Hi, I'm new to the forum and this is what I just got Saturday!











The interior is very exotic and exciting, especially in PERSON!





VIDEO accelerating: http://www.burtmanindustries.com/s2000/s2000_shift.mpg - Taking it easy here, shifting at about 6,000 rpm. I'm told not to go over 6 grand until it hits 500 miles.

I've wanted a convertible for some time now. I looked at just about everthing out there and this one was my fav. Great looks, great power, awesome handling, and speeeeeeed.

The pics on THIS FORUM really helped.

New for '02 is a glass rear window w/defogger (pre '02 had plastic) center console area is now full leather (pre '02 was carpet) new, more power radio, chrome rings on the taillights, improved shifter, and a few more things.

From what I'm told. every S2000 is HAND-BUILT next to the Acura NSX. The frame welds are done by hand, it's painted by hand, and it's 100% made in Japan. It doesn't REDLINE until 9,100 RPM, and when the Vtec kicks in at about 6,500 rpm, if feels like a turbo charger, but with no lag.

Anyone have any cheap tips/tricks/suggestions for this car? I'm not going to mod it. I think it looks great straight out of the box. I will add tint on the front two windows and rear, and maybe some red honda racing seatbelt pads.

If you want to see more pics, let me know. I will be putting a site together soon to showcase the pictures.



[Modified by Jason B, 2:34 AM 8/15/2002]

 

Don't you just love the smell of a new car. *sniff* ahhhh *sniff*

So fresh and so clean.

 

thats nice!!

 

The exhaust tips on both cars match each other perfectly.

 

Very nice! All my hard work has ever bought me is an old 92 Si

 

very nice, i can't wait until I graduate from college and start working so I can afford a true sports car!

 

Heh I was to say the exact same thing!

Congrats on the purchase - If you want something to aim for, take a look at my club mates s2k:

http://www.allmotorgroup.com/am/members.shtml

KIDS2K

 

that's vtec not vtech.......sorry........... nice car man

 

Very very nice car. The interior kicks ***, soooooo OG.

No red honda seatbelt pads!

Get some Work Meister's and some good springs.

 

only like bently's, maclarens and austin martins are built by hand these days. i'm not sure about other cars as well.

 

Sweet rides!

 

Thanks again.

My dealer, Bobby Rahal Honda is where I got my car. For those of you who don't follow racing, Bobby Rahal is the famous Indy driver. There are pictures in the dealership of him at the plant where the S2000's are assembled. There were no robots, and humans doing the welding, and hand painted, etc. It's definitely not like every other car.

"The S2000 is hand-built on a production line with the $140,000 Acura NSX sports car"

There are many links on the net that say this as well. Just about all of the car is done by hand. The car is so SOLID it's amazing with not one rattle/sweak.


[Modified by Jason B, 3:28 PM 5/7/2002]

 

Well they are all wrong... The NSX is a 80K car BTW not 140K... No offense...

All Hondas have that tight feeling when they are new. My Type R with a hand assembled motor felt the same way.


[Modified by B-DIDDY, 11:17 AM 5/7/2002]

 

Id be happy to buy one... But it had better be the Mugen Castrol JGTC Car...


Or have a V8 with 450HP in it...


[Modified by B-DIDDY, 11:22 AM 5/7/2002]

 

That quote in my post was taken from a website. Do a serach and you will see what I mean. I'f this isn't correct about the hand assembly, why is everyone saying this? I'm a little confused.

There are only about 5,000 are made per year. If they were made in a plant that used all machines, they could make more. Could. If they could make more, I think they would. My opinion on that one.

I'm just trying to find out why all these sites are saying this if it isn't true? Weird. I quick yahoo search will show you what I mean.

Any tips/tricks I should know about for this car?

Thanks again for all the help.

 

well all it takes is one ricer who has a chubby for the S2K to hear its hand built... Then he tells his other ricer friends and well its a chain reaction.

