Hi guys

I'm new here. I'm about to buy a car for weekend blasts and track days. Because I can't afford a new Caterham, and there is no supply of used ones over here, I'm looking for another second hand sportscar. At the moment the S2000 seems to be my best alternative (I allready eliminated the Opel Speedster and the Lotus Elise).

So, I have some specific questions for you guys about the S2000:

- I keep reading everywhere it is hard to control at the limit. Is this in your experience really true, does it really let go very abruptly and is oversteer indeed hard to control. (seems odd to me, engine in the front, long wheelbase, not too grippy tires, lsd, all these things should make it easy to control?)

- I'm aiming for the early ModelYears (just want a fast and affordable car to enjoy myself in, don't care about the latest cd player, or color, or..). But should I not buy a specific ModelYear, like for example MY 1999 because it has too much production flaws or niggles ? Or are all ModelYears OK ?

- What should the maximum mileage on the engine, or basically how long does the engine last under hard use without too much troubles. My intension is to use it for road and track for some years (lets say 5 years @ 5000 km, that's 25.000 km I want left) Also bearing in mind afterwards I maybe stripping the interior an tuning the car for dedicated track work, or just sell it for another car, so the engine shouldn't be totally gone by then.


I'm really looking for everyones experiences and knowledge in here, so it can help me make the correct decision in what car to buy.
Thanks in advance guys

Bart

 

First off, not an owner yet. I can pass along what I have picked up over the last year here in an effort to bring you up to speed.


Control - You have a few misconceptions about the S. Yes, it is a FR platform, but with the engine behind the front wheels it has 50/50 balance. The wheelbase is not that long and the S02s are very grippy for a street tire. Understand it and respect the laws of physics and you can drive the crap out of it, quickly and predictably. Thumb your nose at Newton, like you might in an STI, and you will find yourself in a ditch with the rear leading the way.

Model year - 2002 saw the biggest changes for "getting the bugs out". Not to say the 00 and 01s are timebombs, many are trouble free, but there were some kinks to be ironed out and this was the year they seemed to do it. And if you are tracking the car I would look for post VIN# 5386 for upgraded oil jet bolts.

Mileage - When you consider the performance level of the S and what some of it's owners ask of it, I think it is extremely reliable when properly maintained. You should have no problem finding one with less than 25k on the odo with 25k left in it. Many here are well past that and still driving it the way they did the first 6 months they owned it.

I hope this gets you started and that a few owners will offer up their firsthand opinions. Good luck.

 

Good comments, but you don't really think an S2000 would only have 25k left in it at 25k do you? 50k? There are many with over 100 and still going strong.

The car is a tad harder to control at the limit, IE you can't hang out a powerslide for days like you can some RWD cars, like a mustang or something.

But if you are going to track it, put some coilovers on it and it will probably stick like glue... until it lets go

 

wing,
I agree, I should have said more than 25k left in it. I expect most normal Hondas to last at least 200k (my Accord is on 260k+) so I really don't see why the S wouldn't last at least 100k, even under spirited driving. Overly optimistic? I doubt it.

 

1. It is very controllable at the limit if you are using proper track tires. The stock tires are a bit tricky to manage. I use Toyo RA-1 and find them to be very progressive and natural.

2. The first MY 2000 is the best. There are no production issues to concern yourself with. I have an 00 and track it regularly. It's the same as all the other pre 04 years. It's the cheapest too.

3. Engine life on the track will depend on a lot of things. I have 64K miles with about 8-10K track miles on my engine and it's fine. Running it hard is not the issue. The problems occur when you start pulling a lot of sustained G forces like those you'll encounter using full slicks. Under high g's you can get into oil starvation problems and rod bearing issues. A dry-sump would be a real plus if you plan to run at high g's.

I recommend you check out the Racing and Competition forum here on s2ki. That's where you will find the most on-track knowledge.

 

And yet you feel compelled to write about how it handles?

The 00 and 01 cars are twitchy near the limit, regardless of tires. It is something you adapt to -- or you don't and you spend the rest of your days bitching about the cars handling.

All years have a lot of bumpsteer; something you can somewhat fix for around 400 bucks.

 

I felt compelled to be honest and to try to help, excuse the hell out of me, next time I will lie. I can obsess over it, but because I don't own the car, I can't possibly know anything about it, that it? Amazes me the number of people that do own the car and don't know jack about it. Thank goodness there are people like you that do own the car AND know everything about it. Bart, disregard my post, it is total crap. I will post when I am entitled to an opinion.

 

Thanks for all the input guys. With regards to handling, there doesn't seem to be a general consensus. So I guess I'll just have to testdrive the car, and if I decide to buy it (which will be a little bit of a gamble then), just get to know it and see if I like it or not. Actually I'm looking for a car that is possible to correct when it lets go, so I don't end up in a ditch first time I'm in the grey area. I'm not perse looking for a car that can hold a slide for ages. And I guess maybe the S2000 handling can be tweaked to personal taste somewhat ?

With regards to mileage you confirm my beliefs that also this Honda is almost 'bulletproof'.

With regards to model year, I found some very detailed info on German s2000 board. There seem to be more differences in model year then one would expect at girst glance. 2001 for instance has other gearbox and clutch apparently.
http://www.tf4u.com/forum/index.php?t=msg&...rt=0#msg_104026

And please, don't flame apex2k, he is intitled to his opinion and he clearly stated he is not an owner, so he has been honest. This should allow everyone to decide for himself how much weight to attribute to his info. (Hope I'm not expressing myself wrong here, because I'm not a native English speaker, and I certainly don't want to offend anyone in here)

Again, thanks for all the input, kind regards,
Bart

 

Bart,

Take a look at the UK technical FAQ, lots of useful stuff on there which you may or may not be aware of:

Tech FAQ

 

I've owned my '03 s2k for almost a week now. I'd like to comment on the handling at the limit and when the car lets go...

I was out for a drive two nights ago on some twisty back roads (privately owned, not publc ). I'm still not too familiar with the car, so I was only pushing it as far as I felt comfortable. The roads were cold that night, so I knew I wouldn't have the same grip when the sun was out. I had taken some corners quite hard and heard no tire squeal, but on this one corner, they started to squeal even though I was taking it easier than the others. I felt the back end starting to come around - totally unexpected. I quickly gave some small steering inputs and reduced throttle - it came right back in line.
Comparatively, my 325is woudn't give me as much grip to play with, but when it lost it, I was always expecting it. I think a lack of driving skill is the reason many of the people who lose control of their cars do so.
I'm not the greatest driver, probably not even a great driver, but I've been to enough autocrosses to know how to handle a rwd car.
I've been in my friends car, who thinks he can drive, and I see him putting in way to much steering and throttle for the given situation. He is able to recover and thinks hes such a badass, but inside I'm shaking my head at him.

I guess the bottom line is that if you have some decent skill, you can handle it no problem.