Any S3 Owners had a Honda S2000 ?

Hi my mate bought a brand new one 2 years ago. I have been in it and drove it hard and they are very nice and Honda's are very well made. I had an M3 at the time so I did think it lacked torque but they have to be revved which is fun as it goes to 9000rpm. They were face lifted later with a few diffferent bits. No cambelt and a tuff engine. Bit juicy round town and back comes out a bit but rear drive. Ok for 6ft drivers. Watch for imports he as insurance more, and they are a bit quicker than listed. Things that my mate did was fit a hks exhaust but when he fitted the hks race induction kit the noise of that was incredible when the vtec came in, very addictive. He is a mechanic and has owned many cars and says its the best motor he has ever owned. The induction kit may still be available as he sold the car and if doing trackdays I would do the suspension and yes I would buy one, hope this helps.

A work colleague had one and he reckoned it was the best car he'd ever owned (previously owned GTi's).

Fits like a glove when you sit in it, and all the controls are within a fingers distance. Revs are hugely addictive, and the drive in the dry is hugely engaging. Crisp gear change, lovely direct steering. In the wet they are a bit of a handful if you don't respect the throttle pedal.

Certainly a great option if you can source a clean example.

In 2006 I purchased a new Honda S2000 having p/exed a 1990 pop-up headlight slightly tuned 1.6 MX-5. Severe illness had convinced me that my years where numbered, a few extra bob had come my way so £25K or thereabouts was no big deal, and as the Honda had always been my dream sports car even if I had had £75k to spend, I thought it was a no brainer.
Last May the Honda was p/exed for a 2009 A3 Cab. 2.0FSI auto with cruise.

A. The Mazda was better value, and with the tuning mods.almost as accelerative with less effort (would be doing 90mph disturbingly quickly) as ther Honda. The Mazda more comfortable and less bulky, and the owners and the club very friendly.


B. The Honda had more presence yet from a distance could be mistaken for a MX-5. Stir the gearbox like mad and keep it over 6000 revs and it went faster than many a Porsch or Ferrari. The lack of torque drove me mad, in fact my then company diesel auto Vectra seemed to have more umph. Lack of adjustable steering column, lumber support, seat adjustment and a decent sound system reminded me every day i was in a car designed in the late eighties as an indulgence rather than for public consumption.
It consumed tyres & fuel at a rate that did not justify the performance.
In highly polished black with red/black interior and big shiny alloys it got a huge amount of admiration at the numerous car shows I attended with it. I just loved looking at it - so manly and butch in my chosen colour combination.
Fitted with a sports exhaust and cat. removed it sounded like a V12 Ferrari, trouble was with the sound and the performance on tap I felt obliged to drive it fast, and began to fear a prang or speeding fine.
The ride was rock hard, and in the wet it was lethal, and even standing water on a motorway could upset it. Suspension re-alighnment completely cured a tendancy to wander.
It was great to have something a bit different though in a world full of silver Boxsters, Z4's and erm yes even MX-5's.
The few fellow owners I met personally at a couple of pub meets proved to be loudmouthed and rude. At one meet the first thing I was told was that they don't talk about cars!!!! The club Forum was very helpful.
An increasing problem with a slipped disc, and the resulting need for an auto box and cruise control, even heated seats ( yummy ) plus the need for more cabin space and luggage capacity led me to seek a compact cabriolet. As I had no wish to suffer the stigma of being a BMW driver the Audi A3 was the obvious choice that met my unique set of circumstances.
I would not swop back for the Honda, but would love an early MX-5 again - just as a toy though.

Early S2000's are likely to have seized suspension bolts, unlikely to have been driven gently or serviced my a Honda mechanic or a deluded able DIY owner who REALLY understands the sophisticated engine. The do rust, most unnoticeably behind the rear bumper.
There is very little you can do to make them faster, the availability of go-faster items is non-existant. Sports exhausts and cold air induction just makes things noisier - but lovely noises they are!

All red interiors a bit sudden and too Tart-Cart for many.

