Hey everyone, just introducing myself, and I have a story to tell! Very long....sorry about that.

I drove an S2000 for the first time last night.............and it was amazing! I mean numb for two hours later amazing.

My only prior experience was sitting in one, not driving it (MISTAKE!!!!!!!!), a couple years ago at the dealership. It felt too small and cramped, so I kind of put it from my mind as impracticle....I've driven other small 2 seater cars that had more interior space/more comfortable (Miata, MR2, etc.), and I thought those were more up my alley.

Well, I pulled into a local Mazda dealership last night to look at Mazda6's. I was shopping 4 door, 4 seater cars with a manual transmission. (Offtopic, but when that's your only requirement in a new car, you'd think you'd have some options, but you don't.) Anyways...no sooner do I pull in then a woman comes up and says, "Oh you're here for the bank sale? Wonderful!" I was surprised and confused, but apparently a local bank had ~30 cars people had lapsed on payments for, and were now trying to sell off for the remaining loan amount. She was very insistent I at least look at the cars they had, though her face kind of fell when I said it HAD to have a manual transmission. The only cars that fit were: '03 SVT Cobra, '05 Miata, '03 S2000. The Cobra was poor (and I like muscle/pony cars), the Miata was great, and the S2000 was so brilliant it was scary!

So we get in the S2000, and I was going to head for the highway, the sales guy goes, "I've heard there's a good windy road to the right here, would you prefer that?" Oh, you mean the mountain road I drive almost every day? Yes. VERY Yes.

We're cruising at ~40 in 5th, I'm letting the car warm up before I mess with it, then we get away from civilization and I start flogging it. AMAZING. All my concerns about the interior and size and what have you just vanished. I spent more than 20 minutes driving the piss out of it, in everything from 20 mph tight turns to 70+ mph sweepers, and the dude didn't complain once. I don't think the car fell below 5K rpm once. It was so easy to rev-match on the downshifts, no body roll, phenomenal brakes....just ruddy brilliant to drive. I stood the tail out coming back around some of the low-speed corners, a little throttle and counter-steer and it was right back on-line and tearing up pavement.

I'm so confused about what to do now. I was all set to make the responsible choice for a commuter car (Corolla, Accord, Mazda6, Impreza).........now I have to shop S2000, Elise, Cayman, NSX just to drive them and see how they compare (to each other obviously...comparing them to commuter cars is just silly).


I feel like I typed alot without actually saying anything . I guess words can't even describe the experience. Everything just matched with everything else perfectly. The S2000 is better sorted than some dedicated race cars I've driven. I went to dinner with some friends afterwards, and after telling the story my buddy (nationals auto-x level driver) asked what sort of speeds I took some of the corners we both know well at, just so he could get an idea of what the car was capable of. My response:

"I have absolutely no idea. I didn't look at the speedometer once. It was either at 9K rpm, or on its way there, and that was all that mattered."

 

Great story! I remeber well my first s2k test drive. A winding road showcased the car's incredible chassis (i couldn't believe it would oversteer!), unending rev-range, and wonderful gearbox (hoe-toe was natural and easy).

I sold the s2k to buy a boring c-class mercedes for the winter. Great car, comfortable, smooth, and LIFELESS!!! (Now in the market to buy another s2k)

Your choice is easy! (I speak from experience)

 

Hehe. The S2000 is a little addictive for me I feel that S2000 is a car that makes people either love it a lot, or simply hate it a lot ... I tend to get very extremely opinions about it.

I certainly agree about how the space issue just goes away once you move the car (even without the top down). When I first sat in one of these things, I was thinking to myself "Who on earth would buy such a small car?" It felt smaller than my friends' MR2 for some reason (although I don't think it is).

Anyway, good luck on your search!

 

Thanks very much.

The car is definately in my Top 3 now. I have done quite a bit of research in the couple days since my drive, and now have my eye out for a black '03 with reasonable mileage. The one at the Mazda dealer ended up being priced significantly above fair market value.

I was in shock that entire night, and I still keep driving it over and over again in my head.