any problem pulling away from the S3. I raced my gf head to head out of the lights. She got the traction but once in 2nd gear I closed her down and went past. Both cars are similar to 70mph, but above these speeds, the S2000 will pull away.

(stats from EVO)

0-60 5.5 secs

0-100 14.6 secs

Top Spd 150mph

bhp 240

Weight 1250kg

The engine is down to personal preference. If you love to rev and redline a car you will love the S2000, if you want a effortless cruiser, with an engine that doesn't want to be worked, get a Z4 3.0 or a Boxster S.

The interior is not up to the standards of the Audi TT (not many cars are), and it is japanese in function, but the best part of the interior has got to be the ease of use. You can access virtually all of the controls without taking your hand off the steering wheel. The seats are fantastic, and although the level of adjustment is low, I have found a far nicer driving postition than I ever could with the S3.

The roof is fantastic, the canvas is very thin so it can be a little noisy, from MY02> it does have a heated window, the roof will retract in 6 seconds and raise in the same time. It is not fully automated as with the Z4, and requires two simple catches to undo.

A major criticism about the car (and any VTEC engine) is the lack of torque. Yes the car needs to be revved, but thats the point of the car, and why it has a 9200rpm limit!! Below 6000 rpm the S2000 will drive like a normal 2l car, but above it is transformed, and you can only really experience 9000rpm VTEC if you have driven or been driven in an S2000, I am hooked smile.gif

For the money, there is nothing to match an S2000. The standard Porsche Boxster is too expensive and too slow, the Z4 3.0l is far more expensive (and is designed by Bangle). I don't think you can compare the TTR with the S2k as I think its more of a cruiser than an out and out roadster.

To change from the S2000 I am going to have to get richer, as the natural progression IMO is a TVR (for performance) or Porsche Boxster S (for quality and great handling).

If you doubt the performance of the S2000 do a search for Best Motoring in Kazaa or www.s2ki.com you will find some fantastic performance car vids.

A review of your own car is always going to be a little byast, but the S2000 needs to be driven before a decision can be made.

Pro's

Engine, 9200 rpm, performance, value for moeny, amazing grip in the dry, 6 sec elec hood, excellent build quality and reliability

Con's

Raw, can be twitchy on cold tyres or in adverse weather, jap switchgear

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[ QUOTE ]

Brilliant review. can i ask what the difference was regarding insurance? sekret.gifsekret.gifbeerchug.gif

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Not sure as I have got company insurance for the S2000. I would imagine there would be a 20-30% increase as the S2000 is a group 20.

Cheers Fatcat, the site is looking good beerchug.gif

Can a mod add .jpg to the end of the image link pls. Thx

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my first car was a honda, and I still miss the revs. Always enjoyed how you could drive it 'boring' and it was perfectly behaved, or you could drop down a couple of gears, push to the red line and off you go.

Often wondered if I could ever get a car with Audi styling / interior and honda engine / driveability. And no, a BMW isn't it!

lovely example of the s2k btw.

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Another greaty review, nice one Moff! beerchug.gif

Had a Prelude 2.2 VTEC a few years ago, you're dead right those VTEC engines make the best noise imaginable for a four cylinder unit. I used to find that the car "goads you on" as hitting that VTEC sweet spot at 6,000rpm and howling it round to the red line becomes an obsession! A fabulous snick snick rifle bolt gearchange meant snap changing at the red line straight back to the meat of the power band at just over 6,000 ensured that licence losing speeeds were never far away...

Ultimately I found the need to constantly rev the engine to get any real urge out of it a pain for day to day use and the cheap Japanese interior began to grate, but on the right road and in the right mood it was like a baby Ferrari! An Audi A3 T-sport finally replaced it with its soothing mid range torque and hewn from solid build, but it never served up the sheer adrenalin surge of the Honda.

Sounds to me like you've got the very best of both worlds with an Audi S3 and an S2000 though, nice one! beerchug.gif

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Very nice review and couldn't agree more. Like a baby TVR without the running costs and reliability issues. Picking my 2 year old example up on Wednesday hopefully, still waiting on the insurance forms to come through. Group 20 so a jump up from the lupo gti's group 11, still only £1100 fro fully comp 27year old with 3 points and 3yrs no claims parked on my drive though so can't really complain. (www.confused.com saved me £300 over the next closest)

Mine is dark blue with black leather and has the hardtop too so should be a bit quieter and easier to clear snow off in the winter though it will be the first thing coming off when i get it home. Fantastic engine, handles as well as a boxter S though without the safety nets so i'll have to build up to find the limits. Only down side is slightly remote electronically assisted steering, great lock and turning circle though and steering feel takes time to get used to anyway.

Was warmed up waiting when i got to the dealer and he just handed me the keys as i walked up, one slightly kangarooed start (needs some more revs than my lupo to get smoothly off the line) and a 2nd,3rd,4th trip to the 9000 rev zone and I was hooked. Still quiet enough and relaxed at a 80mph cruise, air con, CD and xenon lights (which I’d miss on any car after the lupos) and leather so it's got all the toys as standard compared to the boxter and keeps its value almost as well. 130bhp front drive hatch becomes 240bhp rear drive roadster tomorrow cool.gif

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After FWD and 130bhp, take care out there. Always remember to warm the tyres up before going quickly and take care in rain (especially when it has just rained) and in icey conditions, the car will bite if not treated with respect.

For a fantastic FAQ will all the info that you will need about your new buy goto:

http://forums.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=131836

This really is ESSENTIAL READING

A few things to note:

1. Check your oil every 2 weeks

2. Check your tyre pressures every 2 weeks (32 PSI)

3. Warm the car for 10 mins b4 VTEC'ing

4. Do not go above 5500 rpm for the first 650 miles

5. Use Mineral oil for the first 9000 miles, then fully synthetic there after.

Cheers

moff

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Cheers for the tips Moff, know about most of the issues and will be taking care. Going to be driving it all year round but definitly plan to put snow tyres on from autumn onward. Might have to get a bus timetable just encase too. Will sign up to the S2K site when i've got some pics, worth getting some feedback and can probably never have too many warnings about treating powerful rear drive cars with respect.

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[ QUOTE ]

. Going to be driving it all year round but definitly plan to put snow tyres on from autumn onward. Might have to get a bus timetable just encase too

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I drove my car in rain, snow, ice etc throughout winter with no problems, try and ensure that you get new tyres for the winter months and you should have no problems. I did 18000 miles in 11 months.

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