Drive a supercharged AP1....

 

interesting post on someone who has driven both. I was afraid you were gonna conclude that the ap2 was better for you and no need to look at the ap1 anymore

never driven an ap2, but i can imagine the ap2 being better for commuting and the city, so i guess it depends what your doing with your ride.

 

Honda set the redline at the piston speed it had with the AP1.

 

The big difference you feel isn't so much the torque - there's not that much more of it - its the more aggressive gearing and revised VTEC power. Beyond boring the engine, Honda tweaked the gears for a bit more mechanical advantage, and revised the engine to give more power out of VTEC so you don't have to wait until you hit 6K - it all gives the AP2 more oomph at lower rpms with a smoother VTEC transition. If you put gears in an AP1 you'll get some of that oomph - its one of the things I planned to do if I bought an AP1, back when I was looking at the two models.

 

There is much more difference than the engine going from early AP1 to late AP2. Why did I AP1 --> AP2? I dumped my AP1 because the tranny was going to be a big expense if I kept it past warranty (cracked open twice to fix under warranty every 8K miles). I did not like the plastic rear window. The handling at the limit (auto-x) with OEM tires and suspension was crap.

Went through a few other cars (C5 Z06, E90 330i) and then back to the late AP2. Much improved over the AP1 AS A DAILY DRIVER. No, not as raw as the AP1. Yes, I slightly missed the 9K RPM I4 scream that says 'supersport motorcycle' to me. AP2 was just easier to drive around town without pushing it. MUCH more docile in the wet. Turn off VSA and it still got the business done, with an obvious suspension adjustment toward understeer.

All depends on what you want. If I can have a separate pure "toy" car why would it be a S2K rather than Elise or Atom?

 

when i drove an AP2 it pulled hard at the start!!!
but that's it the whole rpm band didn't feel much different
i know that's a good thing because it shows that there is power through the whole band but it was no where near as fun as my ap1.

 

Honda made over 2000 changes to the AP2 chassis and F22 engine - its a very different car in some ways, yet very similar in others. If you focus on only one thing like redline, you really are missing the forest for the trees.

 

well yes agree. i always had this mind sight that these cars were very similar and couldn't figure out why anyone would argue. now i finally got it. it really depends on what you want to do with it. ap1 is awesome at a track car with it raw ness, but pulling away at a redlight does not seem to be fast or impressive, feels weak. with the ap2 it will get moving when you are in stop and go traffic. dont get me wrong but both cars can be tracked and both cars can be driven daily. but i just think one is better for what it was designed for.

hum, again about the piston speed. i cant remember if it was mugen or someone eles, but there was a video saying the piston speed of a f20 at 9k is the same as af22 at 8.6k of 8.5k.

 

I feel like all AP1 owners have a love/hate relationship with their cars, myself included. Regardless of that, I wouldn't trade my ap1 for an ap2. AP1s have more

 

Not here - I prefer the AP1's cleaner more simplistic styling and 9k red line. If my S were a daily driver I would prefer the AP2 for its refinements.