Kind of regret not looking for a used S2000 5-8 years ago.

Got seduced by power and that V8.

But straight line gets boring now that Teslas everywhere.

 

Honda will never make an S2000 like the AP1/AP2 ever again. There will be electrification, or there will be a turbo, or there will be an automatic transmission of some kind. The aspects of the S2000 that made everyone fall in love with it all those years ago simply do not make financial sense for a mass-market vehicle. Naturally aspirated, high-revving engines are not eco-friendly.

I'm lucky. I bought mine in 2012 for $15k. I could sell it now for $26k pretty easily, but I'll never do that.

 

There would be a turbo, for sure. The K20C1 engine in the FK8 Civic type R is a turbocharged descendant of the F20C from the original S2000, obviously converted for transverse duty. If Honda were to do another S2000, they would almost certainly start with the that engine, convert it back to a longitudinal design, and likely add some lightweight internals to increase the redline. It probably wouldn't spin to 9,000, but maybe somewhere in the 7,800-8,200 range (vs. 7,000 in the Civic). Would still be hella fun to drive.

I don't think it would be either electric or automatic. I believe that for MY2021, Honda was the only major manufacturer who had multiple models for which no automatic was even offered--and will be again for MY2023 when the FL Type R launches.

 

Great deal even in 2012.

Around that same time I was coming from a Miata and MR2 so I felt the S2000 was too similar.

I considered the newly introduced FRS/BRZ at that time too.

Went the Supra and IS F route instead because POWAH, but now I miss driving a slower car fast.

 

this and the NSX are on my dream stable. never could afford one when they were aplenty but now they are all crashed/salvaged/rebuilt and overly modded.

 

Good call to stay away from them, then. The last thing you want to be stuck with is a car that has been owned and/or driven by morons.

 

one of my favorite 'old school' top gear segments was when they had to decide between the Z4, Boxter, and S2000

it's a rare moment where the comments made by clarkson have actually aged really well lol... i'm pretty sure james and richard eventually even came around as well

of those 3 cars the S2000 is easily the best value, the best looking, the most reliable, and the fastest! every so often i'll see an S2000 driving around and it's still a fantastic looking design

 

fastest if you don't mind living at 8000+rpm and losing your hearing slowly.

 

Yep.....the 1Gen S2000 had an engine that essentially was capable of motorcycle RPMs. Redline was 9000, HP peak was at 8600, and torque peak was at 7600. Those numbers were toned down only slightly for the 2Gen version.

I don't ever remember test-driving an S2000. Would have been redundant anyway, since, on a brand-new car, back then, the usual break-in policy on a brand-new engine was not to exceed 4000-4500 RPM, well below this engine's power-peaks, for the first 1000 miles or so. I always honored that policy if I was sampling a brand-new vehicle.

As for the hearing you mention, I have lost some hearing in the last couple of years or so, more-so in one ear than the other....my ear doctor is working on a remedy (as much as possible) as we speak. That's one reason, among several others, why I don't do as many reviews now......I'm probably not as qualified now to judge a vehicle's sound-level as I was up to just a few years ago.

 

It was a great episode, and out of the three the S2000 clearly aged the best. The original Z4 is all but forgotten, and the original Boxster was just pretentious and awful for a Porsche.

 

Engine-Start/Stop buttons have become commonplace now in new vehicles (almost standard across the board). But the S2000 was one of the first modern vehicles to actually incorporate one. It was done in a bright-red, F1-style.....down on the lower left corner of the dash.

 

Ok, but they didn't use a proximity key. You still needed a physical key to turn the car to on; you just pressed the start button instead of cranking the key one more click.

 

that's pretty silly.

 

yeah proximity key was still new tech back then!

the s2000 also had the older style door pulls, where the newer ones are now more prevalent as they take less effort to use.


newer types:

 

Best NA 4 banger I've ever driven.