Honda S2000 Review // When Hero Becomes Legend

oh [Music] [Music] well what am i supposed to do with this now oh yeah [Music] we've waited years to feature the s2000 and this is the ultimate the cr it was made as a special for the american market it's stiffer it has more arrow and is rarer so in order to make and i'm james question is almost religious like devotion to the miata i thought it best to put him in this a perfectly maintained version of the s2k with some minor suspension upgrades to deal with the bumpy california roads so a bright yellow roadster and a lush california canyon in the sunshine if there is ever going to be a place to fall in love with the s2000 this is it if you're we do car reviews track tests and quite a lot of messing around so subscribe and hit the bell [Music] in the s2000 now this is a lightweight japanese roadster it is not a monster of speed it has a bit more power than a miata but it's basically the same realm of speed except this revs higher and the ap1 before this rep to 9000 rpm this technically revs to 8 000 except the owner has tuned it a little bit to give it a higher redline and in true s2000 fashion this is a car that rewards living at the top of that red line [Music] [Music] so it's not quite 9000 but it has all the other improvements that the ap2 gets and being a naturally aspirated four-cylinder it's got a lot of heart and soul to it this has an after-market mugen exhaust which sounds great it's a little bit boomy for my taste around town but it makes the whole drive exciting but what good is a fun red line if you only get to reach it once or twice because something like a 718 spider which is one of the best roadsters in the world has such tall gears people go on about how the shifter experience in an s2000 is one of the best and that is true the shifts are short they're purposeful but i think the more important thing is how close the shifting ratios are because the fun of a manual is shifting first gear 35 miles an hour top of second gear 55 [Music] top of third gear 78 so basically you can switch to fourth gear as you get onto the highway having revved it all the way out which means you get to play with the fact that it's a manual [Music] and that is about as good as that gets there really isn't much torque it's just horsepower so you're not being thrown in the back of your seat you have to get to the red line to experience any power however the beauty of the rear wheel drive lightweight japanese roaster is that the sensation of speed is massively enhanced you keep looking down thinking you're going well over the speed limit and it takes a while to get there so yes a 718 spider or a z4 they can all do it faster but you in this driver's seat are having the most fun [Music] because 60 feels like 90 and 30 feels like 60. and what is the point in something like this if you're not just having the best possible experience what a fun red light wow this is a very fun car i i haven't driven an s2000 before i i didn't want to i didn't want to find out that the miata wasn't the best roadster and i still think the miata is the clown it's the silly like giggly one put it this way if the miata was a song it is by hanson and if a g wagon is move get out the way then an s2000 is black betty it just gets you going so obviously the s2000 is all about that crazy high revving high strung naturally aspirated engine and i'm sure james mentioned legendary shifter feel but for me the thing that's always attracted me to this car has been the handling characteristics because unlike the miata i'm sure many of you know this is a front mid engine car which means that all of the engine underneath this huge hood is behind that line [Music] i love it when the feel of a car tells the story of its design and that's what happens with the s2000 that engine being close to me up in the middle of the car means that i can feel that it doesn't fight me when i turn into a corner imagine trying to run around back and forth while holding on to a bowling ball you can do it but in order to change direction quickly you're going to have to hold that bowling ball really tight to your chest it's heavy but you can change direction now imagine trying to run around back and forth while holding a bowling ball at the end of a five foot stick every time you try and change directions it's going to go nuh-uh that's an audi this is the most opposite of that possible that front end feels like i don't have to fight it at all it is the delicacy of a mid-engine car this one's on sticky tires and it's been set up very well and it's just a breeze through here the limit is so approachable and so easy rear starts to go a little bit under throttle and it's really really easy to control now the cr originally came on pretty serious pretty track focused suspension so the owner of this one very wisely i think put on some kw club sport two ways some german suspension it's a little bit better set up to deal with kind of half broken roads like this and the car is all the better for it you just exist in the last couple rpm all the time and then the last couple millimeters of grip this is the definition of an on the limit car [Music] and its peak peak roadster experience the only downside of an s2000 and i'm telling you right now this is less of a downside than you think it is because the steering is electric and it's a bit numb but the rest of the car is so communicative certain cars i feel like i'm missing steering feedback this one i don't peak roadster man it's peak roadster [Music] [Applause] i i just said the death peak roadster sorry miata guy all right first of all yeah no no didn't the archer guy yeah you literally have a tattoo um that may be so but peak roadster yeah i think okay so it's not the best roadster i think there's a difference between best roadster and people like technically technically a porsche spider is better or right on this earth with these speed limits yeah and this amount of gravity this is physics yeah yeah i'm yeah right yeah i mean these cost a bunch now right like these low mileage versions of these are going for the cr specifically or any cl specifically yeah even though even s2000 they're over 100 grand out there right um no i this like it's just such a brilliant thing to drive on these like tight little twisty roads it's just great you couldn't ask for a better setting no i know it is beautiful it's really really neat isn't it is the car beautiful uh no it's not okay so i'll explain why um okay this has got a lot of mugen stuff on it right yes some of the things that you see come from the cr which like the wing the front splitter yeah that stuff but there's a mugen hood i'm going to exhaust moving wheels is it moving or mugen i'm going to go with mugen for 200. okay yeah um and i i don't know i don't