It's a total lie. Honda says the second-generation S2000 is a kinder, gentler car. Bullshit. Don't believe it. The S2000 is still the real deal, a sports car stripped to a core of dynamic purity. That said, Honda has made a long list of changes to the S2000 for 2004, including an increase of engine displacement, meant to make the car friendlier on the street. And the changes do make the two-seater a bit easier to live with, but to say the roadster has cast aside its hyperactive ways is like saying Barry Bonds no longer hits for power.

To improve torque output, Honda engineers have stroked the all-aluminum four-cylinder 6.7mm to deliver another 160cc of displacement and a slightly undersquare configuration. By Honda's measurement, there's still 240 hp at your command, only it arrives at 7800 rpm, some 500 rpm lower than previously delivered. This is because the increase in piston speed from the long-stroke layout would stress the internals to the breaking point at a higher rpm. It's one of those physics things. The engine's redline has also been lowered 700 rpm to 8000 rpm.

It worked. The new engine shows an increase in output of between four and 10 percent across the powerband, and Honda's dyno curve shows a big improvement in torque at 3500 rpm, where the engine really starts to pull. Our chassis dyno backed up those claims. The 2.2-liter made 210 hp at 8000 rpm at the rear wheels, compared to the 203 hp at 8500 rpm that the old 2.0-liter delivered, and 146 lb-ft of torque at 6400 rpm, compared to 136 lb-ft at 6300 rpm. Sure, peak power remains the name of the game here, but there's obviously more power than Honda is telling us, and the improved midrange is nice around town.

As before, the power is tough to access at the dragstrip, because the clutch starts to fade into lifelessness after just a couple of high-rpm launches. And, just as before, you either have to drop the clutch and live with the inevitable wheelspin, or start with a modest number of rpm and wait for the VTEC to pull you out of the hole.

Fortunately, the S2000 now accelerates quicker. It pulls to 100 mph in 15.10 seconds, which is 0.2 seconds quicker than before. And there's also an improvement in roll-on acceleration, the kind of performance you feel on the street, because it accelerates 0.18 seconds quicker to 70 mph from 50 mph. Before the clutch went, we also measured a 0-to-60-mph time of 6.4 seconds and a quarter-mile run of 14.4 seconds at 97.2 mph, which are also quicker.