The Honda S2000 received high reliability ratings every year, more or less typical Honda/Toyota quality. Ratings are for MY '00 through '03 (For MY '04 and MY '05 Consumer Reports did not have enough data, as of October 2005).

Rating System Consumer Reports uses a 5 scale:
POOR
FAIR
GOOD
VERY GOOD
EXCELLENT

RATED CATEGORIES Here are the areas Consumer Reports rates:
Engine
Cooling
Fuel
Ignition
Transmission
Electrical
A/C
Suspension
Brakes
Exhaust
Power equipment
Paint/Trim/Rust
Body integrity
Body hardware


THE HIGHLIGHTS

Newsflash! '03 S2000s ARE RATED EXCELLENT IN EVERY CATEGORY

These 6 categories were rated excellent for every model year ('00-'03)

Flawless Categories
COOLING
FUEL
IGNITION
A/C
SUSPENSION
BRAKES
EXHAUST

THE LOWLIGHTS

Here are the areas where the S2000 were not rated as excellent:

'00 Paint only rated VERY GOOD
'00 Body integrity only rated VERY GOOD
'00 Body Hardware only rated VERY GOOD


'01 Engine was only rated GOOD ( All other years excellent)
'01 Transmission only rated GOOD
'01 Electrical only rated VERY GOOD
'01 Power Equipment only rated GOOD
'01 Body Integrity rated FAIR
'01 body hardware only rated GOOD


'02 Power Equipment rated FAIR
'02 Body Integrity only rated GOOD
'02 Body Hardware rated VERY GOOD

 

I'd bet the reason the 2001 drivetrain was rated lower was because there were aftermarket parts starting to become available to the public. People snatched them up without doing a lot of research and, in turn, grenaded their engines. One year is not a lot of developing time for a major aftermarket engine component.....