So I've owned my '06 for a two months now, and have had ample time to get to know it and give an opinion I believe. For starters, this is my daily driver. This car replaces a VW Jetta TDi (only drove for 3months and got bored to death), which replaced an Audi S5 I drove for a year. Weird going from the S5 to these vehicles, but I needed a bigger family car, so picked up a touareg and the jetta. I got so bored with the jetta daily I picked up the S2000.
This is a great vehicle. As everyone already knows, the handling is absolutely phenomenal. For the ones who've never driven one, you've read about how great it handles but you'll never realize how well until you actually spend some time with one. And the left and right turns at traffic lights don't do it justice. If you can't take the car to a track, find some nice empty roads somewhere to see what it's about. But I always recommend learning a vehicle before trying to push it to the limits.
Coming from vehicles with a few luxuries (Infiniti M45 prior to the S5), what I love about the S2000 is its simplicity. This vehicle is all about driving. You don't get disappointed by the seat warmers taking too long to warm up, or the ass coolers not chilling your bee-hind quickly enough because those things don't exist in this car. It's about putting the key in, pushing the button, and smiling until you reach your destination. No need worrying about why the navigation unit took you a certain route because you don't even want to go through the headaches of putting a nav unit in the vehicle. You prefer having to find your way to your destination so that you can have more time behind the wheel.
Besides the handling, and simplicity, there are other minor things that make this such a great vehicle. The transmission, and the seating position. I'm 6'2" tall, so I'm not short by any measure, yet this car fits me like a glove; Top up or down. Once I set the seat as I like it since picking it up, and having gotten used to it, I really was impressed with the vehicle since it's such a small car. The shifter falls right where it needs to, the distance between the pedals almost perfect (i always rev match when driving manual vehicles), and the short throw shifter is absurdly perfect. I used to build supras back in the day, and used to send my transmissions to Marlin Crawler to be rebuilt, and used to get them to build me short throw shifters. Those shifters/transmissions never felt this good.
I get about 23mpg mixed city/highway driving that I do (mostly city), but I get about 30mpg when I take it out of town (which I've done twice). Considering how I'm always rev matching, and not babying the car (though I don't live at redline), it's pretty good in my opinion. If I wanted great mpgs i would've kept the jetta TDI which used to give me 38mpg city, and 49highway. This car was about driving.
With that said, everything has some negatives. My one and only complain about this vehicle is the engine. This was my first honda, and my first 4cylinder engine in a long time so maybe I've been spoiled by V8s, and turbocharged inline 6 engines. My complaint isn't about having to rev the engine, or lack of power, it's about not being smooth. I understand that V8, and inline 6 engines are more inherently smooth, but I didn't expect the S2000 engine to be so unsmooth. Perhaps it has to do with the timing Honda runs, but that was a big shock to me. Once you've hit the valve lift all is much better, but until you do it's almost painful. Of course I can't compare this engine to one in $60k cars, but that's my disappointment. It's not enough to make me not like the vehicle, but enough to make me think about it almost every time I want to push the engine a bit hard.... Oh, and I wish it had heated mirrors. It's always garaged, but I work a night shift so it's sitting outside at night and in the mornings the mirrors are useless. I also hate that I don't have a place to put my sunglasses without having to use the 'cupholder', unless I want to unlock the glovebox each time. But no biggie. It is what it is.
All in all, it's a great vehicle. The fears of having it stolen, or the top torn, or the seats stolen was a slight concern prior to purchasing, and after buying it, but I've learned no vehicle is safe. If somebody wants to steal it, or vandalize it, there's really nothing stopping it. Just be careful of the places you frequent, and how you interact with people, and don't worry so much about life. No alarm, or whatever will ever completely save you. Those who've had their doors dinged, or bumpers messed up in a parking lot in a hit and run, or had both sides of their cars scratched from nose to tail don't feel any better than the ones who have had their seats stolen. Another car, another set of problems.
I think this vehicle has been the best kept secret.

 

good writeup, although the engine is my favorite part! i love the raw feel it gives. Im 6'2 as well and would love to get some low seat rails so i can see the stoplight..lol.

 

Nice writeup. I don't find the engine to be 'unsmooth' as you put it. Could you elaborate some more on that?

 

Your love for the S will grow over time ...the engine is the best part of the S imo ...get an intake , maybe some exhaust and your smile ear to ear every time you hit the little red button to the left ....as far as place to put stuff ie sunglasses etc . my car has a net pocket i use often , maybe you could do the same ?
Welcome to the best car you've ever owned ...your story has just begun ... lucky for you ,you've found out our secret

 

I find the engine to be very smooth actually, but coming from Honda/Nissan, maybe my experience is limited via that bias.

 

The engine is intended to be 'not smooth', they removed the balance shaft to reduce friction and decrease rotational inertia. You'll find that everything about the car has a purpose.

That said, it's a terrible DD At least on Michigan roads.

 

I've never driven an ap2 but my 10 year old ap1 engine is very smooth. I never thought of it as being unsmooth, torqueless yes but I think it is very smooth.

 

You're tall like me, get a backyard special seat rail, it lowers the stock seat enough to make seating so much better

 

Actually I don't have an issue with the seating height. When I first picked up the car I did wish I could lower the seat, but i've gotten used to it now. Yes some traffic lights are hard to see, but no issues. Where do you get the backward special seat rail though, i guess it wouldn't hurt.

Regarding the engine, it's hard to explain. If you've even driven a VQ engine from Nissan, you'd know what I mean. That butter/silky smooth engine that you can barely feel while revving? Or a perfectly balanced 7MGTE, or 2JZGTE from toyota, so smooth that you can't help but notice it. Even the V8s in the M45 and the S5 were unbelievably smooth along the rev band.
I think my noticing it is from the supra building days when I used to go as far as making sure my connecting rods, and pistons, were all within a fraction of a gram from each other. It's actually quite something to drive engines like that. You actually notice it, and it's quite enjoyable. Sounds silly, but if you've ever owned one you know what I mean. Yes the 'rawness' in the S2000 isn't unpleasant, but I believe if it was smoother it would be even more enjoyable.

As mentioned though, it's not a huge deal since I figured it's part of the engine's design. I was just a bit surprised at the difference I guess. If I ever open up this engine, I'll see what I can do to improve it a bit. You'd be surprised how off of each other's weight stock pistons/rods usually are.

Anyway, it doesn't take away from the greatness of the vehicle.... What's driving me crazy these days is trying to find this super secret compartment you guys keep talking about. Starting to think the AP2s don't have it.

 

Pretty sure the stock con rods are all within a gram of each other.