GlesgaKiss

Hi there, well as above I'm looking for opinions on the Honda S2000.

There was one sitting in the garage of the specialist I use last weekend and its got me wanting one. Surely loads of fun with it being rear wheel drive? Are they as reliable as other honda's that age?

Cheers, Alan

lordretsudo

We have a 2007 S2000. It's the wife's car officially, but I drive it quite a bit too. I like it a lot, and ours has been completely reliable, but then it's only a year old and has only done 4000 miles... It was quite an expensive car, but they're very rare (I think I've only seen 3 since we got it) so feel quite exclusive. The engine has to be driven hard, as everyone will tell you, but is quite mental over 6000 RPM. There's a picture of ours in my 'View My Scooby' page.

Saxo Boy used to own one and has made several good, informative posts about it. I think they're in the 'Other Marques' forum. His posts helped us decide an S2000 was for us.

corradoboy

I drove one on an extended test drive on the sunniest, hottest day of the year a couple of years back It was superb fun with plenty of go in the upper rev range, easy overtaking and very predictable and precise handling. That upper rev limit though got tiresome after an hour or so and I started to dislike the screaming 9k revs, resulting in me slowing down to just enjoy the sun, scenery and car, but not the potential. Not for me as I like to be 'on it' all the time and in this car I didn't want to. JC on TG once stated that of the 'x' million VTEC engines made, not one has ever failed. It is however a false claim, as the dealer whom loaned me the car confessed that one numpty blew his due to constant doughnuts and burnouts, and my g/f's Civic engine developed a bottom end rattle before we sold it on. Overall though I think they are way above most other engines for reliability.

GlesgaKiss

Thanks for the replies guys, very helpfull. I have actually owned a few pretty quick budget honda's, which were constantly thrashed and never serviced, but still were 100% reliable. Just wondered if the s2000 would be the same...although I would be taking care of that one if I got it.

LG John

I've written a fair bit on the subject in the past so search posts by 'Saxo Boy' criteria 'S2000' and you should be able to dig up some stuff. In brief the S2000 hits a lovely sweet spot offering the right balance of raw thrills ala exige/elise but with a more acceptable degree of comforts and practicality. To drive it seem 'just right' as a fun and exciting daily use roadster. They are generally very reliable but can be costly if things go wrong. For example the TPS sensor on the side of the throttle body went in mines requiring the whole TB to be replaced at a cost of £800!!! I found a TB online second hand for £50 and did the work in about an hour myself. If the suspension bushes go Honda only supply them with the suspension arms attached and that's mega money per corner as well!

The only other consideration is your preferences as a driver: If you like to laze around and squeeze the throttle to overtake then the S2000 isn't ideal for you. Sure it'll still pull well enough off vtec but nothing compared to a turbo or bigger cc car. If, instead, you prefer to pop from 6th to 2nd with a blip of the gas and then work through two gears as quickly as you can physically snap the leaver into place, all the while running to within a few rpm of the limiter....then you'll get on great with it

LG John

Honda haven't had a failure of the vtec system....ever That isn't a myth, it's the truth. The problem is that plenty of vtec equipped engines have failed. The important thing to realize is the claim is made relative to the vtec system and NOT the whole engine. It's very, very unlikely any car manufacturer could produce over a million combustion engines and never have a failure!

Snazy

A guy I know is or was selling his and replacing it with......... a classic scooby Ello Ian

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Have one now. 2005 S2000 with 32K on the clock. 100% reliable so far and I thrash the living daylights out of it.

A lot of people say why didn't you get an MX5 .... they have never driven an S. Closer to an Elise than to an MX5 but with some refinements.

Wonderful engine and in my opinion the best looking 'budget' convertible on the market by far. It even looks good with the top up.

Wife had a Boxster S before and in our opinion based on our experiences the S2000 is a better built car. 3 years old and no rattles and no issues, sadly The Porsche had both.

As above though drive one first as 6000rpm plus isn't for everyone

Abdabz

My best friend has a black one. She is very very reliable, loves to scream, is good looking (lovely rear, bonnet is well buffed) and he wont let me touch her throttle, so I have only watched him thrash the *** of it from close by, I would still recommend her most definately...