I wouldn't either. I love Miatas. But I really love S2000's. That was beside the point.

My point was that the S2000 handles its power very very well. The chassis is more stable than most people give credit to. As evidenced by the fact then when it FINALLY lets go...you're in some trouble.

If it was unstable, you'd see a lot more low speed wrecks and people would be afraid to push the car.

The car may have some mystique about it being unstable...and sure, maybe it adds to some appeal. But its all BS.

 

Where does it fall on the meter?

 

after all my talk about my car understeering I found myself in a tank-slapper situation recently which could have ended up badly. This is the first time I ever got the rear loose in 7 years of ownership, which I thought was a pretty good record for an ap1.

This event was on a 180 degree entrance ramp to a freeway that I typically drive on 2-4 times per day. I didn't go into the corner too hot and I didn't touch the brake or lift. It was a combination of cold tires on a cooler evening, and I increased throttle through the last part of the curve. The rear end kicked out, and the pendulum effect took over. I worked to correct it rather than let the wheel go, and I was able to re-gain control after three partial rotations back and forth. Luckily I was the only car on the road / ramp at the time. It wasn't the car's fault or design, just a bit too much throttle in cool temp conditions. I think S0-2 tires on the rear get pretty hard in cold temps, worse than other tires. One more lesson learned in life.

 

A lot would be the answer

 

Glad you saved it!

There are tons of people on here who put their fingers in their ears and keep screaming that "snap oversteer is a myth," but with the perfect storm of [bad] conditions, this car can bite you really fast, especially the early AP1s.

I'm not a fan of the OEM 16" S02s -- they felt far too slippery in cooler temperatures, when wet, and more than halfway worn. Check out the Continental DW if you live in an area with no snow.

 

FWIW, I never claimed that the car doesn't bite back.

But saying bite BACK would demonstrate that the driver did something to initiate the bite. There's also plenty of time to react, believe it or not...unless you're ignoring everything.

Its a RWD car. You can't say "snap oversteer" so easily. Its just regular ass expected oversteer.

You shouldn't really be driving fast enough on the street to get the car to that point.

 

**edit: plenty of time to act. Not REact. You should be a little proactive if you're insistent on pushing the car. Be ready to catch it. If you get caught sleeping, then you can also REact..but you'll need to do it quickly and correctly. Sometimes that means saving it. Other times it doesn't.

 

This is probably a true statement. There is a time and place for everything. Public streets are not a place to be intentionally driving at or near the limit of grip.

 

I'll one up you with the pilot sport A/S 3+, I have them, zero drama in the rain whatsoever

 

Remember 2 or 3 months ago when the popular opinion on S2ki was that the ONLY tyres that work on this car for any use are in the extreme performance category?

Ah....forum life....