Agreed....they are both different flavors of the same thing. I prefer the bigger wheels & tires, and the little bit of extra torque of the ap2 for the street. Also being able to tune via FlashPro is a big + for the 06 & up models is a plus to me.

That said....IMO...the ap1 is probably a hair better suited to track duty.

Can't go wrong either way

 

I originally owned an 03 AP1 bought new. I was involved in a accident and decided to sell the car and get an 04 AP2. Definitely a more refined drive with a nice torque curve. I eventually moved out of the country and sold the car.

Five years after having sold my AP2, I have gone through a GRB STi, and G37S, but could not take it anymore. Every car I ever owned was always benchmarked on the fun and sheer driving pleasure of the S2000, and nothing quite did it.

I decided to go back to my roots. I was concerned with purchasing a used S2K, and wanted a low mileage car that was well maintained (my primary concerns), and would settle for either AP1 or AP2. If given a choice, I did want an AP1 as the "rawness" and F20C are unparalleled. 02 and 03 are the preferable years due to glass rear window.

I was lucky enough to stumble on a 03 AP1 with 8,660 miles (two weeks ago), and could not resist. Gave the owner his asking price and threw down a cashiers check. All I can say is getting another S2000, and especially an S2000 in it's rawest form is the one of the best moves I've ever made.

Sincerely, you'll be happy either way. It all depends on what you are looking to get out of the car, and your driving style. I don't think you'll see much difference on a track, although I do think the AP1 has a more track oriented feeling/set up. It was so track oriented they had to tone it down (evidenced by the changes made to AP2).

Joe

 

Im going to try and find the video I was watched. It was an ap2 that was beating the ap1 around the track over and over with some of japans top professional drivers. The reason being, the "track oriented" set up didnt work as well as honda thought. The rear end was so twitchy that you couldnt keep up the same speeds as an ap2. This is stock for stock.

Honestly, I almost wish I had money to spare for an ap1, do the modifications needed to make it handle properly.

 

Was it this video?

[media]http://www.youtube.com/user/djjwl?feature=mhee#p/f/71/NtdOU-yyZ_w[/media]

Yes, the AP2 beats the AP1 each time around the track. The AP2 even beats the AP1 with AP2 wheels. However, a lightly tuned (I/H/E/gears) + suspension AP1 was able to blow away both the stock AP1 and AP2. I believe that AP2's are better than the AP1 when both cars are stock, even if the AP1 has very basic modifications. However, once you really begin to dive into tuning, both cars become more equal. Bumpsteer kits, sway bars, coilovers, etc.. Most of the same parts are compatible with both AP1 and AP2's so people wind up with similar modified cars that can put up similar times around a track. I remember a post on S2ki that explained how AP1's respond better to modifications because they run a richer from the factory (can anyone confirm this?) In the end, if you go the distance and end up changing everything, there won't be much to set you apart from a different generation S2000 at the track.

That being said, I chose the AP1 (even over a CR, which I may have second thoughts on ), because that was the car I've always wanted since it was released in 2000. I remember the S2000 for the 9,000 RPM redline and all the tuning that began with the AP1. A lot of record setting cars were AP1's also: the ASM S2000, Amuse S2000, etc. I did like the looks of the AP2 to an extent so I bought a low mileage AP1 (28,000 miles) and spent the rest of the money converting to an AP2 interior, headlights, and taillights. Also, the F20c was the engine that made it onto Ward's top 10 engines two years in a row and International Engine of the year award.

 

Lightly tuned for these cars is very expensive though. I think the only reason the tuned ap1 was faster was the gears, and not much else.

 

What is the general consensus as to what basic modifications should be done to "tame" the rear end of the AP1?

 

It's 90% a driver training issue. I track my totally stock '01 semi regularly, and it's not that big a deal to get used to it. The handling is sort of nonlinear, that's all. You can get initial turn-in oversteer followed by neutrality as the car heels over. You can't just crank in a ton of steering angle, you have to feed it in. And in the event of the back end starting to come out, a big LIFT off the gas can result in a ton more oversteer. So basically, it's unforgiving of rookie mistakes.

One thing that helps a great deal is to run *minimal* rear toe-in. Excessive rear toe (beyond maybe 0.2deg per side, 0.4deg total) makes the car twitchy as hell, particularly in traction-challenged conditions. I run ~.2deg total (.1deg per side).

Stiffer springs/dampers/sway bars will also help as far as rear toe change goes. Less travel => less toe change.

 

 

Sorry for the repost. I was trying to copy ZDan's post and quoted instead of copied.

 

Having driven all the variants I personally prefer either an AP1 or an 06+ AP2... I found that the extra torque and the ability to use flashpro, combined with the other 06+ minor improvements to be good. But I LOVE the pureness of the AP1 and all. I found the 04-05 to be the worst of both worlds, looses too much rawness without enough of the improvements. Performance is so close that it doesn't really matter from that perspective.

If I was doing it all over I would get an 06+ unless I could not afford it. I like it and the AP1 equally, but the better retainers, better street manors, flashpro, better syncros etc... make it worth the extra money in durability and street-ability. But I would definitely get an AP1 over an 04-05.