First, I'm new, so hi everyone.

Second, this is my highly embarrassing story. A couple weeks back I bought a nice 2001 S2K. I have very little experience with cars sportier than the old Accord, and was of course pretty excited. So excited that, having read reviews promising "good handling", I concluded that I was no longer bound by the laws of physics and promptly spun it into the first guardrail I saw. The entire passenger side of the car and the front wheel was pretty badly damaged - repair estimate was a nice $9K.

So now the lesson has been learned and in a couple of weeks I'll get the car back. What I'm curious and nervous about is what I should expect after body work? I've heard horror stories, but also been assured that a competent shop (hoping I have one) will return the car in fine shape. I suppose this is very case by case, but I'm wondering if anyone has thoughts on where to set the expectations... will it be the same car I briefly enjoyed?

 

First of all, HI!

Second, a good shop should return you a good car.

Thirdly, I am a pretty good driver (not a track driver though) and it took me 8 months to really be comfortable pushing this car. Just remember that this car can get tempermental on the edge, so start slow on your second chance. $9k is a steep learning curve so I think you learned that lesson quickly, but your baby will still be able to show you a good time.

 

Where are you from? May I suggest an autocross soon? They can be found all over NC and SC, so let us know where you're at and I'm sure we can find one within reach, soon. Most likely someone from the board will even be there to welcome you and help you learn the car with the quickness.

Learning the car on the street, as you've found, can be quite costly.

 

Poor baby...but kudos on taking ownership...no doubt you'll have your S back soon, like new and do what others here have suggested, participate in some AutoX events. While I personally never really enjoyed the AutoX events I participated in, they did help me understand the handling and feel for the car in an environment that is pretty forgiving.

Best of luck!

 

Welcome

Ever drive a rear wheel drive car before? You can actually steer it with the throttle!

The fastest way to have the back end come out on you is to let off the throttle too quickly because you entered a corner too fast.

Do as the others have suggested, and do some Autocrossing to get the feel of it.

I've been driving mine for over 5 years and 77,000 miles, and still don't have the hang of it

The car will give you a false sense of immortality as it feels like it's on rails... until as you experienced, it hops the tracks

As a warning, the cars like to hydroplane in the rain too, providing many members the opportunity to wish they were driving slower at the time.

Good luck, and hope to see you soon.

 

Thanks, all for the replies. Its true I hadn't driven RWD, and I made exactly the mistake of letting off too quickly on an onramp. The autocross or some other controlled environment sounds like a pretty good idea before I get more dreams of being Jenson Button.

I'm in Raleigh, but seems no one else is. Studied at USC though (and later that other SC school...).

If all goes well I should have the car back when I'm back from vacation in two weeks. I'll follow up with a post-mortem then. Thanks again. This seems like a really great board.

 

fis, try to make it to one of our many S2000 drives/get togethers...while the "bulk" of owners are here in Charlotte...we do get together and have a nice group of folks in Greensboro...at any rate, the drive is not too far and well worth it!