2005 Honda S2000 Test Drive

A Honda for Road and Track

The S2000 may not be the most refined sports car on the market, but it's got the power and handling of a more expensive roadster.

It's hard to dislike an engine that develops more horsepower (per liter) than any other production motor on the planet.

Now put that motor in a chassis that's stiff as nails, dampen said roadster's ride with the best double-wishbone suspension Honda knows how to manufacture, gift the roadster with excellent brakes (offering shorter stopping distances than some Porsches, but also featuring an easy-to-modulate feel) as well as precise steering, and you'd think we're talking about a $50,000 two-seater.

Then again, this mystery car is a Honda, with the same no-fuss-but-little-glam quality that makes all Hondas so unpretentious. And yet that also means this car lacks some of the interior touches that make sports cars special -- and worth extra money to their buyers.

So the Honda S2000, the car this review is about, isn't selling for $50,000 but $32,400. And if you can live without some of the frou-frou cockpit baubles, you might well want one, especially if your primary priorities are:

1) High performance for less

2) Convertible top

Do we not sound impassioned? Well, the truth is, our feelings are quite mixed. See, most of the power in the S2000 doesn't arrive until very high revs (peak horsepower kicks in at a soprano-wail 8300 rpm), when all the fireworks of throttle, brake, suspension and transmission are in full thrall. Back off and drive without the motorcycle-pitch engine noises spinning out around you, and you have a car that becomes a Dr. Jekyll to its nastier Hyde. No bellow from the engine bay means no clawing at the road by the S2000's extra low, extra wide Bridgestone Potenza tires. It also means that stiff chassis isn't fighting against the forces of an all-out turn, and instead you have time to realize that your backside is aching a bit more than you'd like. And it means you start to notice that the cabin is a bit vanilla, as is the shape of the car itself.

Compare the S2000 to its much milder, much cheaper competition, the $21,660 Mazda Miata. With the Mazda you find a car with few serious performance pretensions, yet one that manages to be fun even when dawdling; and you're still grinning all the way up to the Miata's admittedly less earnest limits of power and road grip. Then go the other way and measure the S2000 vs. the more expensive, $40,000 Audi TT Roadster (225 horsepower convertible model), and you find the Honda's shortcomings a bit more glaring, since the TT manages both low-speed fun and reasonably earnest performance.

All this might be academic, of course, since you want a convertible sports car; you don't want the Audi TT because you say it costs too much and will arguably run more on maintenance; and you don't want the Miata because it's too slow and too cute. So, what about the S2000? Read on, my friend.