At this week's Tokyo Show, Honda announced that their S2000 sportscar was being fitted with a 6-speed automatic gearbox. While we could not confirm the type of transmission, one insider informs that the most likely inclusion will be ZF 6-speed made by Germany's well-known transmission maker. These gearboxes are currently fitted to models in the Mercedes and BMW lineups.

Boasting superbly engineered shift systems, these high prices gearboxes have not found their way into Japanese cars until now. And the S2000 looks like being the first domestic model to receive this technology.

This came from a Japanese site that tends to be pretty reliable with it's info.

I just thought some of you S2K heads might like to know a paddle shifter is on it's way.

 

Nice but i prefer the manual!

 

I actually think it needs a bump in performance before they do that.

But other than that,it would be AWSOME for track driving.

 

Knightsport: How would the automatic tranny be so awesome for track driving? Even if it's got gear selection, that doesn't make it a sequential tranny with a hydraulic computer-controlled clutch. As far as I know, the only "production" cars with real f1-style paddle shifting are from ferrari and BMW (and maybe more exotic ones I don't know about). The Porsche tiptronic nonsense and acura's "sportshift" are still just automatic transmissions.

Say it with me now, "Torque converters are evil".

-Mike

 

Whats the point?
Its a sports car right?
Damn Yuppies


Demian

 

"Torque converters are evil".

amen. i wonder how much drivetrain efficiency you'd lose with the paddle deal...

 

Old news
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=86154

 

I agree. I could probably beat an automatic S2000. Autos kill Honda performance and always have.

 

Come now,surely you don't believe that Honda would leave it's loyal F1 fans out in the cold do you? Well,maybe they would,but if they did bring the paddle shifter and this IS,in fact what they are talking about,it would be awsome for track driving.

Other than that,I agree,it's ludicrous to put an automatic tranny on "torque challenged," sportscar. Aack!

 

Sorry,I ONLY read gripgoat's post and replied. But the rest of you are being short sighted as well.

No doubt that a regular run of the mill Auto would be a horrendous idea. But unless you've actually driven a car with a "well made" paddle shifter(i.e.-Ferrari F355 F1,or 360 Modena F1 or even the new M3),I really don't see how anyone has any real basis for debate.

I drove a 1995 F355 F1,it was absolutely a "grin enducing" mechanism. There's really no way to describe it other than fun. It felt like I was driving a damn F1 car,it was awsome. Fun as hell at the track too.

 

Yeah,it was SO five minutes ago.

 

Side note did anyone know that Spoon Offers a kit that Turns your clutch into a type of switched system, Basically you have a switch thats part of a S2000 shift **** and when you push it it pushes the clutch pedal down, shift then release the button. Just curious If I was the only one who heard of it
IMO I wouldnt want either I like My clutch and manual shifter in all my cars i drive, however I would take Spoons Idea over a "Sport Shift" Tranny any day.

 

5 minutes? Try Nov 5th.

 

I guess you've never heard that expression?

Thickheaded much?

*shrug*

 

It should be illegal to put an auto tranny in that car.

 

The paddle-shifted trannies that the F355, 360 modena, and the new M3 have are real f1-style, sequential transmissions with computer-controlled clutches. They do NOT have torque converters (well, I don't know that much about the M3 one, but I know the ferrari ones have clutches and not torque converters). Those trannies are truely awesome. And they also probably cost almost as much as a whole S2000.

However, when honda says they're putting a 6-Speed AT into the S2000, that's what they mean, they're putting a 6-speed automatic transmission into it. Now, granted, there are some really nice automatic transmissions that come out of germany in MB's and BMW's that put Honda ATs to shame, but they still have torque converters, and they're still weak from an enthusiast's standpoint.

I could, of course, be wrong, but ask yourself:
1) Why would they add $10k+ to the price of a $32k car, just for that tranny? (guessing here, as it costs $15k+ for an after-market sequential tranny without and kind of computer-control on the clutch. Volume production will reduce cost, but it'll still be really goddamn expensive, not to mention ironing out reliability problems)
2) Why haven't they done it to the NSX yet, where there's rich people that'd line up to buy it, and even have it retro-fitted to their older cars?
3) Why haven't there been rumours about it being done in the next NSX? Just about everyone has it on their wish list, yet there've been no rumours.
4) Why are they out-sourcing instead of building something with such technological bragging rights by themselves? Honda's all about technology. If they were doing anything special like being only the third manufacturer to offer a real f1-style gearbox on a production car, they'd certainly want to do it themselves, I'd think.


No doubt. But I still say there's been nothing released to suggest that THAT kind of transmission is what the S2000 will be getting. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they have little levers on the steering wheel to do "sport shifting", but I won't believe it's going through anything other than a torque converter until I see a press release (or technical article) that proves me wrong.

-Mike