I agree, but some cars are more forgiving of of driver error/incompetence than others. Less forgiving handling doesn't mean that the vehicle will be any harder to drive under adverse conditions, it just means that the car will be less forgiving. In general, the more strongly the handling is biased toward understeer the more forgiving the car will be (all else being equal), because understeer is a stable condition.

It's been said before and remains true, rain or shine; The S2000 does not suffer fools well.

 

[QUOTE=RACER,Jul 15 2006, 05:45 AM]I agree with this 100%

 

I agree 100% that the S2K is a perfect car in the rain even with worn rubber. I have done speeds in excess of 70 mph in the rain on straight highways as well as the twistyist of twistys on used up rubber. The balance of my car was phenominal, my car felt solid.

When I refur to an "adverse condition", I am not refuring to a little rain, I am refering to heavy, consistent rain. I am refuring to water that is standing tall on the roadway. It is this condition that I do not recommend someone in an S2000 to run at a speed above 65 mph on the Potenza S-02's. It doesn't matter if the S-02's have only 2k miles or 8k plus miles, when water is standing on a roadway, it is just not pratical and reasonable to run at above 65 mph.

Now I have run through puddled water on S-02's that were pretty much toast. My top speed would vary depending on the particular road surface. A slight uneven surface that you would never feel if the road had a thin layer of water, would pool slightly with heavy, consistent rain. On certain road surfaces, due to the pooling caused by heavy, consistent rain and other reasons whether known or unknown, on used S-02's, my top speed would be 40-42 mph.

A particular road surface when covered in standing water may allow my car to go in between 50-55 mph, maybe even 60-65 mph, but then I come across a different type of surface that will only allow my car to go 40-42 mph. There have been times when I was going in between 45-50 mph and my entire car was literally DANCING ALL OVER THE ROAD!!! and I had to slow back down to 40-42 mph.

The tires play a major role in what I describe above. Also how even or uneven the road surface is, the type of asphalt, (there are many types of asphalt) the texture of the asphalt, (some asphalt absorbs water and some asphalt does not absorb water) and the age of the asphalt is a factor. I have noticed that a surface that is really tight, smooth and less pourous than other surfaces can cause my tires to plane the surface of the water. The most important thing is a tires ability to displace water.

 

The reality is that the s2000 is no more difficult to drive in the rain than any other comparable sports car ! Any car and I mean any car that you push beyond its limit specially while raining with the exception of those that have either vehicle stability control , all wheel drive or a combination of both will lose traction when pushed to the limit particulary if is wet . I challenge anyone to name any comparable sports car (rear wheel drive) without any vehicle stability control that has better road dynamics (wet or dry ) than an s2000 . I think that many people want to create the myth that the s2000 is so difficult to drive that mere mortal drivers need not apply . In truth the s2000 is a forgiving car up to its limit which is very high . When you pass this limit the car will bite you (just like any other comparable sports car ) and can hurt you unless you are a very skilled driver . If you dont believe me just rent a brand new sebring convertible drive it to its limit and see what happens . The s2000 is one of the most competent , high performance sporst car ever build but difficult to drive only if it makes you feel more competent as a driver .

 

You mean if you push a car that has either VSC, or all wheel drive, or both beyond it's limits, it won't lose traction

This is like comparing apples to oranges. For one, the S2000 has stability control devices, therefore, asking to compare a sports car without vehicle stability control to an S2000 is pointless. There are a number of cars, not necessarily in the same price range as the S2000 that will perform just as good if not better than the S2000 in dry conditions.

In adverse conditions, if two different cars were both outfitted with Potenza S-02's, performance may be simular. If you put a set of tires that were designed to be run in heavy rain on either car, the car with the rain tires would spank the car with the Summer tires. The make and model wouldn't matter. When driving though standing water, the car with the dedicated rain tires will prevail.

I think your confusing overall performance with the S2000's handling characteristics. Nobody ever said the S2000 didn't handle well, they said the S2000 takes a certain finesse to be driven properly. Two different things.

This thread is about driving the S2000 in the rain, not on dry pavement. If you put shitty Summer tires on ANY car in torrential rains, it will suck balls end of story

 

The s2000 is no harder to drive and does not need more "finesse" than any Pre electronic stability control 911 Porsche , Mid engine Boxter , Lotus Elise , Mid Engine Ferraris , Corvette etc . I can go on naming cars that are much harder to drive than the s2000 . Try driving a mid engine lotus elise at its limit in the rain and you will see that the s2000 is very forgiving !
Ps: By the way "RACER"only the 06 s2000 has electronic stability control!

 

I can't resist that kind of challenge.

Before I name any candidates though I have to say that I really don't think any other sports car is directly comparable to the S2000. Further, "better road dynamics" is too ambiguous, so I'm going to stick with "more forgiving in the rain."

A Fiat 2000 Spider has a 2000cc motor, RWD, and no stability control or ABS. In stock form they exhibit terminal understeer and it is very hard to get them to wag their tail without using trailing brake. The dynamics in the dry aren't even close to the S2000, but that's the kind of tradeoff that has to be made to make a car more forgiving. The 2000 Spiders (and 124 Spiders before them) were/are FAR more forgiving in the rain than an S2000. So are MGBs, MGAs, MGTDs, E-Type Jags, and most other English sorts cars that don't have Lotus badges. All these car have less of a tendency to oversteer than the S2000 so they are all more forgiving in the rain. Whether that constitutes "better road dynamics" depends on what kind of dynamics best fits the needs and skill level of the vehicle operator, but it most certainly makes these and many other sports cars more forgiving in the rain (or the dry).

Cars with fine ("sharp") handling are NEVER as forgiving as cars that have more (or excessive) understeer, which is why cars like the S2000 don't suffer fools well.

 

[QUOTE=PolyesterPimp,Jul 16 2006, 10:55 AM]The s2000 is no harder to drive and does not need more "finesse" than any

 

LOL, a few years ago we were looking at a 7-series BMW, and the salesman explained that with their traction control technology it was impossible to lose control. I laughed and told him that I'd bet him the price of the car that I could take it around a corner at speeds that would make it slide off the road and crash. His response?

"You know what I mean."

To be honest, I didn't and still don't have a clue what kind of bull the guy was selling.

 

Driving the S2000 in the rain isn't any harder than rollerskating.
Doing really stupid things is what causes most of the grief.