These are very personal views influenced by factors that are probably not universal. Good luck.

depending on what you want to spend, i'd go for early elise S1. I had the S2 elise, its the best car i have owned. still love to have another or maybe the exile one day. but before that in a 993 out of my system plus a S3 for daily drive. Just need more £££! then i can live the dream

Hey Spin, I owned a 2000 plate S2000 a few years back. I had a black model with black interior. I had a great few months in it through the summer. It was great driving with the roof down at about 10pm on a clear night with the heaters on. Come the bad weather and every roundabout could have been my last haha. Good fun though. The reason I got rid of it was at the time I was doing short traffic heavy commutes and it was quite difficult to drive smoothly at slow speeds. It became quite tiresome in queues. I think in 2004 a few revisions were made to improve the throttle response using fly-by-wire so that would have made it better. Then VSA was introduced around 2006 IIRC which would make it easier to drive round wet bends.

Still, it sounded great and it gave a real sensation of speed with the banzai engine note and the bum on the floor driving position! I really wish I had of fitted a CAI and exhaust because it would have sounded epic. Before I bought my S3 I toyed with the idea of chopping in my E46 M3 for another newer S2000. I will defo own another one in the future. I promised my girlfriend I'd treat her to one some day because she adored it. It would most certainly be a post 2006 model though.

In summary, great car if it's a toy. Not for the commute. Get one and enjoy it!

Smiffi

I sold this (2.0TFSI Quattro - Remapped 240bhp)




for this




I loved the A3 for its looks, ease of ownership/usage and traction in the wet however i absolutely i prefer the S2000 for its sports car type handling and the way it looks.

The S2000 is a very rewarding car to drive and to own. Ownership is cheap and the car is very reliable.

Its practical enough for a good road trip holiday - me and the missus drove to Monaco last year via france, switzerland and italy over 7 days and it was the best ever holiday we have ever been on.





So it can be used everyday easily.

I also track the S2000 and its great on the track however you do need to make sure that the geo is set up properly to get the most out of it.

The car is also great for drifting, i do a drift day 2-3times a year




So overall its great for everyday use, long road trips, weekend hooooning, drift and track days!

I don't use mine that much any more and as we are expecting our first child any time soon i think it will get used even less so it stays in the garage - even though i know its a waste of a car i am unwilling to sell it as i love it so much when i drive it.

Have a read on here for good information.

UK S2000 Community - S2KI Honda S2000 Forums

Here is a pm i sent one of my friends who was looking at buying an S2000:

In the UK there is only the AP1, AP2 refers to the 2.2litre version sold in the US. Here we refer to them as pre-face lift or post face lift. The only way people refer to them is 04MY for the later style.

As to which one is better is a matter of opinion, I personally like the way the 04MY ones look, you get different front bumper, LED rear lights, nicer interior and a slightly softer suspension set up – oh and 17’s alloys rather than 16’s.

Prices of the S2000 as you know are dropping badly due to the insurance costs mainly. I would go for the facelift version as it will be worth more when you come to sell it, yes you will be paying a few quid more for it in the first place but I think that the 04MY would be more appealing to buyers.

You can pick them up for peanuts nowadays – people are breaking the earlier ones instead of selling them as they are worth more in bits, engine and box will go for £3k easily.

Main things to look out for are:

Seized geo bolts and bushes, these are a royal **** when they seize up, if you buy an early one and the geo hasn’t been done on it then pretty much 100% sure that all of them will be seized. When I got mine I took it to a place called center gravity for the geo to be set up, 3 of my bolts were seized out of the 10. The geo set up is sooooooo important on the S2000, when I had mine set up I went for fast road and basically it transformed the car, the geo set took about 5 hours inc unseizing the bolts and center gravity charged me just shy of £400, well worth it as I knew I’d be keeping the car for a while. I take it there every year now to have it checked set up to a different set up as I am learning more about the car and what it can do, standard set up is £229 which is a lot but the guy is epically good, he has a 3 month waiting list – moooooooooonies!!!

If you intend to use it on track etc then it is well worth trying to find a car which has had its geo set up so you know that the bolts aren’t seized.

Roof’s on pre 04MY cars have a plastic rear screen and they crack and split, plus they go all cloudy, many people have it changed which is about £700 fitted. 04MY cars have glass rear windows. Look out for tears in the roof just behind the doors, they get ripped by the roof mechanism. Roofs do tend to leak when its raining badly, it’s a common issue and can be sorted out by messing with the roof latches.

TCT’s (timing chain tensioner) can rattle, these are about £250 from Honda or you can fix it by removing it and sandblasting the worm gear. Lots of guides on how to do this.

