after 1.5 months of ownership i have written off my black honda s2000, it had 2700 kms on the clock. here is what happened....
the scene: tuesday night 8.15pm, raining slightly, visibilty good, traffic light. it had rained very heavily on and off throughout the night so there was a lot of water on the ground. i was coming home from the gym and stopped at a red light. the road ahead was straight with a slight deviation to the left but staightens out again. the light goes green, i accelerate normally, not flogging it, as i upchange to second and then third i must have hit water and started to aquaplane cause i feel the tail move right and then left, i cant remember how much correction i gave it nor can i remember if i jumped on the brake but next thing i know the car is sliding and i mount a driveway/ gutter, must have gotten airbourne cause the towtruck diver said the telegraph pole had markings 4 foot up on it where the rear of the car clipped it, so after i mount the gutter and the rear clips the pole the front crashes through a 2 foot high brick fence and skittles them like cardboard boxes and i come to a dead stop. impact was probably 40kms.
it happened so quick and i jumped out straight away and said "damn", it was still raining, people came out of nowhere, a firetruck was there in 1 min, the cops took about 15 mins, the residents of the house came out, i totalled their fence. it wasnt a pretty sight.
result: i was physically ok, i got a slightly sore left wrist, and a sore lower trap, nothing major, the car was towed (on a flat bed of course), the smash repair guy believes it is a write off as the amount to repair is in excess of $40k, which for a $75K car is about the write off value. front and rear end are gone, blew out the rear tyre, every panel is damaged, however the airbags didn't deploy and the passenger cell is unaffected, no buckling.
i felt that the impact wasn't that violent, but if i had hit that pole 1 metre further along i probably wouldnt be here i guess, still getting to grips with what happened.
it is my first accident and first traffic incident in more than 8 years of driving. will get neg driving, 2 points and about $150 fine.
insurance is another matter as i am still waiting to deal with them, looks like either a new for old or they will pay out my lease on the car. the problem is that i bought the car new for $72 with all the accessories but the car is now close to $80 to replace and they dont want to take that loss, so they are trying to think of options.
i think the combination of my inexperience with a rear wheel drive car (had a wrx before and front wheel drive before), no traction control, the rain and weather conditions all played a part in this unfortunate incident.
now i have to look at my options as to what to get, looking at the audi tt roadster or the lexus is300,.
anyway, thought you might like to hear that, i have taken photos, will try to get them on the board in the future, not a pretty sight.

 

i know how you feel....i had a totalled accident once...

hey....most important is that you are ok....nothing is more precious than life....well besides owning a nice car

 

Damn, that's a bummer! Sorry to hear about the accident but glad that you're OK. I'm not kidding when I say that the S2000's grip in the wet is pretty low ... especially coming from a WRX. The S2000 slides a lot easier than my old MR2 as well ... especially in ther wet. Part of it is that you don't realize how much power you're really pulling down to the ground .... you think that you're only mid-revs (4 - 6k) but you have up to 130kW at your disposal ... that is more that my old MR2's peak close to the red-line and roughly what WRX produces at 5k revs ... think about how that felf in the wet at 5k revs and that's with 4WD. Also, S2000 being so damn 'neutral' means that the back comes out easier than in most cars ... most cars will understeer 1st.

btw, I take it that you're not concidering getting another S2000? Too much of a close call?

 

I'm terribly sorry to hear about your incident! Glad to hear you made it okay though. Good luck to you!

 

blacks2k,

I'm sorry to hear that...

But I am glad you were able to walk away in one piece and post this message.

Take this as a warning S2000 drivers...be careful in the rain...especially with worn out S02's!

Last weekend when I was with Wesmaster and Shingles...we were at MIT where they were doing a group dyno for turbo miatas. Anyhow...on the way there Wesmaster calls me and said..."Hey! There is a totalled yellow S2000 on the beltway...". Turns out it was a yellow S2000 that hydroplaned on the way to the miata meet...and get this, it wasn't even raining. The yellow S2000 hit a puddle of water on the beltway traveling at 70-80 MPH.

Yep, the S02's have skinny ass water grooves (great for dry weather), but those grooves aren't wide enough to displace water fast enough in my opinion.

 

Why did you get a ticket?

 

I'm really sorry to hear that. It totally sucks especially for only having it a short while.

 

Glad to hear you are ok. I hydroplaned a my Toyota Carolla into a raging creek once. The entire engine and driver side was filled with water in less than a minute. Luckily I could get out of the passenger side with no problem. I walked away unharmed. Seat belt pretty much saved my life.

I am thankful that my S2K is not my daily vehicle. I have only been caught in the rain once when the S02's had only 5500 miles on them. I have to tell you, it was one scary, white knuckle ride. The back end was all over the place and I did 50MPH all the way home. I have to call bullsh$t on the claim that the S02's are good all weather tires. I think they suck in the rain.

 

You always get a ticket in a single car accident because you "were not able to keep your car under control" or "going to fast for conditions".

There is always a "something" to ticket you for; even is you flick a buger on the ground!

 

Especially if you did damage to another person's property. In this case the fence and the pole. I managed to talk the trooper out of ticket in my case. But in my case all I destroyed was my car. But usually they have to assign fault to somebody.