On this week’s episode of Top Gear, the boys drove and compared the new Audi TT, the Nissan 350Z and the Chrysler Crossfire, all in their convertible variants. To be different they drove them all on the beach where of course the all wheel drive TT excelled. Their general conclusions were that the least expensive car, the Crossfire looked the best (I’d definitely disagree), the interior of the 350Z seemed cheap (I would definitely agree), and that overall they were less than impressed with all of the cars they took out.
So when they were back in the studio, recapping their experience, they decided to choose the three convertibles in that price range that they would have preferred to have. May said he would have wanted a Porsche Boxter for the balance and feel of a sports car. Hammond said he’d want the BMW Z4, and Jeremy closed the show saying that he’d “have the Honda s2000.” The overall consensus was that if you want a convertible, buy one that was designed as a convertible, not a coupe that was later converted to one.
During the whole convertible segment, I was wondering why they had chosen the Audi, Nissan and Chrysler. Here’s to hoping next time they do a shoot out between the Porsche, the BMW and the Honda.
Update 09/07/08:
Reader Beardie tipped me off to the fact that Top Gear looked at the exact shoot out I was hoping for, and the fact that they did it 2 years before the episode that the article was about, explained exactly why they had preference for those cars: they were the cars they liked in the episode where they compared the Boxter, Z4 and s2000. I found a clip of the first half of the episode from Series 3, Episode 2, but couldn’t find the second half when they’re back in the studio, except for a version that wasn’t in English. Here’s the first half, if anyone has a good clip of the second half, please post it here. Thanks again, Beardie!
A precurser to the s2000, the Honda Argento Vivo has an unusual back story. The Argento Vivo started out as a 1995 concept car designed by Pininfarina for Honda.
The original drivetrain consisited of an inline, 5-cylinder, 2.5L, rear-wheel drive setup. The Argento Vivo featured aluminium construction and two-tone finish with the aluminum left polished and exposed on the upper panels. The dark blue sections of the Argento Vivo were formed from fiberglass. When the Argento Vivo was unveiled as a concept car in 1995, it was praised for its smooth and innovative styling, and won several industry awards.
The Argento Vivo also caught the attention of the Sultan of Brunei, an avid car collector who managed to persuade Pininfarina to create a fleet of five Argento Vivo’s for his wealthy family. However in place of the original Honda drive train was a Mercedes setup, including suspension, brakes, transmission and an AMG 7.3 liter V12.
Aside from the concept models and the mercedes powered versions ordered for the Sultan, the Argento Vivo never saw production. Ahead of its time, it did serve to influence the development of the already-concepted s2000 which would see production 4 years later.
My buddy parked his s2000 in a restaurant parking lot the other day and the lot was on a bit of incline. He was in a hurry and apparently didn’t leave the car in gear. The parking brake didn’t hold (i’ve noticed that you really need to pull the hell out of it to keep the car in place) and the car rolled back and hit another car. So yeh, make sure that you leave the car in gear when parking on a hill, and give the ebrake a good pull.
While Honda is already selling, or at least has announced the 2009 updates for most of their vehicles, the fate of the s2000 still remains somewhat in limbo. There have been no end to concepts and renderings floating around the internet (and this site) that look to be the successor to the roadster, but as we near the fourth quarter of the year, it seems unlikely that there will be any big changes for 2009. Will Honda altogether discontinue production in the US for 2009 as sales for the s2000 continue to decline? Will they discontinue just the standard s2000 and market the Club Racer as the only 2009 s2000 model?
The Consumer Guide on Howstuffworks.com suggests that the next incarnation of the roadster may cater less towards purists who enjoy a fast, cramped, noisy and stiff-suspension car, and instead focus more towards the general population. The less expensive and less powerful Mazda MX-5 continues to steadily make money, while the Honda s2000 has always been a financial problem for Honda.
The more practical roadster that the article describes, would be less expensive, with a 200hp engine and a platform that has crossover parts to other cars like the civic (think del sol), making production and final price much more affordable.
It’s said to be inspired by Honda’s very first car, the spartan, tiny but spirited S800 roadster of the early 1960s. It’s also said to be a bit smaller than today’s S2000. Less specialized too, as some underskin components will come from mass-market Honda cars to achieve a lower sticker price. The engine, for example, will be the 2.0-liter four-cylinder from the popular compact Civic, likely the top-tune Si version with around 200 horsepower. Sources say it’s reworked to drive the rear wheels through a six-speed manual transmission or a Volkswagen-style twin-clutch six-speed sequential manual with automatic shift mode. Suspension reportedly retains twin A-arms in front and a multilink setup in back, but some of the components may be exchanged for off-the-shelf parts. Same for the brakes, four-wheel discs with ABS again, and steering.
