Five Classic Trials
Honda S2000
Prospective S2000 buyers have no doubt read tales of how Honda’s fourth roadster doesn’t suffer fools gladly. It could be said that the S2000 is more focused than any of its contemporaries; where the original Mazda MX-5 is a malleable canvas tuned for fun and Porsche’s Boxster a consummate all-rounder, Honda’s alternative demands respect if all of its performance is to be properly harnessed. And yet their relative affordability still attracts drivers with the means, if not necessarily the skill-set, to drive them properly.
In the same way that TVR’s Chimaera 4.0 is a big-hearted tourer with a dead-serious side, the S2000 hides its true nature unless you provoke it. That these two thrill-focused roadsters produce their 240bhp peak in diametric opposition to each other ignores their similar driver-focused temperaments.
Enough preamble – is there anything to worry about? Emphatically, no. Point a good S2000 with decent geometry and quality tyres at a B-road and it will deliver in spades; be measured in your inputs, keep the histrionics for the track and very little else from the era will stay with you.
It’s hard to see what the fuss is about below 6000rpm. Apart from a fat sill and claustrophobic
cabin, the S2000 could be any other Honda, provided you ignore the motorcycle-aping digital gauge cluster and starter button, which more pedestrian cars have since diluted. Simply put, the S2000’s interior has everything you need, and nothing you don’t.
It’s an easy car to potter around in once you’ve got comfortable with its extremities; the clutch, gear change and steering are Noughtiescompliant. Release two catches and the roof folds away electrically; there’s even a suppleness to the ride, which could almost lull you into thinking that this is a jolly old rag-top for summer days and Sunday pub pootles.
Everything changes when you hang on to the revs. Mechanical sympathy be damned – the S2000’s F20C engine begs to be thrashed, and if you allow it to breathe deeply enough, Honda’s much vaunted, near-deified Variable Valve Timing and Lift Electronic Control ( VTEC) system changes the cam profile for lobes with longer duration, triggered by a hydraulic pin. The exhaust note hardens to a bellow and the sixspeed gearbox keeps the engine spinning in anger. Peak torque, incidentally, comes in at 7500rpm.
Every interaction is magnified when the car is on the boil; any slop in your driving technique will upset the car’s momentum. By the time ‘our’ car was built in 2007, the third of four suspension revisions had lessened the S2000’s snappier excesses. Make the most of the brakes and gear throws by heel-and-toeing; if your skills are good enough, the S2000 will reward them with rapid progress.
None of this will tax those comfortable with short-wheelbase, rear-wheel drive cars or powerful motorbikes. An S2000 will flatter your spirited driving, but only if you’re practised and unruffled. Unlike an MX-5, it won’t tolerate silliness and only later cars like ours – in which electronic ‘ Vehicle Stability Assist’ ( VSA) traction and stability control was an option, later to become standard – will save you at all if your commitment is anything other than total.
The S2000 was, and still is, an analogue car with modern mechanicals. If you’re in the mood, no other four-cylinder roadster will do.
Drive one gently to the track, take instruction – and then pedal for all you’re worth. It’s a modern classic with the temperament of a historic thoroughbred, the like of which we will not see again. 20 years on from its debut, now is most certainly the time to acquaint yourself with this incredible machine.