Tyres need to be Bridgestone RE050 MZ’s, these are Honda S2000 specific, they handle like dog **** if they have any other tyre on, the MZ’s have a really stiff tyre wall whereas other tyres are too soft making the car bounce around.

Service history like any other car is nice to have, the main service is 54k miles where the tappet clearances have to be done. Diff and box oil need to be changed at 72k miles I think but I do mine every 10k or so as the box is notchy when its cold – this is perfectly normal. Sometimes in traffic when you engage 1st gear you’ll feel a knock from the rear diff, this is also normal.

Rear diff has a LSD so its good fun when you have some space………………

General maintenance is cheap, I only spend money on oil changes, air filters etc, just the usual stuff really. Its cheaper to run than Tracey’s R32.

Nothing really breaks on them, oil filters can spin off due to the high rev’s the engine is capable of but you can buy clamps for £20 to prevent this from happening.

If you do test drive one you need to make sure it goes into VTEC, it will happen at 6k rpm and you’ll certainly hear it. If it doesn’t then it could be low oil.

On a long run I can get 34mpg quite easily, on a Sunday blast I will see 26-28mpg, last year when I went to Scotland with a couple of friends I got 28mpg when they got low 20’s and round the twisty roads they couldn’t keep up at all.

I’d certainly recommend one for sure, I am keeping mine even though its only got 2 seats as I will most certainly miss it if I sold it. I’d spend a few more quid to get the face lift version as it looks a lot better and is more comfy.

If you can get one with a hard top, even if you don’t intend to use the hard top you can sell it on along with the fitting kit for £800 easily.

Best forum to use is UK S2000 Community - S2KI Honda S2000 Forums

Have a look in the sale section as there are a few one there for sale at the moment for really good prices!

This is also a good read - Technical FAQ v2.1 - S2KI Honda S2000 Forums

My old man had one.
Great car, never missed a beat and he used it daily.

A colleague has just sold his after just 6 months as he felt he needed to drive 9/10ths all of the time and the lack of torque was frustrating.
IMO its the coolest roadster around and an excellent choice of toy.
I would defo have one.

Spin140 said:

Wow, now thats an encouraging post with great action shots !

I love being a Dad and as I said the S3 is a superb all rounder but Audi international or Forum organised events aside I no longer want to track it. Also it may sound selfish I would like a little something just for me, the fact that the S2000 requires 100 % commitment and is edgy adds to the appeal, couple that with amazing reliability plus decent affordability on early models makes for a tempting proposition.

As always with me I have done a lot of research and come across the issue of seized geometry suspension bolts, I'm pretty sure the one I'm looking at has a good chance it will suffer from this as owned by an old timer with no desire to bounce off the vetec or skide around islands but still seems to be reeling me in !
I'm prepared to chuck several hundreds of pounds at it to have the Geo done and a full service to ensre its in tip top shape.

Hey! The purchase will mean I have to tidy out the garage
What model year is yours ?

Click to expand...

Mine is a 04MY so its the facelift version without traction control.

In the wet you need to beware as the rear end WILL step out if you drive like an ****.

When i test drove mine the thing that sold it for me was when it hit 6000rpm and vtec kicked in, my god the noise it made was awesome, the fact that once you hit 6800rpm in the A3 you still have 2200rpm to go in the S2000, its bonker and so addictive!

That honda vtec engine is an utter **** unless you are on a race track. I had a Civic Type R and the lack of torque was an embarrasment. Unless you were in the right gear revving at 6k even the most basic diesel shopping car could beat you.

Looks a nice s2000 above, but even my weekend car needs a turbo and torques, oh and a hint of death in wet conditions:

Just shy of 290BHP with a bit of extra boost and custom exhaust..

I know they sound amazing, if that help...

Allowing for my unique perspective all credit for a very comprehensive and accurate detailing of the Honda S2000.
Bearing in mind YOUR user needs & strict budget I can see the sense in going for an early model. IF that elderly lady didn't lend it to a hooligan family member every day and the mileage is correct you might have a wise buy. It might be rusty if standing outside a lot, and IF it has been gently driven then it will need a good thrashing ( having changed all fluids first and allowed everything to warm up first ).
Many do prefer the early models, being a tad raw and a cabin that is a bit bland & budget. As an occasional toy for you this matters not I suspect.