There's a radio???

 

I'm definately nitpicking it, but it's easy stuff for Honda to change. Honda's made other interior and engine mods, why not fix the obvious? I probably would have bought the '07 and taken the depreciation hit if they had put in keyless ignition and fixed the radio controls.

I'll concede the small (<.5 second) track advantage to the start button, but if you've stalled the car you've probably blown your time anyways. I'll give that up for the 99% of the time that I'm going to get groceries vs stalling at a track event.

I've heard all the negative comments aboud the stereo. Driving the car I tend to agree with the criticism, but I think the headrest speakers do help with the top-down driving. I'll be upgrading the head unit to something that will play MP3's, since commercial radio sucks, and possibly modifying that panel of the dash at the same time.

Thanks. I pretty happy with it. The rest of the car seems extraordinarily well designed, both in style and function. I think in this area of the dash, however, style beat out function.

 

I actually like the volume knob, I could control the volume without taking my hands off of the wheel. Aside from true steering wheel controls I like it; and if you ever do change your steering wheel, you still get all the functions. I think the ergonimics of this car was well planned out, only thing I absolutely do not get is why they made such a big button for the modes. But it's great, I could do just about everything without leaving the steering wheel.
Agreed, the button is gimmicky and entirely counter intuitive, especially when compared to the likes of the new BMW key fobs.
Sounds to me though you're going through buyer's remorse.

 

st rage - the start button isn't just for saving your time - it's a safety feature as well. If you're sitting backwards on a track and the car stalls out, you'd need to get out of the way asap. That .5 second could mean someone's life.

It's just a race inspired feature.

 

whoa whoa....

 

I sincerely doubt that the .00001% safety increase is why Honda marketing put that feature in.

You hit the nail on the head there. It's not a feature for racing (because most s2k's will never see a track), but instead a feature inspired by racing. That's why it feels a bit gimmicky to me. Perhaps I'll change my mind when I'm sitting backwards on the track, but it's more likely that I'll be trying to twist the key and cursing.

It's not so much that I don't want the start button, but that I'd rather have a start button that worked without the key. Then we could all be happy.

 

If Porsche (or anyone else) could sell me a car with the same performance, price, reliability, and cost of ownership, I'd buy one instead. They can't, so I didn't. Just because this car is the best (as judged by me and I would hope you also) doesn't mean it's perfect.

I've already learned why track oriented owners see value in the start button. I'm hoping to learn that there was a good reason why some of the other bad (as judged by me) design decisions were made.

 

I agree with a little bit 'o played out with the start button, now that every car and their mother's has a "start" button.

Still cracks me up to remind techs/mechanics where it is.

I have an aftermarket shift knob... you should see them try and find reverse....

I agree with the others: I like the volume switch, I can use one finger instead of taking the hand off the wheel.

For $60, get an 3.5mm audio out cable that connects in the CD changer port. Then attach your IPOD on your dash. Voila! Volume wheel, track forward, track reverse, etc at your fingertips.

Or you could deal.

 

So I guess the reason Honda didn't change it:

Because we either like the features or don't care at all.

There's a reason why this car retains a very specialized niche driver / owner.

 

but if we can all press the start button w/out holding the clutch, that be so cool