Yesterday I decided to take a new 2004 S2k for a spin at a local dealership. I was real excited to see the differences between the 2004 and my 2002. While waiting for the car to get fueled, I spoke to the salesman at lenght. To make a long story short the salesman basically told me it was impractical as a primary vehicle, this was funny because I have only had 1 car for the past 2 years. Of course the "weather" was cited as the primary reason. No offense here but some of you may be old enough (like me-) to remember when there were no FWD cars. Unless you had a Jeep etc they were all pretty much RWD. And you know what. It wasnt a big deal. People drove in the snow and lived. My personal experience is that the issue with my S2K is not primarily the RWD, its the weight of the car. I am used to this though, having previously owned a CRX, Del Sol, and Audi TT Quattro. The TT is only minimally better in the snow than the S2K, believe it or not, again its the weight of the car. Once you get used to driving a light car for, oh for say the past 15 years, you get used to how you need to drive it in bad weather conditions. I think it is a myth that it is not practical to drive this car all year round, yeah you have to be alot more careful when it is wet or snowing, but if your used to this it is no big deal. How you drive it is more important than what the weather is like out.

 

Well, perhaps, but I've read enough stories here to know the stock tires will not serve you well when the snow falls from the sky.

 

Yeah. You are definitly right about that. All season vs dedicated snow is controversial. Personally I have 2 sets, performance for spring / summer, and snow tires for colder months.

 

For snow, you absolutley need a different tread pattern. Current summer type tire would be like slicks on white stuff.

 

I tend to agree somewhat with you as my 01 Civic was pretty bad in the snow because it was like 2500 pounds. I was planning on driving my S2k this winter, but then I realized it would probably be about the same cost to buy an older Accord and drive it for 6 months and sell it in the spring than it would be to buy snow tires for the S... Just some food for thought.

 

S2K is an all season car for me

Only one set of tires needed in Arizona

 

It's the s02. They are true Summer only tires. Many owners with snow tires do fine with the s in the snow. As far as rwd vs fwd and people driving fine with rwd before fwd was invented...

It's technology that makes things easier. FWD makes it easier to drive a car in the snow.

As far as weight, I used to drive an 83 MB 300D in Indiana winters. It was no means light (kind of like a Sherman tank) and it slid like a mother in the snow/ice until I put snowtires on the rear. That was what made all the difference.

 

S2knewb, just out of curiosity, which dealer were you at? Just wondering, because I visited them all (in central OH) while shopping for my S over the past couple months.

 

is an S really that hard to use as a daily driver? i mean, i live near the beach so i RARELy get snow.. lowest temp is about high 20's (before windchill)...

 

Hmmm...it is my understanding that the S2000 is tricky in the snow because of two main factors. The S-02's are one. These are highly dangerous in the snow.

Another thing that I thought was an issue was not necessarily the car's light weight, but how that weight was distributed over the wheels. Basically 50/50. While this makes the car have excellent handling when it's nice and warm out, in bad weather, the lack of any weight biasing will have you a$$ driving backwards before you know it.