On those steep hills, to avoid doing a rollback, you can either engage the clutch to the friction point before switching from the brake to gas OR you can engage the handbrake and as you let off the clutch and on to the gas, release the handbrake.

 

I'm familiar w/ both of those techniques now. I think it's just that nervousness of someone pulling too closely behind me that bothers me more than anything.

Luckily the day before I got the car, I asked my sister's boyfriend what to do about hills & he told me the E-brake trick. Think I must've used it a million times my first week w/ the S.



I guess one other thing I had to get used to was how darn low the car is. I had a Prelude before my S and used to think that thing was low. Add to this the fact that my car has the OEM lip and I've learned to stay far away from any obstacle.

 

from what i've learned.. doing this destroys your clutch. this is an extreme case of "riding your clutch". when the clutch is halfway engaged, and you're on the gas.. that's ouch.

every time i stop the car, wether it's on a hill or not, i put it in neutral as i'm slowing down and stopping. then when the light turns green, i put it in gear and drive away. it just takes practice to not spin the tires or roll backwards.

 

I've been surprised by how quickly I can lose "the feel" for my S. I went through a 3 week period this summer in which I didn't do any driving. When I got back behind the wheel my clutch work was awful.

 

I have been driving for well over 35 years. In that time I have driven a variety of cars and have found that no two cars are exactly the same. Every car requires a period of adjustment. Every car has it's own quirks, characteristics and personality.

Yes, you can get into most any car and drive it, but to drive it really well you need to learn it and get used to it. This is especially true of our S2000.

 

Ah the first day... It was about last year after Thanksgiving when I got the car. The only thing I had to get use to was it having more horsepower. I came from a Toyota Celica GT-S (180hp vs 240hp) In some ways I feel like the Celica was a small small verison of the Honda S2k, in the fact that it was lightweight and handled pretty good. Also of course of the fact it was my first manual car. I drove the S2000 pretty good with the whole clutch thing after about 1week.

The memories all serve me so well.... I remember after I got the car the 2nd day of owning the car I already put 600 miles on it. It was just so fun to drive I just kept driving. I just kept crusing on the highway... everyone looked and was suprised to see a 17yr boy behind the wheel of a brand spanking new 03 S2k. The guy at the gas station was like WTF!!! Didn't I see you this morning for gas and your back already?! At that same day I was leaving my school and up a hill. This guy decides to tailgate me 1in from my bumper literally. I paniced and tried to get up the hill without rolling back... well lets just say I gave to much gas and didn't let clutch out far enough.

Now, just like fellow S2000 owners I smile everyday owning this car... in about 2 months it will be 1yr since I own the Honda S2k.

-Alan

Edited: Some statement didn't make sense.

 

I always thought I was a good judge of distance till I got the S. It seems this car compared to the trusty Civic is low,wide,and disorienting to back into the garage since I have to come in from an angle . I am more used to it now but still very cautious when pulling into the garage or parking space .

 

I jump between driving an accord to my s2k. It takes a few miles in the s2k to get adjusted to the sight angle because of the low seating. It's even harder at night because you can't see as far because of the lighting angle.

I wouldn't have it any other way

 

Still getting used to it. Have owned it about 3 weeks now. Driving the S2k every chance I get. And man oh man, I've never felt so happy driving in my life.

 

ABSOLUTELY:

First night: Had hard-top on and trying to find a seating and mirror position to eliminate the blind spot.

First 1000 miles (couple weeks): getting used to accel from dead stop without bogging.

First couple months: learning rev-matching points and speeds in each gear, learning by sound and feel what rpms I was in and how many gears to downshift for appropriate passing on highway.

After that: How to use the oversteer around turns (much different than some of the NOT 50:50 rwd cars). How NOT to oversteer in wet or snow.

I certainly feel that there is a learning curve. But now it feels like an extension of me when I drive! What a fantastic car!