Personally, I would be sad to see the roadster go in the direction of competing with the MX-5, instead of taking the opposite approach and going against the Porsche Boxter market and other high end roadsters. The Howstuffworks article should also only be taken with a grain of salt, as they claim the s800 roadster was “Honda’s very first car,” (The Honda s360 was the first car, and the Honda s500 was the first production car) they obviously didn’t do too much research for their article.
I’m a huge fan of the CSI franchise of TV shows, and of course the Honda s2000, so when they cross paths of course I get giddy. In the Season 5 (2006) CSI Miami episode: Curse of the Coffin, the opening scene has a frantic woman trying to get into any car she can. First car she tries? AP2 Honda s2000 in Suzuka blue. Fantastic. Check out the other movies with the Honda s2000.
Last week, Dynolicious released an iPhone app that uses the phone’s internal accelerometer with custom software to perform as a dynamometer. The app costs $12.99, and I figured that I’d give it a try. The main problem is that the developers still haven’t released a full manual on how to use it, and I also haven’t found a good place to try a fast quarter mile time around here. I mean if I were really doing a quarter mile, flat-out, I’d be going 90+mph which could be some big trouble if I get caught doing that on a city street.
Today though, I thought I’d at least give it a try with some shorter hard runs. The results were pretty wacky, so I’m hoping that it’s just because I wasn’t able to find a perfectly flat road and stay balls-out for a full quarter mile. The couple runs I did were only about an 1/8th of a mile long. I found that the best place to mount the iPhone was on the top of the sliding cup tray using strong double-sided tape:
The results in my test were pretty wacky:
Apparently, my bone stock s2000 runs a 13.16@65mph, with a 7.8sec 0-60 and peak horsepower of 179mph, wtf? In reading on their website, the calibration isn’t working quite right, and like I said earlier, I haven’t had a manual to read and I didn’t use it in ideal conditions. In the next week or so, I’ll try to get to the track and do a real quarter mile run so I’ll be able to fairly compare the results of the Dynolicous application to the real thing.
I ran across this great avatar generator that lets you create a customized image that looks exactly like your s2000. You can modify almost every aspect of the car through the selection of drop-down menus. I just put in “s2k” for the username in the final field and that seemed to work fine.
It looks like the Honda s2000 will stay in the 2009 Honda lineup, but the future of the car remains uncertain. Ending it’s 8th year in production, it seems imminent that the body style of the s2000 will either change, or the name will be retired. There’s been lots of rumors, concepts and Honda has promised to show a concept roadster at the upcoming London Auto Show, that *might* be the replacement for the beloved s2000. Here is a small collection of concepts and prototypes:
The Honda S2000 Type-S is essentially the same package as the U.S. delivered S2000 CR but differs by the inclusion of the standard folding roof instead of the aluminum hardtop as well as a new rear wing diffuser. The factory-tuned S2000 Type-S also features firmer suspension, increased body and chassis rigidity, overall weight reduction plus a unique aerodynamic package. The car is described by its developers as the “closest thing you can get to a Honda-built racecar with license plate holders and a horn,” signifying the desire of its target market of weekend club racers. The Japanese version comes with the same high-revving four cylinder engine as U.S. spec models, including an identical 237hp and 220Nm of torque output. Complimenting the engine’s output characteristics is a compact, longitudinally-mounted, close-ratio six-speed manual gearbox and a torque-sensing limited slip differential.
I usually only listen to MP3 CDs in my Pioneer head unit in my s2000, but the other day when I tried to listen to a regular, store-bought CD, it would skip if there was the slightest jolt that lasted more than a few seconds, like crossing a lane that has those warning bumps that divide the lanes. I assume the reason that I can play MP3 CDs and not standard music CDs is that the buffer is much larger while playing MP3s since their file size is that much smaller, but I used to listen to music CDs when this head unit was in my G3 Acura Integra, which rode pretty rough on a 2.5″ drop and tires with a lower profile than the s.
So is the ride really that rough in the s2000 that the standard audio buffer on a Pioneer HU isn’t enough to handle it? I’ve become completely accustomed to the ride, although my wife’s Accord is noticeably more comfortable and plush.
