I've come to know a fellow in my office building who drives and races Porsches. He's been itching to get behind the wheel of my S2000, but the weather has not been cooperative of late. Last night he sent me a copy of this post from, as he put it, one of his favorite Porsche web sites (he did not specify which site). I thought I'd pass it along:


Drove '01 S2K

Drove an '01 S2000. I found it a very fine car, absolutely a pure sportscar
by even the most stringent definition.

It was fantastically stiff, as is expected of a blank sheet roadster, and
had a very appealing seating position even for my 6'1". Fit and finish to
match or beat recent Porsches seen (NB: Not older ones...), and a good
feeling that it is something special.

Driving it one is struck by the fine precision of the controls, extremely
accurate but somewhat lifeless steering, good control weighting. GREAT
gearshift!! Snick-click--perfect.

No torque. None. Good pull in lower two gears with rapidly building
acceleration, but no party 'til >6KRPM. Then, like 3.5KRPM on an older 911
Turbo, you're gone, screaming madly to 9KRPM. Very balanced handling feel
and good brakes, but the engine's lacking torque is irritating, particularly
on the freeway when cruising with tach < 4KRPM. To get moving, knock it down
2-3 gears. Noisome. Overall, much better handling than < '89 911's by all
objective measures--truly modern, near state-of-the-art. Or, easier, more
accessible handling envelope than the 911.

Very quiet on freeway even top-down, very slight buffeting, very refined.
Very fine car in all ways, would be fun to own.

 

Pretty accurate, with the exception of the "lifeless steering".

Not sure what he means by that.

 

Me too. Some people have said it's a bit numb, but compared to everything else I've driven lately, I don't see it that way.

 

The steering is lifeless. Go drive any late model bmw or porsche to see what it should feel like. The wheel should feel alive in your hand, communicating information to you about the road and helping you to decipher what's going on with the front tires. It is accurate, allowing you to place the car where you point it; the problem is with the almost complete lack of feedback.

 

i love my s2k. but i love the manual steering in my miata more. i hate power steering! except when i parallel park. lol.

 

Could it be because we have EPS (electric power steering)? I doubt the steering wheel is even directly connected to the front wheels, making feedback non-existant.

-Ed

 

I agree...the steering seems to be a black/white situation. Incredible reflexes and quick but unfortunately, probably due to the EPS, little feedback. I wouldn't have minded giving up some of that steering quickness for a bit more communication from below. Still, all things considered, this is a MINOR annoyance which I rank right below no tilt wheel.

 

A very accurate and fair review, right down to the lifeless steering.

 

i posted a thread regarding reprogramming of EPS. well i couldn't figure it out so i disconnected the EPS and will be that way until i can figure something out about this. i don't know but just for the fun of it, you guys should try this and will know why nsx didn't have power steering until 95 (yes, i know weight saving was one of the reason...). then there was zanardi(?sp) edition w/o power steering. race cars, etc, etc. anyways, think of drving a cart then drive your s2k. it's really fun. and you get a free workout everytime you drive. more driving=more workout=healthy=more driving. now no more lifeless steering
Happy New Year!

 

So with EPS disconnected, the life gets back into the steering, right? How hard is this to do, or is it just a matter of disconnecting a cable or two?