Trust us. The S2K is not hand built. They only make a limited production of them to hold resale value. They do the same with the NSX and the ITR. Take our word for it. Its not hand built. The cheapest hand built cars aroud well over 100 grand

 

"The cars are built by teams of experienced technicians instead by robots. Annual capacity is 16,000 S2000 plus about 1,000 NSX. Of the 16,000 S2000, 6,000 will stay in Japan, the same number is destined for North America, 3,000 for Europe and the remaining to the rest of the world ( Australasia ).
"

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...hand+built+nsx

All mags, reviewers seems to think the car is mostly hand-built. Any Japan Honda engineers on here to confirm?

 

Well, show me some black and white text that proves your theory. When you make a post on a message board, you have to have some ammo to back it up.

If you find anything that discredits this, link me.

The next time I get to the dealer I can snap photos of the assembly line if you want.

 

In all fairness the internet isnt really a credible source... I an post on the net anything I want true or false and there it is on the net...

We arent saying that the car is completely put together by machines. But we arent saying that it is completly put together by humans... True hand built cars take about a month+ to build and are very expensive. Lambos are all hand built. Those are 250K cars... Some Ferraris are well. Those are over 100K. In a place like Japan the workers there have a job for life and are paid and compensated very well. How does Honda hand build 16,000(was that the number you said)S2Ks, and however many NSX's and still make a profit? The S2K is a 32G car... Thats not alot for a fully hand assembled car...

I dont doubt that there is hands on... But there isnt a guy spraying all the cars or stiching the seats together...

Hand assisted? Yes. Hand built? No way at that price. Just thin kabout it from a buiness POV. It doesnt really make sense. And this is big buisness. Not please the little guy. They want to put as much green in their pocket as possible... The only thing I know for a fact as being hand built is the ITR motor and motor only. But building a motor by hand down an assembly line is much easier than a whole car... hell my cobra motor was asembled by Moe G. and R Koeller in Dearbourne Michigan...

We dont mean to say that it sucks or anything like that. Its a great car. But to think its hand assmembled, imported, taxed, sold to the dealer, transported to dealer and then sold retail for about 32Gs? There is no profit there... See if you can find some info on the Ferrari or Lambo line. It takes about 1 month to build very few cars... No way the S2K can be built at 16,000 units by hand... Its an impossible figure... Working everyday thats 43.8 cars a day.

 

Thanks for the reply. Some good points.

I didn't want to imply that the seats were stiched. I'm saying the majority of the car is hand built. More than any other average car, etc.

The car is hand painted by a human. I will try to take pics next time I get to the dealer.

 

Ehhh thats a tough one.... Only reason I call this is becasue a human has the possibility for error... A machine does as well, but a machine can better replicate the sam eprocess over and over again since its based on a math program and not a human brain...

It very well could be, but thats anothe rone of those things that very difficult to do for a human that can easily be replicated by a machine... Just one screwup by a human would wreck a whole body you know...

Id say the motor is installed by hand... the seats and stuff are as well. The motor COULD be hand assembled as the NSX and Type R motors are... But the rest I think is machine aided... Im really not sure... For a production run of 16000, thats alot of hand work... Thats more in 1 year than 4 years of Type R and probably all years of NSX put together... i think its about 1000 NSX a year..

 

stephen c:

It's not one or two sites/mags, It's ALL. I've seen actual photos like I mentioned. I will wait to see some "proof" on your theory. If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me.

Here are some more pics for you guys:













VERY DECENT sized trunk! You can fit one golf bag in here:

New Tweeters for '02:

Door sills:



Here are some new homemade videos. None are over 200kb, so they are 56k friendly.

Shifting at about 5,000 RPM accelerating video

Starting the car and dash lights

Hidden radio fold down lid

My camera got a work out. If you want to see more pics, let me know.


[Modified by Jason B, 2:36 AM 8/15/2002]

 

i'm looking into buying an s2000, though i think mine may be used. how much did ur 02 put u down?

 

About 32k.

 

that's good. i think i have around 30k, i just hope since im in LA the bastards dont bump the price up too much ;/