on a scale of 1-10, i would give mine an 8 for luxury,
some AP1 owners would give theirs a 9

 

about as luxurious as a base civic or corolla plus leather&styling...

but thats not bad anymore! fifteen years ago, this was pretty plush!

 

I have a 2000 AP1.

My luxury starts at 6k, honestly the most/only luxurious thing would probably be the digital cluster.
Everything is comfortable and it has the standard amenities but I wouldn't say anything in the car is luxury.

 

[QUOTE=dolebludger,Dec 7 2007, 12:21 AM]RedMX5:

I know there are sports cars that incorporate fewer creature comforts than the S2k -- but frankly they don't sell well enough for Honda to go after that market. With the S2k, Honda attempted to actually produce the "hell for leather" sports car, and throw in just enough luxury items to make it sell in profitable quantities. But in no way did Honda produce a "luxury car" here, nor did they produce a "grand touring car."

 

If you can even call that a cupholder. There's a baseball currently sitting in mine...

-Matt

 

Lisa's teacher: "Zero's a percent"

It's a fine car but this is not where it shines. Things that would make it luxurious:

comfort/fit: it's cramped
soft: we wouldn't even want it to be soft
quality of interior trim: pretty low but I guess this is relative. It's mostly shiny plastic and rubberized soft stuff except for the leather in the seats. The moving parts of the top are visible when the top is closed.
ergonomics: normally a homerun for Japanese imports but not here.
1) My knees wrap around the steering wheel so it's hard to reach the window buttons and even the ignition.
2) My last roadster automatically closed the windows when the top was latched closed. That's luxury. Not even having an one-touch-up feature is not.
3) The main console compartment is *almost* wide enough to hold a CD jewelbox.
4) The hidden compartment is really hard to see into (or reach into) when seated in the car

 

They're not mutually exclusive at all. You can actually make the S2k pretty luxurious without changing it any performance affecting way. Here are a few ideas (added weight would be less than 10lbs overall)

* Upgrade the leather in the seats. Or better yet, switch to alcantara for great looks and feel but to keep you in place better.
* Wrap the dash and door panels in leather or alcantara
* Use higher quality switch gear ranging from soft-touch plastics to real aluminum
* Use an interior liner on the top so you can't see the rods.
* Switch the window programming to just lower the windows 1" when raising or lowering the top. There is no need for them to drop all the way.
* Add a 1-touch up function for the windows.


Each one of these changes would take the same driver's car mentality and just improve the look and feel. Maybe you don't want to pay extra for those luxuries. I get that. But these could all be added through the options list so that they were available but without affecting those that just want a stripped down version.

Both philosophies are correct. They're both subjective. I'm just arguing sportscars can be luxurious and still retain the qualities that make them sporty.

 

I could not disagree with you more on the topic of ergonomics. Yes, your legs wrap around the steering wheel, and mine do too, but Im 6'4, and I dont think anyone over in the S2000 motherland (that being Japan) is that tall. With your hands at 10' and 2' on the steering wheel, you can change everything that you would want to with your fingertips. This car is very ergonomically correct in my opinion. Tight, yes? But its not uncomfortable by any means.

-Matt

 

*Add 15k to the price tag.

That is not the car Honda wanted. I see what you're saying, but I think at this point we'll have to agree to disagree.

-Matt

 

I agree, but there was actually a time when I felt that things like a radio had no place in a "serious" sports car. At that time I didn't consider cars like the Mercedes Benz roadsters to be anything other than posers, but today that seems a little extreme.

Isn't this entire discussion just a matter of semantics?
Challenge for anyone who is up to it: Define "sports car" in a manner everyone else will agree with.