Page 153 - Wayne Carini's Guide to Affordable Classics

Honda S2000
gearbox to a Torsen limited slip differential. No automatic transmission was offered. The high X-bone AP1 chassis offered exceptional rigidity, and the body was fashioned from steel with the exception of the aluminum hood and doors. Rollbars were neatly integrated behind the seats and the simple power top could be dropped in just six seconds.
The four-wheel independent suspension featured coil springs, unequal length control arms and anti-roll bars. A rear multi-link setup included a toe-in control rod for hard cornering. Steering was electrically assisted with only 2.4 turns lock-to-lock and Bridgestone S-02 Potenza tires delivered 0.9G on the skidpad.
TOP LEFT: Honda’s 1995 SSM concept car ended up being remarkably close to the final design of the S2000 as it was launched in 1999.
TOP RIGHT: The production S2000 offered clean good looks and a functional performance car.
ABOVE: The 2.0-liter VTEC engine produced 237 horsepower in US
The engine was set back behind the front axle for a 50/50 weight
balance and power was delivered through a six-speed manual Miata, and even put the S2000 ahead of the Porsche Boxster.
THE BACKSTORY
The Honda S2000 debuted at the 1995 Tokyo Motor show as the SSM concept - with a five-cylinder engine - and launched in production form on April 15, 1999, celebrating the company’s 50th anniversary. Following the trail blazed by the firm’s diminutive, but immensely desirable S500, S600 and S800 roadsters of the late 1960s, the S2000 offered similar virtues, albeit in a larger package with much better performance and more capable handling.
The elephant in the room at the time of the S2000’s launch was Mazda’s enormously successful MX-5 Miata, which had arrived a decade earlier. Notwithstanding dire predictions from former owners of wheezy MG, Triumph and Fiat roadsters, the Miata had been a runaway success from the start, proving there was still demand for the affordable and fun-to-drive roadsters that Britain and Italy had once built in the hundreds of thousands. Elegant, amiable and mechanically bulletproof, the Miata sold 251,571 examples in its first decade on the market and Honda was determined to best it in every category – except price. The 2000 Miata listed for $23,545 and the new Honda clocked in at $32,600.
Built alongside the NSX supercar and the Insight hybrid at the Takanezawa plant in Tochigi, the S2000 relied on Honda’s motorsports experience to become one of the most sophisticated two-seater sports cars built to date. Although it competed for some buyers with the Miata, it was really in the same class as the Porsche Boxster, Mercedes-Benz SLK and BMW M Roadster, all of which were around $10,000 more expensive.
With Honda’s VTEC variable valve timing, the S2000’s F20C fuel- injected 1997 cc DOHC four-cylinder engine could produce up to 247 horsepower, with its 124 horsepower per liter claimed as the highest output ever for a normally aspirated engine. A honeycomb catalytic converter reduced exhaust back pressure by 40 percent and with an 8,900 rpm redline and a weight of 2,790 pounds, it delivered 0 to 60 mph sprints in 5.8 seconds, a 14.4 second quarter- mile at 98 mph and a 147 mph top speed.
trim. That was almost 100 horsepower more than the 1999 Mazda
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