love the look of this car it's a little bit like it's like with the wing and stuff look it's a big cheese wedge and yeah it's it's a bit boy racer with yeah because this is a hard top only remember the sea that's right oh this is the other thing that's really cr right this is cool yeah okay just come here for a second and look at this okay so you stand here if you get rid of the wing and trust me i'm always for a big wing but if you get rid of the wing i think it's fantastic it's just the wing is just one faster than the furious too much well it's you know what i mean this is like fast six that wing that's what that is the s2 the s2000 is a simple shape so it will it has aged well i just wish it hadn't aged because to me i don't know why there isn't a new one if you drive an mbr you can buy a 2022 miata no i know it's still naturally aspirated a lot of this doesn't it doesn't have to be that different why don't they give us what we want slight facelift what is it slight updated interior i deserve it i deserve it i get the crv hybrids make more money um can we go and look at the interior yeah okay actually quite easy to get in it is it's actually a very livable car in general right it's kind of got everything you need and literally nothing more like knee room um it's not really a glove compartment though is there ah who needs um well i guess the mx-5 doesn't have one there's a little slidy bit there for cup holders yep and here and then look at that that's where you keep your microfibers mx-5's got that whatever and i have my microfibers in it does your mx-5 have a steering wheel that doesn't tilt yes actually because you have an nd1 that tilts it doesn't tell this guy oh it's right at the telescope yeah yes this doesn't do either i have no problem with it because you're the perfect height apparently yeah yeah short legs long arms i guess so i'm okay so the seating position is a little bit high yeah you feel like you're sitting on top of the car yeah like if you to compare that to like an frs beers or even a porsche those cars have crazy adjustability and you can get yourself really low and like people of different heights can find like the perfect driving position you are shoehorned into a driving position with this car it feels like the steering wheels are kind of resting on my knees i want it to be here this is what i mean to make a 2023 s2000 work yeah they don't have to change much no give it a telescope and stir it make the updates that the nd made in 2019 give it a no you can't do higher redline but yeah not really no i don't know just update it slightly do something this is this is dated now it's simple so it's aged well yes but it's clearly not a modern interior if i just did that i'd buy it no like but speaking of age well this really really has aged well yeah this does not look like an old car yeah honda are good with that the club racer was optional with radio and air conditioning yeah i think it's a thousand bucks extra you could they so you could do a delete that's the club right yes but this has both yeah um there's not much to talk about in here which i thought at first was aluminum but i think it's one of those delrin ones because it's refusing to get hot in the sun which is a blessing because it could be it could be brutal i do like the the normal s2000 shifter i really do a little sticky the longer the longer yeah i don't know i really like this one i love i love a good ball shifter you just kind of like boom yeah uh balls in your hand yeah no nope um it's okay i'm bowling balls maybe you know like baseballs those are stick your fingers in this is like a weird sorry why they should make a bowling ball style shifter where your three the two fingers of the thumb have to be in it that's real easy for like quick shifts on the tracker he's like three inch shifts but imagine arriving at the bowling alley you're just ready you're walking with carpal tunnel take it up this has gone a weird weird way this uh anyway the cr is very cool but you mostly notice it being a club racer on the outside but in here i mean there's the alcatera here and you know yellow stitching in the seats and stuff like that yeah i think you need to defend yourself with the peak roads to comment oh okay i can there are more watch me okay so go ahead i mean it depends what like peak meaning it achieves your priorities in a roadster so yes so this is you know you can cross the country in this you could yeah you could drive across the country in this and then when you get there crush a canyon road right right you couldn't do that in like a caterham it's yeah right yeah also compared to that it feels safer it's more approachable yep the high revving still makes it a fun car yeah no like a lotus elise for example a lotus elise is a great roadster don't get me wrong into certain people and certain drivers it's definitely a better roadster than this right but this is so easy to when it's properly set up it's so easy to drive at the limit yeah that it's it's approachable it's it's simple it feels safe yet still fun you still feel like you're on the ragged edge okay but you're not like in a close to a mid-engined off the cliff death right this is this is a nice easy car to drive at the limit once it's set up properly and i think it communicates everything that i like about driving to me perfectly yeah my only problem is that this is the last one if toyota can make a yaris cool by giving an all-wheel drive rally system and then do the same thing by giving us the gr corolla and then rewarding us with a new manual supra then yeah honda come on bring back your high revving rear wheel drive roadster this one from over a decade ago now with its earlier electric steering system and lack of tech is only now starting to show its age it's that good honda's manual transmissions are still top tier in their newer performance cars as is their approach to ergonomics and simple interior design we have full faith that today's honda could nail a new s2000 until then the mazda mx-5 is still a wonderful option that captures the japanese roadster magic but a bit of healthy competition never hurt anyone also there's a lot more room on james's back thanks for watching you

Channel: Throttle House

Views: 665,074

Keywords: Honda s2000 cr, 2008 s2k, honda s2000 review, honda s2000 mods, built s2000, s2000 drift, honda s2k build, s2000 exhaust, s2000 sound, s2000 drag race, honda s2000 vs mazda miata, honda roadster, best roadster, honda vtec, s2000 ap1, s2000 ap2, honda s2000 pov, honda s2000 turbo, honda s2000 supercharger, honda s2000 acceleration, honda s2000 0-60, s2000 touge, s2000 itb, s2000 nurburgring, s2000 vs 350z, s2000 vs type r, s2000 vs sti, caterham, fiat spider, bmw z4

Id: 0Rxch3aV1bI

Length: 16min 44sec (1004 seconds)

Published: Sun May 08 2022