Moving to Introductions...

 

Get a decibel meter at Radio Shack and take it with you on test drives.

 

Having owned a TT Roadster and having driven most of the competition, IMO the S2000 is quite good on wind turbulence.

 

Compares well to the Boxster I had.

I thought the Miata was a bit worse, but I'm 6 feet tall, so I got a bit more wind on my head.

The Mustang was just a piece of garbage (although to be fair, I understand the new oues are much better. I'll personally never own another Ford).

However, a ride my Jeep with top off and no doors will make the S2000 seem silent and luxurious by comparison.

Try them out. Get what YOU like.

 

Opinions aside, here's a scenario that I've been through several times.

CCR has one S2000 (mine), three Skylines, a Silvia S-15, and more Miatas than you can shake a stick at. We'll all be driving down the Interstate in a group going somewhere, and we'll hit some rain. Whoever is driving the Skylines and Silvia just close the sunroof and roll up the windows. Everyone else, except me, rolls up their windows, and keeps going, because in a Miata that's all you have to do to stay dry. As long as you don't stop the wind keeps the rain out of the car. I, on the other hand, in my S2000, have NO CHOICE other than to stop and put up the top, because no matter whether the windows are up or down, the turbulance in the passenger compartment soaks the occupants and sprays so much water on the INSIDE of the windshield that I can't even see where I'm going. The guys driving the Miatas always give me a hard time afterwards, ribbing me about the crappy airflow management, and as a Miata owner myself, I know full well that they're right.

Another scenario: I have long hair and a beard. My daughter has extremely long hair. In the S2000 our hear blows forward, whips around, and beats us in the face. My beard even gets sucked up and hits me in the eyes, making it hard to see (so I tuck the beard in my shirt, but the turbulance contunually sucks it out again, so it's tuck-tuck, drive a while, then tuck-tuck again). In the Miata I feel a breeze, but my hair never beats the crap out of my face and eyes. In point of fact, I've owned roadsters since the 60's, and the S2000 has the WORST airflow management I've seen in the last 30 years. Of course there are a LOT of cars that are probably worse, but I have been lucky enough not to have to drive or ride in any of them.

I love my S2000, but the top design and airflow management are low points of the design, at least compared to other roadsters I have first hand experience with. For me, the S2000s upsides far outweigh any downsides. You need to drive the cars you're interested in and decide for yourself.

 

I have to agree with redmx5...I think there's an aweful amount of turbulence in the s2000 cabin. I have those plastic inserts for the mesh parts of the rollbar. Those help, but don't cut it all out.

I've sat in a bunch of convertibles and from a non-scientific perspective, my car feels like a tornado on the freeway compared to all others.

I wish this weren't the case..but I'd still buy the car without hesitation.

 

Chuhsi, I absolutely love my S2000, but anyone who thinks the turbulance is simply a part of driving an open roadster has not experienced the kinds of open roadsters I've experienced. Cars with better airflow management (and arguably better top designs) would include some as old as the MGA and Fiat 124 Spider. I was trying to stick to hard facts, actual situations, in my first post in this thread, but subjectively, I find the S2000 extremely dissipointing in this respect. It is appaling that 50 year old designs from the United Kingdom and Italy have vastly superior airflow management.

Would I have bought the car if I had known about this beforehand? Well, I was also considering a Lotus Super 7, which is even worse in this respect, so absolutely, it would NOT have affected my decision at all. These are great cars, in spite of any areas that might be improved.

 

You should drive the TT Roadster, BMW Z3 or Z4 or the old SLK once for example

 

[QUOTE=Lionheart,May 16 2006, 06:29 AM]You should drive the TT Roadster, BMW Z3 or Z4 or the old SLK once for example

 

I find that a good fitting ball cap works wonders for reducing head buffeting.