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I certainly would not slight anyone for keeping their S2000 at home, safe and sound from the nasties of winter. I respect their desire to keep their pride and joy for "fair weather" enjoyment only. I too, once thought this about all my "special cars".
In Canada, the S2000 costs about $50,000.00. I had a Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.9 LTD that also cost me $50,000.00. Since the Jeep was supposedly designed for inclement weather, one would think that driving it in winter is a given, right? I went through several winters with this Jeep and I thought to myself ....................
"Self, would I like THIS $50,000.00 vehicle getting slammed into by other careless drivers more or less than I would any other $50,000.00 vehicle?"
The answer was NO!
Another question I asked .......................
"Why would I care any less about getting road salt on THIS $50K vehicle than I would any other $50K vehicle?"
The answer was .......................
"Would I mind any less that a $50K Jeep gets whacked by stones than a $50K S2000?"
The point is that the Jeep was no less "valuable" to me than the S2000. But there is one HUGE difference ............................... Driving a Jeep all winter was pure monotony, very uninspiring, added to the depression of already depressing winter days and gave me absolutely no joy when having to go out. Life simply has to have more to it than just "enduring" yet another horrific winter season. With an S2000, winter is so much more "bearable". In fact, it is down right FUN. Life is just too short to give up the simply pleasures just to preserve those pleasures, for what? Till we are too old to enjoy them? What am I going to do with an S2000 in pristine condition when I'm 70? It might be too cumbersome to get in and out of it with a colostomy bag.
PS. Here is a picture that I took of my car only a couple of weeks ago, after I had gotten it ready for it's 5th winter:
Those who know my car can confirm that is has not suffered any of the ravages of winter that many S2000 owners fear. It has not rusted away, nor has it been rock damaged into oblivion. I routinely drive it through parking lots that have been freshly covered with over 12 inches of snow and then drove out of them unscathed. It runs and drives perfectly and has never had, even remotedly, the problems that we see posted on this forum on a daily basis.
I post replies to these sorts of threads not be a smartass or to coerce anyone into driving their S2000 under "winter" conditions. I do it to let them know that it can be done. I do it to tell people that this is a great winter car. And when properly equipped with snow tires, it is a well balanced winter car, with great handling and stopping capabilities. It can out-accelerate the vast majority of cars on the winter roads around here and it can out-brake them and out-turn, too. Knowing when to use this car's abilities will reduce the risk of those times when "other" drivers might have you in their crosshairs.
I've always been curious about these winter tires for the S, but I was told that they don't come in our sizes. Are these the "Hakkapallitas" and what sizes did you end up with?
No, the hakkapallitas are a different type of nokian. I have the WR's (you can look it up on nokian's website). They are a better all around tire, made for great ice/snow traction, and yet can handle dry pavement with some durability. I have them in the stock sizes... 225/50R16 and 205/55R16
For 4 winters, I threw on a piece of sheep skin over the seat bottom. Worked like a charm but it needed to be "straightened out" periodically. Going into my 5th winter, I recently acquired a set of Okole neoprene seat covers. This is just like wet suit material. Very form fitting and instantly warms up when you sit on it. And because it's made of wet suit stuff, it doesn't mind getting a little wet.
X.....sorry to go off topic here, but with your S/C, how long (in miles) have you had it on your car, and how hard do you drive? Is the motor and drivetrain holding up OK, any major problems? Anything modified or reinforced?
Just curious. I am planning on this when I get the money, and want to know how reliable the car will still be, and how much strain this actually puts on the car. Also, I heard somewhere that people are actually getting better gas mileage with the S/C....is this true?
When I bought the S2k, it came with a set of winter tyres, so I decided to run it in the first winter I moved to Germany in. Well, the winter wasn't really what I had expected. It was more cold, slushy, and rainy, with just 2 days of actual decent snow. Thus, the winterpneus basically only came into use because of their low temperature advantage over the summerpneus.
The constant rock salt, car washing, poor visibility with softtop/plastic window, and dirtying of the interior was annoying, although the car was fun whenever I did find a patch of decent snow.
The following year, I decided to just get a Nissan Sunny 1.4 beater for under 1K with all-seasons, and I put the S2k away in the garage from Nov to Feb. The savings in insurance premiums have since paid for the beater and I like this path.
Now I'm swapping the beater for an old RWD BMW 318iS
