jeezes!! if a visitor from another planet landed and got into the automotive press it would think the miata was the greatest thing on wheels and would stare blankly [with it's one eye] at the suggestion of the existance of something called a honda s2000...what's happening here??? the mx3-4-5-whatever.. is evolving closer to what the s2000 started out as [and the price is rising as well] and the press touts it as tho no one had ever thought of all the stuff honda has offered for nearly five years!!sure maza started the trend [tho i think lotus has to be thanked as well..and uh o well, mg,triumph,alfa,fiat,porsche,...]but the miata started life as a cuddely little critter with no pretentions to speak of and to my thinking pretty much stayed that way...so we get wheel flares and fixed headlights...mo' power..another gear or two...but how can this worked over copy of an old english roadster get so much attention?? [am i beginning to sound like bieg yet??]..and the galling thing is that while the meeyatta and the pontiac soulless get pages of hype the poor hondacar gets a small announcement of fly by wire.to me it just sucks...

now, i don't want to hear any shit about underloved the s2000 is..god knows we love it ...but what just how big a suitcase of money does mazda have to leave in rod&truck's [you guessed it] dumpster to garner all this fluffy praise..

ok..my one typing finger hurts and i'll turn it over to all you ravinous,drooling s2000 fanatics...

 

Don't get me wrong, I love the S2000, but I don't consider myself a fanatic about it.

Like it or not, if the Miata, or something like it, didn't come along, it's likely that the S2000 probably wouldn't exist either. Mazda did us a big favor almost 20 years ago.

The Miata has gone through, what, 4 or 5 major revisions now? Each one better than the other. They've done it again this year and their getting press for it. Honda has done essentially one major (and major may be stretching it a bit) revision on the S2000 and that came in '04. They changed some of the dynamics of the car but they really didn't change the overall performance. For '06, all they've done is add a bit of technology that's already on the shelf. It makes the car safer, hopefully, to push toward the extremes but it does nothing for the all out performance of the car. IE: It's not ultimately any faster.

The way I normally drive my car, I'm not extracting any more performance out of it than I could be getting from the Miata. While VTEC is loads of fun, it's just not practical to use it to any degree without seriously breaking the law. I learned to drive a manual transmission in a '67 MG Midget. I could rap that car out all day long and not break the speed limits. It was loads of fun anyway!

There's something to be said for that, but I wouldn't trade my S2000 for anything!

Drive Safe,
Steve R.

 

Well said, intrepid. In case you haven't noticed, the automotive press focuses on what is new. Car folks - or rather, those who read car mags - tend to have a short attention span, and whatever is most obviously new (read, new model or revised body) is going to be what gets the attention.

For what it's worth, I recently read a C&D editor say about the Solstice, "it's high time someone built a roadster to go answer the Miata." I specifically remember the same editor saying the EXACT same thing when the Toyota MR2 Spyder came out, but now apparently forgotten - a car I owned and loved. You have to shrug and move on. What's new is what's hot. Simple as that.

The evolutionary changes in the S are news to enthusiasts, but are not headline-grabbers. The S has gotten TONS of drooling press. As much as ANY car I can think of. Only the Boxster and 'Vette can rival it for media love, IMO...

 

What sort of big headlines are you expecting to see about the S?

S2000: About the same as last year

 

sad but true, and somehow good.

 

funny

 

it could say "S2000 STILL THE $HIT" and still very competitive with other roadsters!
ha o well.

 

It is sort of true though. When I tell my friends and family I'm looking into an S2000, no one knows what it is.

They ALL know the Miata.

I attribute it to the fact a Miata is a full normal production vechile, but there arn't many S2000's on the road.

 

more like....




new miata almost nearly but not quite as good as five year old unchanged honda!