The only thing S2K needs to reach perfection is a diet. Get it down to 2300 lbs with the same F/R balance and engine and brakes and it would be a real kick in the butt to drive. I think the Lotus Elise is going to have some influence on future SC designs. I think the next generation S2K will be much lighter.

Steve

 

I find it hard to believe the early S2000's handling dynamic were exactly what the engineers wanted it to be. Okay, I flat out call B.S.. The quirkiness in stock trim was a real issue and you'll note the suspension got re-designed in a later year (inc. tires).

And yeah, Honda had a price target for this car so they, like almost every other manufacturer on the planet, cheaped out on "some of the most important parts of the car." The name of the game is compromise. Somewhere inside Honda is a team of engineers who wanted the S2000 to kick ass on every supercar you could think of but they are limited by the bean counters. Good thing, if you wanted Honda to be around for a while...

 

exactly why i had no problem buying the Elise even with the C6 Z06 around the corner.

 

I agree for street light to street light racing...but for spirited mountain driving, I never really miss it...

 

Exactly the reason that I think the MR Spyder could really have been something special if Toyota engineers had found a way to get their HP in there...

 

I don't know - slow but fun would probably put a smile on my face and keep the cops off my tail.


















(unless slow but fun involved strippers... )

 

From autoextremist.com

Thinkin' Small.

Austin, Texas. I keep readin' these articles about how the new concept of "small" is all the rage. Small appliances, small gadgets, smaller fast food meals and, of course, small cars are the new cool for all of the "hipsters" out there who allegedly know of such things. As for me, small cars have never gone out of style, and I find the fact that small is the new road cool to be amusing. For instance, when you see a restored bug-eye Austin Healey Sprite on the road today, you cringe at the thought of it negotiating the current driving environment - while barely coming up to the wheel wells of a Ford F-150 pickup. Yet, when you see that same bug-eye on a race track during a vintage weekend, it seems perfectly in proportion.

But I love small cars - especially small performance cars.

I remember when Peter had a Lotus Europa Twin-Cam for a nanosecond (a car that would barely come up to the belt line of most cars today), and how we used to careen around the streets blowin' by unsuspecting motorists in the blink of an eye as that little Lotus just evaporated away with its sheer cornering ability. Peter called it a two-seat Formula Ford, and that's about as accurate of a statement that you could make about that car. It never ran worth a shit for very long, plus the letter "T" on the back in the middle of its name kept falling off so it spelled "L-o- -u-s" - but when it was running that little car would just flat get it. And I remember the '73-'75 Opel 1900s - tautly designed small cars that performed like BMW 2002s for a lot less money. I had a couple of those, and they were excellent cars - at least for me they were.

One thing you learn pretty quick with smaller cars is that it's easy to fly under the radar with them. You can haul ass in the right small car (SVT Focus, Dodge SRT-4, Mini) and have a lot more fun doing it too. I mean, winding the livin' shit out of a small car and bangin' off shifts at the redline is amazingly therapeutic, and you don't have to adopt the total paranoia mindset that's required to operate today's generation of super cars - which catapult you to double and triple the speed limit in no time. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but for those of us with long bouts with tickets, lawyers, points and probations - it's nice to be able to boot a little car and not worry about all of the other associated hassles. Well, maybe not quite as much, anyway. After all, if you push any of the aforementioned small cars to the limit, you're well into ticket territory in no time.

Believe it or not, one of the greatest "small" cars of all time was the Porsche 911. Today's car is sleek, sophisticated, roomy, bloated and souless - and it pales in comparison to the early versions. The 911s of the early '70s were amazingly compact and demanded your complete attention when driving them. They didn't do anything on their own. You had to grab hold of the steering wheel, work the pedals and make the thing respond to your wishes, otherwise it would bite you in mid-corner (and even in a straight line with a heavy-duty crosswind).

The original Shelby Cobra was another example of a great small car. Basically just a late '50s AC Bristol with a small block Ford V-8 stuffed in it, it was a very compact and taut little car that had nothing to do with the later 427 versions, which were wider and heavier - and less maneuverable too. That's why, for me, the 289s were always the essence of what a Cobra should be.

So, for us enthusiasts, small has always represented something good. As much as we're living in a "golden age" of performance these days, the cars are often too heavy and too cumbersome for my taste. I keep seeing curb weights of 4,000 pounds for a lot of these cars - and that just isn't right in my book.

That's why I'm thinkin' that the Pontiac Solstice is such a sweet, sweet car. And that's why when GM stuffs a small, optional aluminum V-8 in it - I will have my deposit ready.

Adios until the next time.

 

In regards to the thread starter :

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

fun is better

 

Good thread. I've owned some damned fast cars and even own one now but for fun on the street a car doesn't have to be all that fast. Sure fast is good but a Miata can be a ton of fun to drive and it's not fast. I enjoyed driving the old Porsche 912's on the street as much if not more than the early 911's. The 912 wasn't fast but you could drive the hell out of it on the street, have a blast, and rarely need to worry about getting a ticket. Before there were really fast Japanese cars in the US I swapped from Corvettes to 4 banger cars three different times and had as much fun with the little slower cars. While I love super fast I don't have to have it to have fun.