Guys, the fact that we are comparing our S to the exotic cars like 911 turbo, Ferrari, enzo......... is already a great accomplishment.

Don't forget our S cost at least 100k less than those cars.

I love my S!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I've only driven my S2000 3 times since I got it about 3 weeks ago, but first impressions are that it definitely has faster steering than the NSX. That was noticeable right from the start.

 

I don't agree with Porsches needing to be pampered unless it's a Carerra GT. We've had a 996 C2 for over 4 years now as a daily driver and I've never pampered it. I drive it as hard as any other car I've owned in the past (GSRs, S4, and S2000 now) because that is why I bought the car. The 996 is actually more difficult to break loose than the S2000. I test drove the Evo and was impressed. Its ease of handling was comparable to the 996. In fact, the 996 was criticized for being too civilized (i.e. not breaking loose as easy as the 993 models or before) by those Porsche purists, whoever they are. Hard braking is awesome in the 996 because of the light front. As far as parking goes, I'm more paranoid parking my S2000 in parking lots because it's so much easier to ding.

The S2000 is a blast to drive. I'm not criticizing it one bit. I love the S2000. I just don't think it's on par with the exotics (I consider the 996 [non-turbo] to be a low-end exotic) in the handling department. For how well a 996 or 997 handles, it's amazing how nice the ride is. I can say the same for the 360 Modena and 996 TT but not the C5, C6, or Evo.

 

"We're" not, You and some others are. You are only fooling yourselves.

I'm with you until the Mustang part. The use of a solid rear end is an inherent weakness no doubt, but a total pig the car is not.

4 wheel steering and AWD had exactly ZERO to do with those numbers. Skid-pad is more than anything a result of the contact patch. Both tire and tire size play the biggest roles.


Yes and no. Just about any car will scrub speed with the front tires while entering a corner too hot. The turbo, despite being AWD can overcome this issue with heavy application of the go-fast peddle.

Keep telling yourself that and you might one day believe it.

I am constantly amazed that the myth of expensive cars always breaking continues to be sold by people who have no experience with the cars.

No, the driver could not pull away from you. My 911 Turbo absolutely KILLS my S2000 in EVERY SINGLE measure of performance.

Handling is perception. That perception can often correlate with various numbers, i.e. skid pad, slalom, braking etc but ultimately whether or not a car handles well comes down to the drivers perception. I've driven track cars capable of some very high numbers that I think handled HORRIBLY in that they gave me no confidence -- but they did go like snot.

 

short answer, we handle worse because we have narrow tires while they have 345's.

 

Argh....please go and check the topic of this thread. Maybe you are in the wrong thread.

 

The rest of your post does a good job of keeping us down to earth, but you don't think 4WS and AWD helps in the slalom? I'd expect 4WS to help with keeping a tighter line, and perhaps AWD also.

 

What time of day does Storrow get empty enough to race? Whenever I've driven on it, the traffic has always been pretty heavy ... though sometimes normal traffic there feels like racing, and not in a good way!

 

Like Steve C says, his 996 TT outperforms his S2000 in every performance category. Sorry to say, but even my 996 C2 outperforms my S2000 in every performance category, just by smaller margins. And my 996 runs on 225/40 18s in the front and 265/35 18s in the rear. They're wide tires, but not that wide. I'd like to see what a Viper can do on 265s.

 

QUOTE (hpark @ Jan 2 2005, 12:22 AM)
exotics pull in excess of 1 g. So do Mustangs or they do come close, that test is not very accurate at showing how well the car handles. This surprised me that S2k was ~.9 while the mustang topped that.


Surely 1g is the force of gravity that we all are exposed to on a day to day basis?

0g (Or close to)is what you get on the moon.