Hello S2KI,
I hope I posted this in the right section. If not, my apologies.

I'll try to keep it short. I've really been looking into the S2000 AP2 as the first car I will buy. I am 23 years old and I've been driving for about 3 years now. 2 of those 3 years I have been regularly driving a 2013 Mustang GT Automatic. I've had the tail loose just a few times, and have felt comfortable, but not cocky on spirited mountain drives in 'Sport' driving mode (sharper throttle response, less traction control) with its 412 HP and RWD. I've certainly not taken it even close to its limits in the corners, nor do I intend to with either the GT or AP2.

I've not yet driven a manual transmission car. I do feel confident driving a manual transmission in the iRacing simulator on PC; I certainly understand it is not the same thing.

Do you think I would be ready for an AP2? If not, what kind of experience (time or practice or otherwise) should I gain before I would be ready for one?

 

I think you'll be fine. Just take it easy until you learn the car. Good luck finding one you want.
Levi

 

My Ap2 was my first manual car. Don't drive like a moron. 04-05 don't have any kind of traction control. I have seen to many posts that go something like "it was raining and I turned and hit vtec and spun out and hit XXX is my car totaled?" Or something similarly stupid. The S2000 doesn't have the same power but it can still bite you just as hard or catch you by surprise.

 

I would say the s2000 isn't a crazy first manual car. It has 0 torque and the clutch pickup is super forgiving so you will have to try to put yourself in bad situations. But as others said the 05 and earlier don't have any electronic systems to help stupidity so drive smart,

 

I think the s2k is a bit of a handful, in a good way for experienced and careful drivers, but it can bite hard if you are not very careful especially in wet. My recommendation would be to get real comfortable driving standard with something else and then, once you are comfortable driving standard, get an s2k and drive the heck out of it. It will force you to become a better driver. But if you don't want to have your concentration divided between learning to drive standard and managing the other characteristics of the s2k.

 

hell yeah, s2k is so easy to drive, go for it.

 

S2000 was my first MT. My first time driving it, my friend (who drove it home for me) forgot to mention to me how to put it in reverse. I kept trying to reverse out of my driveway, not realizing I was in 6th. FYI - you press the shifter down towards the ground to go into reverse! Don't laugh.

 

Laughing. We've all had the problem in one way or another when we refuse to read the instructions.

-- Chuck

 

only reason i knew about the press down to reverse was i experienced it before in a VW, and i too was totally thrown off at that point because i was only used to 5-speeds.

 

i bought a $1000 car to learn how to drive a manual. The shifter was well broken in so it shifts effortlessly. The S2k should work fine too, my wife has been able to successfully learn on it. It will roll back and the clutch is a little stiff so be aware of that.