I have been jonesing for many years for an S2000. My wife recently changed her answer to "not a great idea" from "hell no". So I am jumping on it...

I really like the 2004-2005 from everything I have read on this forum. But I have seen some recent 2007 that look pretty good. My question - is the stability and traction control on the 2007 too intrusive?

I am not LeMans driver and this will be my first RWD car (drove RWD pickups for years). But I also don't want to take away the joy.

If it is intrusive, can you turn if off and get the "original" S2000 experience?

Thanks

 

I love the traction control. I wouldn't think of turning it off on public roads. The engagement definitely varies based on circumstance. Sometimes it's very mild, other times it's a slap in the head. It will often engage in 1st gear if there are stones. It will occasionally engage in 1st gear if I'm really launching. But mostly, it engages when I would have really had a moment. It's more like your level headed friend that slaps you in the back of the head and tells you sternly, "you idiot, we'd be in the brush right now if not for me". It's never been a problem where it matters to me, on a winding road. 1st and 2nd gear can be touchy if you're not smooth on the throttle but above that you can get rotation without intervention. Read: rotation, not drifting. You can turn it (fully) off but you'd have to remember every time you start the car.

 

If this is your first RWD sports car, VSA isn't a bad idea. Look at it as a way of protecting your investment, just in case you get a little too Get a feel for the car and when you start to feel more comfortable just turn off VSA. It is also a nice fall back to have if the weather isn't ideal.

 

For your wife, the traction control can't be turned off- "what's this button for, hon?" "...um...its the seat heater- its broken."

but for you, it can be turned off. It will come on significantly on the autocross course and be annoying. But for day to day, its not such a bad idea.

good luck. My wife said "you should just buy one." so i did.

darcy

 

I'd bet VSA is an annoyance to a very small minority of S2000 owners, given that the vast majority of people simply don't push their cars that hard or hit the track. Most of us don't launch or drift - but this is an enthusiasts forum so it may seem like that is the case. But if VSA negatively interferes with the way you use your S2000, you just turn it off. How cool is that??!!

Although there is a (probably young) crowd here that will call your manhood into question, or say your car is impure just because you have VSA, I certainly value it's presence in case I do something stupid. I have never even turned mine off, except the day I bought the car to see what the "off" light on the dash looked like.

 

What Mr Slowly said!

I have an '06 for a number of reasons including Stability Assist. The other reason is the ability to E-tune the car with the Hondata FlashPro. Both are only available in '06 and later cars. A good Hondata tune is worth it.

Stability Assist (which includes traction control) is a factor of your driving AND tires. (Gravel aside.) If you have All Season radials or crappy worn tires the Stability Assist will flash during spirited driving to help prevent the car from swapping ends on you. With extreme performance summer tires it probably won't do anything until you really, really push it. The traction on these tires doesn't need help until much higher cornering speeds. If the tires ain't squealing SA is not gonna do anything or be a distraction. With my Bridgestone RE-11A tires I have to try very hard to get sounds out of the tires in "normal" (AKA aggressive) driving and SA is not a distraction of any sort.

Autocross, on the other hand, is the definition of tire squealing and it's up to you of you want SA active. Easy press of the button to disable it and let the rear end "rotate" out a bit. SA defaults to ON so no worries about remembering to set it. Seems foolish to decline the option since it's standard on '06 and later cars.

-- Chuck

 

I didnt find it to be. Only kicked in when I was driving the car outside of MY limits

 

I feel it a little lately because my rear tires are almost done.
Besides that no problem having fun on the street

 

I've never had it come on driving around town or on back roads but if you do decide to autocross the car make sure you turn it off. I had more clean runs with VSA on but I found it to be extremely intrusive and I was significantly faster with it off.

 

If you start playing with alignment, track width, tire sizes and geometry, it will become significantly more obtrusive because individual tire speeds will fall outside "acceptable" range very quickly, even when the car isn't actually sliding. So unfortunately I can't do spirited driving with it on anymore. That's not the fault of the system as it has no way to compensate for the changes I've made.

But on stock wheels and tire sizes, the system is very unobtrusive and a good feature to have. It turns off very easily with a button on the dash. Absolutely a plus, not a minus.