On Sunday, while at the Meadowlands S2K meet (and autocross event), I was given the opportunity to drive my friend's 2000 ITR. . .

note: (both cars have nearly identical mileage, approximately 1400)

1. Shifter: I know the ITR has a very good shifter, but compared to the S2K's it seemed like mush. . . The shifts were A LOT longer and definitely not as crisp. . .

2. Steering: The S2K seemed a lot tighter and more direct. . . The ITR was (IMO) more vague. . .

3. Acceleration: My friend and I took both cars to redline in third gear (back to back). The result: even (almost similar) accelaration (Though, this was an unscientific test). . . However, because of the open top the S2K gives a sense of greater acceleration. . . Also, though many of the magizine have criticized Honda's use of a digital display, I can honestly say that it is much easier to read the large digital tach/speedo (thus allowing better acceleration). . .

4. Suspension: Once again, the S2K seemed a lot tighter. . . The ITR (though not soft) exhibited more bounce and body roll. . .

Overall, I like the ITR. . . Its definitely a solid car and very good track performer (Someone at the Auto-cross was able to post times of 47.xx in his). However, I'm glad I have an S2000 . . .

P.S. No Flames please. . . I'm not putting the ITR down (I truly like the car), I'm just noting the differences. . .

 

While i agree with most of your points that the S2000 is better in almost of all the performance aspects over the ITR, it is important to keep in mind that the ITR sells for less then $25K, while the S2000 retails for $7K more. While i would love to own the S2000, i would not give up the ITR in order to get the stook. The ITR is increadibly easy to drive fast and will not do anything unexpected, the oversteer is a lot more easier to control in this car. Also the ITR is a lot more practical then the s2000 for obvious reasons. Although i love both cars, i can only afford to own one of them. The practicality of the ITR made that choice fairly easy....just felt like defending the ITR a bit here, although like i stated before, i agree with most of your points....


PS. FYI the fastests ITRs were running 45.47 and 45.5s on that course. I had the 45.5s time....

 

How is the ITR even close in acceleration to the S2000? The third gear comparison is pretty... useless, don't you think?

Will IHE ITRs keep up with stock S2000s?

 

go from a rolling start and i doubt that the ITR will be that far behind S2000...

 

Welcome aboard Matt (you crazy ass devil chicken)....(we went out in my S2000 at Harrisburg about a year ago)

I bought a 97 Type R to run the kids around...so... i now have more first hand experience at both cars (kept the S2000 for fun).

I didn't take the Type R for a test drive (got it out of state via shipped in on a truck), but was expecting more of the S2000 like stuff.......

I don't like the "long" throw of the ITR, the suspension does feel weak, it doesn't seem to stick as well - i have a 60mph huge looping exit ramp where i test and the S2000 is about 2-3mph faster stock vs stock

I did drag race my father in his S2000 w/ my 97 ITR. both had about 5.3k miles on them and he basically barely pulled away... but... i did find out later that the tach is slightly low on the ITR and I should be shifting at in indicated 8900rpm instead of the 8400rpm that I was...so...As el pollo diablo put it... it would be damn close in outright acceleration (up to about 90mph, then the S2000 crushes the ITR i think).

long...sorry.... i like the S2000 much better though!

Scot

 

Where's ITR or Kibro? They were both previous ITR owners who have since purchased the S2000.

Kibro's Type-R had an aftermarket clutch and a lightened flywheel. We did a few unofficial runs and it seemed like the S2000 could pull away from the ITR, but not by much. I'll let him tell the rest of the story. Good day!

 

he he, scot: "I bought a 97 Type R to run the kids around" - i dont think the ITR was intended for that

So if the ITR suspension feels weak in comparison to the S2000, how would other, less stiffly sprung cars fare? Same goes for the "long" throws on the ITR....i think the differences are minute, and both are awesome cars...the S2000 is faster and handles better (not hard to do with greatly balanced RWD car), while the ITR is more practical, and a lot easier to drive fast, and is no handling slouch (pretty hard to do with a FWD car)

If i only afford both.....must be like scot when i grow up

 

It wouldn't surprise me if the ITR had the same acceleration feel as the S. Question is, does it last as long? For example, my Civic in 1st feels just like my S in 2nd, however my S keeps that up all the way to 60mph, while my Civic requires an upshift at around 32mph.

The first time I VTECed I really noticed this. Under 5k, it wasn't all that much more impressive than my Civic, except for the tighter gear ratios. With VTEC, it felt like a runaway roller-coaster, because the acceleration continued for so much longer.

One mod I'd like to see sometime is tighter gear ratios. A cheap way to make the S feel like it's accelerating faster would be higher gear ratios. You'd shift sooner, but your butt-g meter would say "wow, more acceleration!" Plus, for those of us who never go above 100mph, shortening the top-end speed wouldn't hurt all that much, except for the more-often shifts.

 

I watched a video a while ago (I think it was Best Motoring) and the guys on it were complaining that in twisty circuits, the S2000 couldn't pull away from the ITR. It needed a relatively straight area of road where it could really rev the engine up and take full advantage of its VTEC to pull away.

 

A friend's friend got one from jpn, and he told me he took the ITR, but not by much.