Hey fellas, im here trying to convince my father to purchase a s2000. right now he is considering the s2000 and the 350z. from what i have read so far i understand that you can give the s2k a little bit more power or acceleration by changing the rear end gear ratio to 4.44 or 4.77 i believe. basically i am just wondering why he should get this car and not the 350z. i do like this car for the looks a little bit more and if i better understood this whole gearing situation then maybe i would have better luck persuading him into buying the s2k instead. also honestly what does changing the gear ratio do for the car as far as acceleration is concerned. thanks in advance for any help....

 

Search is your friend. Wrong forum.

But welcome!

 

This is all I have to say, print it out and give it to your dad.
http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?se...article_id=6846

 

I just drove the shit out of a 350Z last week. It was alright... not a big fan of the car though.

 

i have tried searching the forums for more info on the gearing but none that i have seen have offered any real useable data to show it gives gains.

 

These accountings are all over the forum. You just haven't found any yet. Here's one:
https://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?...threadid=117349

 

weirdalchy, welcome. You're missing the point of the S2000. If all you care about is 0-60 or 0-100mph.

That's not what it's about. The 4.44 may make it more peppy, and it would have been nice if it came that way from the factory (Oh well).

This car is not about "numbers". It makes good numbers, but it's not about that. It's about driving. Shifter feel (the best in the world), fun to drive (one of the best), drop top carving up a winding road.

I love my S2000 because of the way it feels when I drive it. I don't "race" other cars and I doubt your father will be racing either.

From what I've read the S2000 is equal to the 350Z up to 100mph.

If you want a fast 1/4 mile car why not get a SVT cobra or a STi?

If you want a fun to drive convertible, light weight lively handling, the S2000 is great.

 

Drive S2000 = Huge grin

Drive 350Z = Hmmm, not bad

Drop the top, find a canyon road, can't beat the S2000 for ~$30,000. You don't need to change the rear end gears to have a blast with it. For that matter, you don't need to add ANYTHING to the S2000. Lots of people (like me) add stuff to our cars because we want to customize it. The stock S2000 is excellent on the street and on the track.

 

To answer your question regarding the help of changing the rear end gear ratio. I am not sure if rear end gear ratio is the same thing as final drive gear ratio. This is how I understand it, might not be totally correct. All vehicles use a differential to provide an additional torque multiplication(gear reduction). Since S2000 is a rear wheel drive vehicle, so its transmission is not located in a transaxle like front wheel drive vehicle does, so the final drive ratio is also the rear differential gear ratio. In this case, the final drive gears include the pinion shaft pinion gear and the large differential ring gear. Because the pinion shaft pinion gear is much smaller than the ring gear, so there would be a substantial torque mulitplication. For example, when you are in first gear and the first gear ratio is 4:1, and the final drive ratio is 3.78:1, then the overall gear ratio would be 4*3.78=15.12. This means driving torque at the drive axles and wheels is 15.12 times greater than engine torque. By changing the rear differential gear ratio, torque mulitiplication would also be changed. Therefore acceleration could be improved. One thing you need to realize is that increasing torque would also reduce the speed.

 

This is so true... S2000 is a pure driver's car. Doesn't have tons of power, AWD, vehicle stability assist, traction control, side airbags, 4 cupholders, 3 power outlets, electronic throttle, 300W stereo, heated seats. But that's what I love about it. I had an AE86 not too long ago that was pretty slow when you got down to it, but it was all about the driver. The S2000 is very very similar in that respect.

The car is extremely fast around a track with the right driver. It's common in Japan for someone to say the AE86 trains the driver. The same is true with the S2000 in my mind.