Yesterday I was bored and went down to the local Honda dealership to check out the S2000. Chatted with a salesman for a while and asked if I could take it for a ride. Surprisingly he said yes, I liked the whole layout of the car, seats were pretty good and everything was in good reach. The gearbox was pretty tight but had a grinding feel to it switching gears. Before driving it I had high expectations of this cars abilities. The dealership was right off the highway so I was able to really open it up both cornering on the on ramp and straight line acceleration. In the corners it seemed to have excessive body roll...it may have felt this way because My R has tein coilovers, 17's, and both front and rear strut tower bars, But anyway it didn't seem to stable in a high speed turn. Once on the highway it didn't have the same kind of Vtec punch like the R, it felt more like my girlfriends Prelude Vtec, kind of slugish. I am not putting the car down by any means, I thought overall it was a great car and am sure it has lots of potential, I just think my expectations were too high.

 

I agree w/ Steve. The vtec in S2000 in pulls a lot harder than any integra out there... period. Plus, it pulls 'til 9000 instead of 8100 or 8400.

 

Actually I agreed with the VTEC not being very pronounced. Compare to the current gen Prelude, the S2000 VTEC is definitely weaker. Maybe keep pulling it until 9k RPM is the key. They do like/need to be pull hard. As for handling, it's pretty good for a stock setup. You can't compare any stock suspension with aftermarket even if you are just comparing with a Koni sports/Eibach ProKit setup. Never mind your Tein and what not.

 

the prelude vtec kicks in hard because it kicks in too late...the factory didn't set the vtec changeover at an optimum point, so when it kicks in, it kicks in with authority....which is actually a bad thing in the prelude's case

 

I don't think sluggish is the way to describe the s2k by any means.I think linear is a better word for it.The car doesn't have that sudden spike in power when it gets into vtec like the ITR but it pulls really hard all the way up.I felt that the car was great turned in really well.To each their own.

 

"the factory didn't set the vtec changeover at an optimum point"

My guess is the factory spent a lot of time figuring out the "optimum point" for the Prelude's VTEC switch. It may be that way for a reason

 

my vtec engagement is pretty strong, i really like that though. Vtec in general though is honda's way to combine practicality and efficiency and have the power there too. I think it's a very very cool thing. If i had to get another car i'm definantly going to miss that characteristic. I haven't driven an s2000 though, the whole car is just beautiful to me though. Convertalbes are funtimes.

 

the spike in torque at VTEC is much stronger in the S2k than the ITR. check the dyno plots and you'll see what i mean. i dunno how you couldn't feel this unless you didn't really drive the s2k hard enough? it's a night and day difference over the ITR [edit]to me anyways[/edit].



[Modified by Speedy, 9:05 PM 8/19/2001]

 

Actually, 01GSR is right. If you look any H22 Dyno, you'll see a HUGE spike at Vtec. People who lower the Vtec get like 20hp+ just from that alone. HTH, -C

 

From what I hear, Ludes are difficult to keep on the big cam between shifts. Setting the crossover point would fix that. The Lude is a great car but it was doomed once the ITR came out.

 

My mother has a 98 Prelude, and it's VTEC kick is slightly more pronouced than my Type R (though not noise-wise). When i drove an S2000 at an autocross, it was like a switch, the cars tires would break loose noticably when the VTEC hit, was a VERY pronounced kick in the tail. Intersting that so many people have different impressions, i would rate the kick in the pants as: Type R < Prelude < S2000

 

I assume the NSX is above the S2000 in the VTEC pecking order?

The bigger kick for the Lude makes sense, due to its extra 30 pound-feet of torque over the ITR.

 

I'm just talking about the difference in power off the agressive cam vs. on the cam in each car, the peak torque doesn't really have anything to do with that. The S2000 was quite weak off cam, but on cam it was astonishingly powerful. I've never driven an NSX, so i don't know how it delivers its power through the band.

 

I've never driven an StooK or an NSX. I drove a Lude once in sport-shift, as well as an Si, but this was before I had studied VTEC and knew what to listen for. I remember the acceleration being decent though.

 

Doesn't the VTEC in the NSX only act on the intake valves, like on SOHC VTEC D-series. It would be less pronounced, no?

Greg

 

like the ITR, the motor will get stronger with more miles as I'm starting to see with mine. Remember you drove a stock car, not a mod'd one and the suspension wasn't set up for racing, as the Tiens are a much better dampener. However, the body roll is only bad when on the track, otherwise, the suspension is perfect on the street. A RWD has totally different characteristics than a FWD car, so you can't toss it into turns. You really have to set up for turns. The s2k can't be compared to the ITR, it's a different car, one's a FWD and the other a RWD. When comparing the s2k, you should look at boxsters and slks.

 

For the high speed turn. You have to take in consideration it's a RWD cars compare with FWD you are used to experience in ITR. The car's rpm rise really sluggish from 1200-2800. F20C have 110 lbs torque before 6000rpm. 140lbs torque at 6000rpm. 153 lbs of torque at 7500rpm.

 

You need a S2000 Type R if you want to campare it with the ITR.....

 

Very true, I think that I was just expecting way too much.

 

I drove one too....I was very disapointment.I was expecting a lot more.

 

here's a typical dynoplot for an s2k with about 5k miles on the clock. note the ~10-15 ft/lb jump in torque at 6k rpms. this is kinda hard not to notice when driving but then again, a test drive is worth about what you paid for it.

 

Speedy: That a stock fuel map? VAFC?
Also, about the test drive, figure maybe the s2000 didn't like you, they are picky like that. I am sorry to have to be the one to tell you that the S2000, bone stock, is more of a drivers car that the 3G ITR could ever be, heavily modified or not. *

Please see http://world.honda.com/S2000/


Demian

* Disclaimer: Thats was opinion, if you want to stick to facts, then: the S2000 is better, faster, quicker (when both cars are factory stock) in every measurable, objective test when applied to both cars.

 

The VTEC change over point is not calculated or determined.
What is calculated and/or determined are the torque characteristics of the 2 cams.
The changeover point is set by the intersection of the torque curves of the 2 cams.

 

actually, compliance with emmissions laws has as much to do with setting the VTEC point as performance.

demian: the plot is a bone stock s2k from what i know. by the way, that's one weird-*** diagram..."uniting pleasure and responsibility"=safe sex.


[Modified by Speedy, 10:25 AM 8/20/2001]

 

Was the car still cold? VTEC doesn't work unless the car is warm. Another thought would be that the car was defected. Also, is your R modded, that would alter the impression as well. When I switched cars with my friend (S2000) to head to lunch, my friend told me my car had more midrange power (Spoon header), but it took forever to rev up and steering was not as tight. So that made me feel like ****. hehe For stock, I was impressed by the S2k. VTEC felt good to me and chassis was amazingly stiff and steering was very responsive. BTW, it shouldn't be surprising that they will let you test drive the S2k now, especially since the economy is the way it is and not to mention, the car's been out for awhile now. So far every dealership I've been to has allowed me to test drive. This was not the case last year, though.