s2000, track oriented??

You've never driven/seen a real track oriented car have you?

I cant compare most of those, but I can compare the caterham, as I've got one, and I owned an s2000 along side it for 6 years.

The only similarities between an s2000 and a caterham are that they are front engined and RWD, and hence can be driven in a similar style. Apart from the that the caterham* is leagues ahead in cornering speed, braking, acceleration, changing direction. S2000 is ahead in top speed (and practicality, civility, usability if we're looking at those attributes)

I guess it may depends which model caterham you're comparing to, but I think this applies to most.

 

well the other day i was upset to find a seat cupra R 'pulling' away from me as we went down the road... i stoped at 70MPH though as i dont do ' speeding ' and not 'racing' with a tw*t in a seat ( he must have seen me as overtook lots of cars and undertook me on a roundabout smiling as he must have wanted me to ' play '

 

Suspension wise, it has double wisbones all round. I can't think of many other Front engine, RWD efforts that have this?

I can't remember who said it, but they said:

The S2000 and the Elise are both 1.5 trick ponies.

The S2000 is a road car that can do track, and the Elise is a track car that can do road.

I thought that summed it up well really

 

MX5?

And, so what...

 

I'd go with that.

 

I like that

 

Nope - MX5 has McPherson strut arrangement.

So what? Well, since double wishbone is the purest form of suspension setup, i'd say it offers some evidence into proving how the S has a better potential than other FR cars that don't have that setup.

 

So you are agreeing with the consensus then.

The car out of the box is no better than the average RWD sports car.

 

I think that was me

 

Do you mean handling which is subjective, i.e. how the car feels or grip (or to use an old term road-holding) which is objective, i.e. a measurable attribute?

I have had both a Caterham and an S2000... the Caterham certainly handled better and had more grip, accelerated faster (up to about 80mph) but was uncomfortable on long journeys etc.

For me, the thing that lets the handling of the (stock) S2000 down is the lack of feel in the steering and I'm sure that, without searching, there will be mods that can be made to improve it

Taking all things into account though, on the road, I got 90+% of the enjoyment I got driving the Caterham when driving the S2000 without any of the hassle. I took the Caterham around Europe and it was (literally) a pain in the a*se until we got to, for example, the Alps where it was in its element and huge fun. The S2000 on the other hand was a joy to drive there and good fun when I got to the Alps etc.