Cabin noise is high - pretty regular for drop tops
It's stick - ???
Ride is firm - not on AP2
Radio is iffy - 200$ solve it by replacing HU
soft top - ihaaaaaaaa - this is advantage not disadvantage !!!

 

Anything is better than a miata.

The s2000 is great for commuting. My s2000 is lowered, and I love the way it handles. Just buy an S. End of story.

 

As a few other people have already said, for me, the commute is what I look forward to now. I can't wait to go home with the top down and give the car some stick. If you are a purist, the S2000 wins for a daily. If you want luxury, audio quality and supreme comfort, get a Lexus.

 

Around 70-80miles per day (only counting to/from work) and I have 0 complaints. I have less back and shockingly, left knee pain (I have a torn/bad maniscus) than driving my automatic sentra. In the winters, nothing beats waking up to 45-50degree's top down with the heater and sound blastic, and chill wind in your face. Bumper to bumper traffic of course sucks, but that's just an issue that comes with driving a manual period so I can't actually knock the S for it.

As for tire costs, Sumitomo HRTZ III's solve that quite perfectly. Great rain performance, nice and quiet, and perform way better than OEM tires... oh and the rears are only 100$ on Tirerack

 

I have those, around 300 miles on them and thus far don't seem any better than the OEM tires. What PSI are you running them at?

/back to topic.....

 

Love DD'ing this car. It's crazy fun with the top up or down and is just a blast to drive every day of the week, whether you're on your way to work or just cruising to a friend's house.

Sure it's not the most comfortable or elegant car but it just puts me in the mood to go anywhere.

 

I'm going to guess you're over 35.

 

Ive been daily driving mine since may of 05 and 80k miles ago, top down about 95% of that time loving every minute of it. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

 

I always find comments like this almost stupid 'not on ap2'.

Have you driven a honda civic? That is a soft ride. There is nothing 'soft' about the suspension on an S, yes the back end is softer then ap1 but the ride is firm. Let's just not get into this silliness.

 

Haven't hit 30 yet, but I wouldn't plan to drive an S in commuter traffic to work every day. I'd pick up a cheap DD car, civic, accord, fit etc to rack up the miles and relax on the drive home.

Yes, dropping the top is nice, but in the kind of traffic we have here you'd just be listening to some moron who though a pick up truck made a good commuter vehicle.