Why Honda Killed The Greatest Sports Car

How the Honda S2000 KILLED the Miata, reinvented the sports car, and ultimately lost. This is the story of the Honda S2k.

9,000….
It is a number that most automakers never get to advertise in any sense…let alone engine speed.
But the chefs at Honda have made high RPM their signature dish....
This is a story that spans 40 years - years that REINVENTED Honda as we know them today,
That culminates with one of the most special machines ever constructed.
Its design, suspension and even its dashboard were built for drivers, BY drivers.
It's so cool that Fast and Furious put it in their movies…. Twice!
And it not only revs to 9,000 rpm and shows off technology previously relegated specifically to race cars,
But it’s Honda’s sports car that made the entire rest of the competition break out in sweat.
This is how Honda KILLED the Miata and revolutionized the sports car, yet lost.
This is S2000.

#honda #hondas2000 #hondatyper

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[andrewortiz]

They can literally start production today and not change the design. That body was ahead of its time.

[stolenchaser]

It's actually sad how honda could've destroyed the miata. Even before people started fanboying and loving the S2000, i always loved it. I loved it because it was the same concept as a miata, but with a high redline, VTEC, and more power. Even today, the S2000 has more power than the GR86, which competes with the miata.

[edgarpoe]

With every year that goes by I'm glad I got mine when I did. It was immediately a classic in the making, and years later it still holds up, in every respect. Honda will NEVER make another car like it again.

[binskee]

Cool that you featured the S2000 but you left out a lot of details about the car. The engine is not even the most exciting part of it, that car was more about balance, chassis stiffness and handling which really made it stand out. It was faster than the standard Boxter S on a track while being much cheaper and no camparison to a comparable Z3 / Z4. Those who say that the car was too expensive need to really get their facts right because for the tech it had it was way too cheap! Just a few example, how many cars in that price range had a double wishbone suspension, basically a monocoque style chassis, a 50/50 weight ratio while basically mid engined (fron-mid engine), aluminium hood, the shortest (and apparently best according to many auto jurnalists) shifter in any production car and then there is the engine that made 250hp NA (in Japan, 240hp in the rest of the world) only the F22C with the 2.2l made 237hp instead of the full 240hp. Plus the reliability made it really exceptional comared to the Boxter.

[njctboy]

The BEST stick shift man has ever built~! 👍

[spawn_blacksmith]

As a muscle car enthusiast, I will admit that at one time I wanted one of these.

[oiyjwqz]

Loved my '05 S2K. Fit like a glove, amazing handling (as a roadster even compared to coupes), wonderfully smooth shifting MT, responsive throttle (before eControl) and simple understated beauty. Z4 3.0 and Cayman cost more for purchase and maintenance. Corvette did not have overall quality/reliability and Miata was too low on HP for my taste. 350z/G35 and RX-8 were considered too. All boils down to what your needs/desires are plus how much dough you can lay down. Honda made an excellent contribution to the world of sport cars!! Hope they come back with more.

[jeffl]

04 Rio owner here, 7k miles when purchased in 2012. Daily drove it for four years and now it sort of sits with 48k on the odometer. Contemplated selling it but just can't. Love the car.

[lancehawk]

Daily drive one for 10 years and 160, 000 miles. Greatest car ever.

[atlegangletsoge]

Check this and pause this video at 0:40, the Jetta that raced the Honda S2000 is also parked on the side. Took me many years to notice that, I wonder what was that about

[neild]

The S600 had a rev limiter in the form of centrifugal cut off switch in the distributor rotor, if you changed it to a standard rotor it would rev to 11, 000 rpm.

[SKPHD]

Thanks to Johnny Tran from F&F, the S2000 became my dream car. Bought 2003 Suzuka Blue in 2006 and sold it in 2015 after putting 32K on it....not a fast car by any means, but fun to drive.

[agrippa]

And I owned an '04 for a whole week. Bought it new at Honda of Auburn but my chronic back and size (6'2") could not deal with the compressed cabin space. Nicely though, the dealer took it back (I only put 110 miles on it), very was sold the next day

[someyoungguyjohnson]

I remember Honda toyed with the idea of an S1000, a much cheaper, lighter, 1.0litre 120 HP 9, 000 rpm version. I wonder whatever happened with that?

[MarkEnriquez]

I’m 52. I grew up with Honda being the leader of good looking cars. And then i look at the recent civic type R with lines going everywhere, fake vents everywhere. Man Honda has sunk in the looks department. Genesis/Hyundai has taken over the reigns in the good looking cars department.

[arizonaridersclub]

We're riding with ya.Great video.

[DonBMW]

01 S2000 here. New clutch, new tires, Fujitsobo exhaust and beautiful paint. Such Ana amazing driving experience and unmatched shifting precision.

[edwarddejong]

I love high revving cars. Sadly, there are none produced today below 50k. High revs as Jay Leno points out, are a lot of fun, and in today's world where the highway patrol is everywhere, you are much happier screaming around at 60 MPH in a car like this.

[NurkePL]

The S2000 was available on the company car list of the UK company that I worked for, one of the managers got one, she said it was insane

[InsaneDire]

Good Buddy's Dad had one, and to this day, i say, its one of the most amazing Handling Cars i have ever driven. As soon as you got used to the Steering-ratio, that is.

If they would have made it S3000, this would be as legendary as the Supra / GTR today. The engine was amazing, but it just felt and sound like a well tuned Civic (apart from being RWD obviouly). I had a M3 (e36) back then, and getting back into the M3, the torque and gears were just so much more satisfying. We always wanted do a engine swap. but his Dad never got on board with that. He did bought a turbo-kit later, but never driven it after that. Looked sketchy following them them through the mountains..