Hi all,

I've been reading a lot of source, mainly car mags...that state the S2000 is hand built like the NSX. Is this true?

Archon

 

it's built in the same factory, I know that much...

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Archon
[B]Hi all,

I've been reading a lot of source, mainly car mags...that state the S2000 is hand built like the NSX.

 

s2000 is hand built. personally, i would rather have a robot-built car. robots are still more precise than human, IMO.

 

No it's not hand built like the NSX ... It's build on the assembly line in the same factory while parts that require hand fitting, you know the drill.

 

Exactly...the S2000 still flows down a production line from station to station and has it's front and rear subframes raised to meet the car as it travels many feet above the ground.

Although it may have been different when production numbers were higher than today, one NSX is built every two days. There is a dedicated team of eight workers who have their own little nook in the corner of the factory where the car is built literally from the ground up.

There is a very noticable difference between how a mass-produced car (like the S2000 is) and a built-to-order, low production, exotic like the NSX is constructed.

Don't let people who have never walked the factory floor tell you different.

 

That said, the S2k *feels* better-built than other high-volume Honda products (I've owned 3 previously). Is this a design factor, or is this particular plant simply better at making cars?

TXR

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by TXRacer
[B]

That said, the S2k *feels* better-built than other high-volume Honda products (I've owned 3 previously).

 

Gregg and I (among others) have been to the one and only plant where the NSX, Insight and S2000 is assembled. It's hand ASSEMBLED, not hand built. At the plant in Takanezawa, Tochigi a couple of hours outside of Tokyo, all the components arrive assembled...meaning things like harnesses and so on. The engines come fully assembled and attached to the transmission. The cylinder head is machine polished, not hand polished. There are only two automated welding robots and part of the painting process is automated...other than that, the car is fully hand assembled.

This is differentiated from hand built because hand built means, to me at least, that the body panels and shaped by hand, etc, like some cars used to be...not many any more though. Since the F20C comes already put together, I don't know how much of that process is done by hand, but it's probably automated a fair amount since, as I said, the head is machine polished...as opposed to the Type R heads, which are hand polished.

One thing that I observed about the factory workers was their strict dedication and commitment to something they truly wanted to do their absolute best at. That was very evident to me. The plant wasn't as tidy as you might expect...palates of parts were around all over the place. I expected it to be very very clean, which it wasn't dirty, just seemed a little disheveled. It's also very small, which surprised all of us.

Check this link for details of the trip we took in June...

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?...&threadid=18565