ajhughes

Hi,
I'm new to s2000's and am looking to buy my first in the near future. I have made my target an Ap2 2004-2005 and have booked a couple of viewings this weekend. One of the cars I am going to see is an '05 plate, but it has a dash with a tacho that red lines at 9000 rpm. Is this right? I thought that one of the main changes for the Ap2 was that the redline was reduced from 9000 to 8000 rpm.
Any advice that can be offered would be much appreciated.
thanks
Alex

noodels

9K is correct for All UK cars

GC84

Hi, only north america got the 2.2L engine which had the reduced redline. As above, all UK cars have the proper s2000 redline of 9k.

ajhughes

Thanks for the quick response guys. Appreciate it. I guess I got a little muddled in my research on the internet with the mix of global reviews/advice for the car.

flanders

AP2 was never sold in Europe

Chuck S

Yep, UK cars are all AP1 (2.0 engine) cars. Tach goes to 9,000 rpm. Other then 2004+ North America and some late production JDM cars they're ALL AP1s.

-- Chuck

ajhughes

Ok. So I might have been more misled than I originally thought. Apologies if this has been asked multiple times before, but am I right in thinking that even though the uk got the ap1 throughout, a number of upgrades to the suspension etc were made to the cars in the uk market from 2004 onwards?

ValveBounce

Essentially yes. What you were earlier referring to as "AP2" is actually "AP1 Facelift".

So, when talking in the UK market S2000's are described as "pre-facelift" or "facelift". Both have a 2.0L engine with 9000 redline. As you say, the facelift cars have upgraded suspension as well as a number of other changes, and later cars got drive-by-wire throttle and VSA as standard.

Chuck S

AP1 and AP2 are the VIN designations for the 2.0 and 2.2 engines respectively. No other connotations in those codes.

Several generations or "Marks" of the S2000. There were changes every 2 years. Some subtle, some significant. Too many owners could not handle the oversteer in the very early cars and suspension (not us, of course!). Wheel, suspension, and tire changes seem to have occurred to make the car more predictable culminating with VSA in 2006 (at least in USDM cars).

The USDM cars got the 2.2 liter AP2 engine in 2004 along with the face lift styling modifications and several wheel/suspension changes. Very easy for us in North America to call the 2004+ cars "AP2" cars. The other markets got just about everything except the AP2 engine that same model year. UK registration year may or may not be the same as the model year. Something to do with road taxes? Guys have claimed to have 2006 cars but their VINs clearly show them as 2005.

-- Chuck

richmc

See here -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_S2000
and the tech FAQ will tell you the year differences. And good luck with your hunt for an S2K.