I firmly believe Honda bought this car out to be the nearest thing to a street legal racing car you can get, and made no compromises.
No very safe woolly understeer, no overlord traction control. (Perhaps they should have). The tendency to oversteer was a deliberate choice. that coupled with the very rigid chassis, pin sharp steering and lightweight nature of the car is all you need to get caught out when unwary.

I don't think the magazine comments are out of place, I think they're consideratiions to seriously consider before you buy this car. It's not for everyone, and nor should it be

Excellent as the M series BMW's are they are not an out and out sports car in the sense that the S2000 is, awesome though they are

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Cedric Tomkinson
[B]I firmly believe Honda bought this car out to be the nearest thing to a street legal racing car you can get, and made no compromises.
No very safe woolly understeer, no overlord traction control. (Perhaps they should have). The tendency to oversteer was a deliberate choice. that coupled with the very rigid chassis, pin sharp steering and lightweight nature of the car is all you need to get caught out when unwary.

I don't think the magazine comments are out of place, I think they're consideratiions to seriously consider before you buy this car. It's not for everyone, and nor should it be

 

Jimmy:

I love my bimmer and I really miss my M3. It truly was a great car that was balanced and extremely confidence inspiring. Its the only car I have ever owned that you could cause to oversteer or understeer at will. My 540 handled like a pig in comparison to the M3. Hence, I put a dinan stage 3 suspension on it and it handles superbly for a big car. However, it is still biased towards understeer.

I love the cockpit feel, the precise steering, the short throw gearbox, the open air feel, and the howling engine of the S2000. I love the way the front end sticks like glue. And I really don't mind that the car tends to oversteer. As I said before, it reminds me of an off road motorcycle.

But with the S2000, there are numerous reports of people cruising along and spinning out. It seems that most of the incidents took place on cold and/or wet roads. And you are right; this does not happen with a BMW no matter what suspension and tire combination you run. Many people with E36 M3s run non staggered tire set ups to remove some understeer and lots of these people have run SO2s without problems. So is there an inherent design flaw with the S2000? Is the answer to not drive or drive very carefully on cold or wet roads? I don't know. I don't own one and have only limited experience behing the wheel. But I'm very intrigued by the car and consider it a wonderful and unique performance automobile.

 

The reports of sponaneous spin outs are to my knowledge, anecdotal. I've seen no hard statistics being represented in this discussion.

I know someone who was driving and their Toyota Tercel went into a spin and crashed.

I'm not sure what the point of the discussion is- you wanted to know why...and I think people have given plenty of good reasons. Driver inexperience, S02's unique cold characteristics among tires, hydroplaning on these tires which are very similar to slicks, overstear for racing applications of the S2000, reduced weight, 50:50 weight distribution, VTEC breaking tires loose on wet roads, etc.

But as of yet, this spinning epidemic is nothing more than an anecdotal discussion. My insurance on my S2000 certainly hasn't increased because of it and no reviewer of the S2000 or any other publication has made any sidenotes about any inordinal number of S2000 accidents.

If you buy your cars based on anecdotal safety evidence, then don't buy a Tercel. I saw a few wrecks involving a Camaro- those are probably unsafe too. Seems silly doesn't it? It is.

-B

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by insider
[B]...
Many people with E36 M3s run non staggered tire set ups to remove some understeer and lots of these people have run SO2s without problems.

 

Between the hills in Ithaca and Beaver Dams, I would have serious doubts about the S in the winter. I can just see you cruising thru the Monteray prison camp and hitting a patch of black ice. Before coming to Phoenix I lived in Montour Falls about 2 miles from the track. I did not know anyone who did not have 4WD. It was like air conditioning here in the desert. I would love to go back and run the S through some of the wonderful finger lakes roads. Good Luck.

 

Your points are well taken. There have been a lot of potential explanations posted to the anectodal reports. And no, the bimmer guys are not running S2000 OEM SO2's. So I guess there is no real answer to the question that started this thread. As with all cars, you need to be careful, particularly in poor weather.

 

This is a very interesting discussion, although I feel a lot of it is the blind leading the blind.

Steve Millen comments in R&T summed up the car for me. Here's an abreviated summary: "The Honda feels so light! . . . What's interesting about the S2000 is that you really need to push the front wheels as much as you can, because it has a tendancy to snap-oversteer. . . it gets nervous and jerky. It requires a lot more work. .. more concentration. . . but by the same token it's an awful lot of fun.

The Porsche S, although 2nd place on the track, received all the handling praise from R&T group -- ie, no surprises. And well it should for $20,000 more.

So, is there a quick fix -- ie, different tires, x-bars, etc. I'll be surprised if there is. Back in the 'ole day Porsches were tail happy and once a driver master 'em, the track was their's. Personally, I think history is repeating itself with the kid on the block.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by s2k3132
[B]Between the hills in Ithaca and Beaver Dams, I would have serious doubts about the S in the winter.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by jschmidt
[B]The actual effect of a centered polar moment is better control of