Here's the shift-knob piece, courtesy of Coral Doc who saved it for us.

Posted by pdippell on Honda-Acura net. 26 january, 2000

In the expanding quest for ever more obsessive minutiae about the S2000, I humbly present: the comparative weights of the stock aluminum shift knob and the optional titanium shift knob. Having just received the titanium shift knob, I removed the aluminum one (not a one step procedure, but two, yet that is in and of itself a topic for a future post) and weighed them both on my wife's digital kitchen scale. For the sake of brevity, I will leave out the make, model and various atmospheric, gravitic and other influences on the scale, except to say that it has an accuracy of +/- 2.5 grams, and offer for your consideration the actual tested weight of these two particular specimens:

Aluminum knob: 150 grams (5.25 oz)
Titanium knob: 255 grams (9 oz)

This is a difference of almost 1/4 pound, an offensive amount that encumbers the HP:weight ratio of the S2000 by and additional 0.06%! It is quite clear, then, that installation of this optional knob would only be done by the shallowest of posers, dilettantes, even (yea verily shall I say it?) riceboys! After deep consideration of this empirically-based conclusion, and a close examination of my own morals and ethics, as well as those of the people whom I consider my friends and my business associates, and not leaving out the potential impact on my family and the reputation of my heirs, I felt I had no other choice than to....install it!

I know you are at this moment restraining yourself from clicking on "Post a Reply" to announce your resignation from this board, as you recoil in horror from the knowledge that you may have read previous posts from someone as vapid, degenerate and immoral as myself, but I urge you instead to channel your energies in a different direction, one that may offer me redemption and indeed may allow all of you to install the titanium shift knob and yet be free from moral apprehension or community approbation:

Go out and procure shift knobs from Boxsters (of the 2.5, 2.7 and 3.2 liter varieties), from M Roadsters, even from Corvettes, Elises and Caterham SuperSevens, procure them any way that you can, even in the dark of night, and send them to me. Send them to me and I will weigh them on the exact scale upon which I weighed the S2000 shift knobs, and we will see, no doubt, that Honda has planned ahead to rise supreme to even this trivial challenge, and save us from ignominy. For these non-S2000 shift knobs will be, I know it in my heart, heavier.

For God's sake, for my own and perhaps yours, do not delay!

 

>>You have to be in the right gear in the s2000, if you are the type that doesn't like to shift, then YES by all means the s2000 low torque is a problem as compared to other sports cars. You have to downshift and take advantage of the lowest gear multiplier for optimal accelleration.<<

Maybe what some call low-torque is more of a MUST-shift-to-go-fast-in-this-car thing. That's why I brought up the in-one-gear tests. Many of the tests wind up using the car above and below vtec as the speed range is handled. The before vtec time period hurts the test results. Some cars suffer less of a penalty and don't give as much of a feeling that a downshift is necessary or mandatory. So in a way, some cars can be driven like they are semiautomatics. Many torquey cars can also be skip shifted in lazy street driving - 1st - 3rd - 5th or started out in 2nd. Such characteristics are obvious if you look at the in gear times.

Stan

 

This is, of course, also true for any car. It's perhaps easier to be in the wrong gear in our car, though.

 

However it is even more important in our cars as we use the gearing multipliers to "beef up" the thrust curve moreso than a V6 or V8.

A car that produces a lot of engine torque and peaks HP early (low redline, ie: 6000 RPMs), is less reliant on the gear multiplier than a car that produces lower engine torque and is in need of the gear multiplier to put out good thrust... Both cars will need to be at the lowest gear to accellerate optimally though, if both caught in the wrong gear, the car with the bigger engine torque curve will be less affected.

Hard to put this into words but I can imagine the thing happenning time and time again as if I am going maaad. vrrroooooommm.

 

Excellent thread!

 

The torque is so low, it's only fun to drive down hill.

The torque is so low, I can only get going when my wife gives me a push start. (I have to circle back for her and she has to jump in at speed).

The torque is so low, skateboards have a better reaction time off the line.

The torque is so low, I have to wash the car twice a day to get rid of the excess weight of dust and bird poop.

The torque is so low, I got smoked by an Insight at an uphill stoplight.

The torque is so low, after going grocery shopping, I had to drop the clutch at 9K just to get moving.

The torque is so low, I had to rock the car back and forth to get out of a dip in the road.

The torque is so low, I force myself to go to bathroom before driving to ensure I'm not carrying excess weight.

The torque is so low...blah, blah, blah.

Low torque? What a tired question.

 

This car is not for the weekend cruiser. If you just want a good looking car to pick up chicks, buy the Audi.
But, if your happiest traveling at high speed with your hair on fire and the engine screaming in your ear, heal/toe shifting down to 2nd just before you toss her into a 90 degree turn at 40 MPH, feeling all four wheels drifting. Well then, you're in our world. A world only a few appreciate.
It was incredible to track my S2K in a performance DE class. What this car will do with warm tires! And the sound of that F20 screaming in third gear down the back straight at 9K. WOW. What a wonderful experience.
Sounds like a beer commercial huh.

 

The very high RPM limit coupled with a close ratio tranny really makes a discussion of Torque more difficult. People that are not use to the S2000 will drive along at 3000rpm punch the throttle and then complain the torque is low. What is really going on is not a critique of the engine but a lack of familiarity on how the S should be driven. In a car like the Vette in the 3k to 4k range you are in an optimal gear ratio for acceleration. In the S you could be 2-3 gears off. In other words the torque at the wheels is artificially low due to improper gear ratio not engine performance.

In effect the S's mid-range (because of the high RPM and close ratio box) is really 5000-7000 rpm.


Hugh

 

I agree with hpalmer - the mid-range of the S2k is really 6500rpm to about 8000rpm. It's easy to spot the car magazine editors who didn't spend much time in the car before the reviewed it. You can sense they are uncomfortable with engines that rev, and never really get into the sweet spot on this car. If the reviewer says, "When it hit 7000rpm, watch out," then you know they drove it correctly. If all they say is "low torque", you know they're at heart big engine guys.

In my wife's '99 Boxster, I always feel like I'm short shifting when I hit the 6700rpm redline. It's the same weight as the S2k, and has 30 ftlb more torque at a much lower peak rpm, but no one would ever mistake it for being faster to 60mph than an S2k. Maybe faster to 30mph.

I say what makes you feel good is worth buying!

Paul

 

Check out this review !

S2000 VS AUDI TT 225 ROADSTER


http://www.automotive-review.com/

Goto Roadtests, Honda, and select S2000 VS AUDI TT 225 ROADSTER