Conway

Hi everybody. This is my first post. I've been dreaming for some time for an S2000 and this month finally got serious. I have driven a few and plan to buy one. I've read a lot but have a few basic questions:

1. One thing that makes this car special is its 8000 rpm redline. Why is that a great thing? Obviously it sounds great when you reach redline, or at least it sounds loud, but what is desirable about a car that redlines so high, as opposed to a roadster that does not? Why is it unusual for roadsters to redline so high, and why did Honda choose to do so?

2. Why is this car, like most sports cars, rear-wheel drive? In recent years most cars, though perhaps not sports cars, have moved to front-wheel. Isn't front-wheel safer? Why do sports car drivers like rear wheel? Why should a non-pro driver want it?

3. The torque on the S2000 is relatively low, and that's a criticism various reviewers like to mention. Is there a good reason for the low torque until you get to high rpms, or is it just a compromise that's needed for having a fast car that's only four cylinders?

I've enjoyed this forum a lot and look forward to getting my S! Thanks.

ashamouel

1) The small engine(2.2 liters for an ap2) requires high rpms to make power. If you look at formula one cars, they have high revving(think 15k) small engines (think ~2.5-3 liters)

2) With front wheel drive, the wheels that turn the car also drive the car. It gives you a couple of negative things:
i) Understeer: When the car does not turn far enough because the wheels are trying to pull the car straight while you are turning
ii) torque steer: When a car that is rear wheel drive accelerates it tends to want to squat, which puts more pressure on the back wheels. When a front wheel drive car delivers to much power and the wheels begin to hop, or move about, because the front wheels also turn, you get torue steer, which means it is harder to control the car and harder to produce more power.
iii) Low torque is the result of a small displacement engine and no turbo. The trade off is lots of high end horsepower and a light free revving engine.

Hope that helps. This is just off the top of my head. If you need more explanations, as to how torque is actually produce, just ask.

qbmurderer13

Well the main reason Honda decided to have such a high redline when building the S2000 was that they wanted a car with F1 characteristics (Low torque, high redline). They lowered it to 8000 in the AP2 to make the engine a bit more reliable I guess. And in order for you to make 240hp in a 2.0 liter 4 cylinder without using a turbo is to rev it extremely high.

RWD is better than FWD in every way. Much faster and much better handling. Theres no such thing a FWD sports car. Most commuter cars are FWD just because they are easier to drive and cheaper to make. But any real sports car will be RWD and will out handle and out perform any FWD car.

Like I mentioned earlier the engine doesnt have much torque (161). Although the higher you rev a car, the higher the multiplication of torque, so when you get to about 6000 there is plenty of torque there. The good thing about this car is that below 6000rpm it feels like any other car, with exceptional gas mileage and still decent acceleration. Once you hit 6000rpm the car just transforms into a beast as you hear the engine scream and push you back in your seat. Think about, this car could keep up with cars that have almost TWICE as much torque. And its pretty much all due to the high redline, and low weight.

Apollo

I'm going to say one thing first off. Please use the search. These kinds of questions are posed ridiculously frequently and answered. Use the search function. If you still can't find the answer you're looking for after searching, then throw up a post.

2) FWD cars have generally less parasitic losses, are cheaper to produce, and are safer for the average driver (I'd also say average driver is getting worse too) due to vehicle dynamics. And how do I know why a non-pro driver wants a RWD car? Why do some people buy Ferraris and some people buy AWD Audis? Blanket statement does not apply.

3) It's an inherent design issue. Fact of life. It's a 2.2L I4 engine. It's not low torque. It's high torque for a NA 2.2L I4. If you want low end torque, "there ain't no replacement for displacement." Planar machinery or an engine design book or course is the place to go. Text-wise I personally like Engineering Fundamentals of the Internal Combustion Engine (2nd Edition) by Willard W. Pulkrabek.

Vik2000

search...

UMDSuzuka

Don't take this the wrong way, because it is refreshing to read educated and coherent posts for a change, but you don't sound like a "car guy" to me, and the S2000 is intended to appeal to car guys.

Your questions are quite basic car-related questions, such as why RWD is superior to FWD and why torque is low on a high-revving 4-cylinder engine.

If you get the S, more power to you, but it already sounds like it may not be the car for you.

Eric220

I'd say the majority of sports cars use RWD because of weight transfer and handling.

Saki GT

1. 8/9k redline is possible with VTEC - it allows you to have an economical engine below 6k rpm, and a lot of power above - its like two engines in one, so you get a Civic when you need it, and a sports car when you want it. Rather than large displacement, Honda uses high rpms to make power - its more fuel efficient.

2. Rear wheel drive is dynamically superior - long story to describe.... At any rate, fwd became popular in the 80s because of economy and traction control, but now we have sophisticated computers that allow rwd to be as good at traction as fwd, plus better driving dynamics.

3. Small engines have low torque. The S has enough for it weight.

Elistan

1) 8000 and 9000 rpm are good because they're fun. It reflects a race-car like nature, where displacement is limited by rules therefore power has to be made by higher revs. It also reflects the Honda's S car heritage - the S800 for example spun to over 10k rpm IIRC.

2) RWD is good for several reasons. Weight transfer while accelerating generates more grip in the rear, allowing for greater acceleration. The car can be steered with the accelerator. Static weight can be spread evenly between front and rear tires, or even concentrated further back if desired. It's fun because you can slide the rear around. The increased possibility of spins is mitigated by TC and VSA. I see the same basic mix of front and rear wheel drive cars today as before, so I'm not sure what move to FWD you're talking about.

3) The low engine torque is multiplied through the short gearing of the transmission and diff to generate a good bit of torque at the rear wheels, and is not an issue - it generates as much thrust as any other 240 hp engine. The amount of torque generated by the engine on the two different cam lobes is different - Honda's never said why, but I assume that noise, pollution and mileage considerations dictated that.

Penforhire

Great level-headed discussion but UMDSuzuka is probably right. If you don't know enough to desire the S2000 for these very features then you are not as likely to enjoy it versus some other choices. There are some trade-offs in daily driving comfort for its design philosophy that we owners are more than willing to make.

Not saying you'll hate it either but buyer beware!