I did a search, and didn't find much to help me out. If I overlooked something, please forgive me.

For those that have mastered the S, what tips do you have for the novice S2000 driver?

This can be anything from the soft shifts while cruising, to shifting while opening it up to its full potential.

TIA

 

If you are a novice manual transmission user, do not use the car to its full potential until you have mastered the basics.

Other than that, just take it easy and learn before you try to play.

 

Don't be afraid to keep the car revved up, especially in traffic and especially for new drivers. It can be a bit safer to buzz along at 5000 rpms and have some power when you need it, than to be at a more normal rpm and try to make an emergency down shift.

And practice rev matching on down shifts!

 

No no no, not a novice manual driver...novice S2000 driver!

I learned manual on a pickup. Needless to say, these are different trannys.

Hence the reason why I was looking for tips.

 

Step one for me is make sure the tranny is good and warmed up. Crunchy shifts are normal before the grinder is up to temp. Other than that mine is smooth as butter.

 

Just keep the revs above 6k

 

Yes, keep the revs higher. When I first got the car, I drove it like an other. I'm talking 5th gear for 40MPH. Now I keep it on average 1 gear lower. Mileage dropped, bt the car is more lively.

 

Id say just learn to downshift properly and quickly... By properly I mean to know how to rev match appropriately for each gear. Like say youre in 5th...get a feel for how much youd need to press the gas to raise revs appropriately to drop gear to 4th, 3rd, or 2nd...

I actually do shift to 5th at 40 , but can get to any gear I need to really fast and therefore I don't think its necessary to have engine at higher rpms for no reason... My normal driving rpms are around 2,500 (+ or - ~300 rpm). For the most part, this is kind of low and I don't really have much power to pass or anything, but as I said, I'm used to downshifting quickly, so whenever I need extra power, i just drop it a gear or two as needed....

 

I still do this on occasion, but traffic makes it worthless to shift to 5th if I have to downshift a few seconds later. I also drive with the RPMs way down low.

 

BNav is right on the money. Learn to downshift really really well! It just takes time and practice. I'm only 21 but this is my 6th car.. 5th that is stick. (Geo Storm, Civic, Miata, Trecel, and now S2000.) By far the easiest to drive has been this one. The Miata was easy but I had that damn cluch shutter TSB and wrecked it before I was ble to get it replaced. I just got my g\f into driving stick now her 5spd 94 Celica is her DD. She loves it. First thing I told her to perfect after she gets the basics down is downshifting. Sometimes breaks just arn't good enough. When I drive autos now I feel unsafe lol.