R11 - If the 2.2 litre motor was seriously a vast improvement, they would have replaced the 2.0 litre powerplant in all markets.

Hell, they'd have even offered it as an "option" -- but they don't.

I'm going to an '04 mainly because of the cosmetic changes, I'll be the first to admit it.

 

Did I say it was a vast improvement? No . IMO it is a significant improvement though. Call me a crazy moron, but I happen to like a car with a relatively balanced power output. I drove an 03 last summer and opted not to purchase one in part because of the power band that was totally skewed to the high end. The broader power band and some of the changes in the styling dept that altered the lines somewhat on the 04 have sucked me back in though.

ron

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by R11
You may or may not agree with the idea that the car needed more low end power.

 

I will PM Bryan to link him to this thread so he can write about his own experience but
he is one of the few '04 owners in our S2000 So Flo club and after we wrapped up
the carbon fiber install, I told him to take my car out so I could see it in motion
and hear it from outside (which I've never had the chance to do). I wanted to hear what others
hear.
So, if he feels inclined, you can get an opinion on one member who DOES own a '04 compared
to my '02. It might be interesting for no other reason than to compare how a modified '02
feels to the '04.
Love the wheels on his color...the silver, they look almost hypersilver (term of the day).
I didn't like them on the yellow car but on the new shade of silver, they look great.

 

I own an '04, and got the opportunity to drive Russ' '02.
My first thought is that his car seems to pick up a bit faster, although it may just feel that way, because his exhaust is much louder than mine. Russ has several mods that add a few horsepower each, so this will ultimately add to the overall feel of the car. My car is still bone stock. In all honesty, I went with the '04 only because of cosmetic reasons. Russ was telling me that his car has about 20K miles, and it feels stronger than it did on day one. It will be interesting to to compare these two when the '04 has the same amount of mileage.

 

i think honda, like other companies markets what sells best to each location...IE, in Europe the Accord is out TSX, in Canada they have a small Corolla based Lexus, in the rest of the world the Acura is a Honda,etc... so the 2.2 is a good thing, especially for us...in other markets the 2.0 has a tax ramification, that going larger means more taxes along with the fact that we have completely different driving habbits.

I also suspect the 2.2 emits the same level of pollution as the 2.0 and has more hp....Anyway it is a nice car, and when it evolves again it will still be a nice car.

 

We have a small Corolla based Lexus? Smallest lexus we have is the IS300

 

First impressions can sometimes be misleading. It seems clear the new tranny does not solve everything. Check this thread out:

http://forums.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.p...threadid=169549

 

The reason that Honda went with 2 different motor is because most asian and european country calculate taxes and insurance of their car by engine size. 2.0 liter and below are considered small engine and the tax and insurance is much less. Anything over 2.0 liter the tax increase is significant and would not be desirable to have. Hence you will see a lot of 2.0 liter in europe and Japan. It has nothing to do with 2.0l motor beign better than the 2.2l. If Honda had to pick the better motor all '04 S2k would have a 2.2l motor.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Rick Hesel
The fact that Honda made the engine changes only in the American market leads me to think that even they didn't believe it improved the car, but just made it different.

 

hmm ? that smooth ? I wunder what makes the improvement ? metals or the oils ?