They use a Bosh FLA dyno. After the pull, they put the car in neutral and determine the resistance the tranny is putting thru the deceleration rate detected in the drums. The machine is prepared for it and shows you wheel hp, flywheel hp and power lost thru the tranny.

You may find it accurate or not, but most (if not all) magazines in Europe publish (estimated) flywheel dyno figures.

For example, someone I know Dynoed his Rx8 in Spain, he got 170 Whp. According to the dyno calculations it was 200 Flywheel HP.

 

The mag must have sucked at launching the rx8 too, it got 7.18 sec.

The best I've seen so far in Europe is autobild, they pulled a 7.0 sec for the 8

BTW, what would be a ballpark figure for 0-60 times (rx8 and s2K)?

 

It's always amusing when someone looks at one magazine's numbers, and concludes much of anything from them.

I typically see mid-5 second range for 0-60 for the S2000, high fives for the RX-8. We've all seen much higher numbers, also. It kind of depends on the skill of the tester, and the particular car that person has.

And I typically see 185rwhp for the RX-8, corrected, on a dynojet dyno, and my stock S2000 dyon'd at 210rwhp, corrected, on the same day, same machine, as a bunch of RX-8s put down 185.

Gee, that's a lot of drivetrain loss for the RX-8, and almonst none for the S2000. I wonder how that happened?

This might be the first time anyone, anywhere, has accused Honda of overstating the power of the S2000. That's pretty funny on an RX-8 site.

Why do we have these ridiculous comparisons between these two cars. Both are great cars, for what they are intended to be. But the simple fact is that the S2000 will beat the RX-8 at any sort of competition you care to try, assuming equal drivers. Drag strip numbers are silly for both cars, since neither has a clutch which will take many 8k drops, but the S2000 has higher torque, higher power, lower weight, and excellent gear ratios.

There's a reason the S2000 utterly dominated B-Stock autocross, and was put up to A-Stock. It's a better performance car. But it's not a very practical car, while the RX-8 is a very good perfromance car, and quite practical. But let's not pretend that the RX-8 is a better perfromance car than the S2000.

 

but it does perform better then the s2k from 0-78.1111118mph.....the s2k would have the lead till 62.5mph at which point the 8 explodes and keeps the lead till 78.1111118mph when the s2k comes back and wins the quarter mile buy a nose.

I got this info from a reputable source in the middle east. I think the magazine was call camel & driver

 

a good driver should be able to get high 5 and low/mid 6 second 0-60 out of the s2k and rx8. most of us wont be able to do that

with a really really skilled launch the S2k can actually keep up with a 350z... so i guess mid 5 sec is possible on the s2k, again 90% of us dosnt have the skill to pull that off. but on avreage US mags have high 5 and low 6 sec 0-60 times for the s2k and high 5 to mid 6 sec for rx8. i think the fastest mag time for rx8 is 5.8 sec, thats when all the planets are aligned and everything went right.

in real life i think even if you want to get at least a low 6 second 0-60 time, you have to do a clutch burning high rpm launch thats bad for the clutch and tranny. if you just launch it regularly from idle, then you are looking at high 6 to 7 seconds+

 

You can mock and laugh at will. I just gave you the web page and can look at it yourself. I'm not judging, just stating what i read.

I'm giving you other figures other testers obtained. I know this mag has been around for decades and, even if it is owned by germans, and therefore a "little" biased, it deserves to be taken into account.

 

I don't doubt it. Probably is.

 

Hey doods.

Im a 00 s2k and 00 civic sir owner.
My brother is a 03 Z owner.
My mom has a 05 g35 coupe.
My dad owns both the 05 8 and the 05 911c.

I love them all. this would be my ranking starting with my personal preference.
911c - There is no point in even explaining why i would pick this first.

Z - Has a very nice balance between torque and hp. Very fast if you get used to launching it properly. Better then my s2k at drags but loses on the track all the time.

s2k - The best trany i've ever used. quick shifts between gears and comes with the honda quality engine. I redline the crap out of this car everyday and it takes it.
capable of taking a **** load of abuse. Redline is at 9k. 6500 rpm - 9000 rpm on 3rd and 4th gear is just exilarating. The best track car out of all of them.

8 - I dont get to drive this car as much as i want to, but every time i do, its been a very nice gentle, soft ride. you have to understand that im going from driving a s2k which is loud and sounds like a damn drone to the 8. I love all the extras that come with it. smooth ride unlike the S or the Z.

g35 - Not a big fan of this car. Im not sure why, but i think it has something to with jealousy cause most chicks pick my moms car over my S.

 

I launch my S at 5000rpm. best possible launch with good rubber is at that rpm.
My brother is also good at launching his Z so even with a good launch i cant beat him.
For the most part im right there behind him. I dont realy care about the one car length victory he gets since its top down baby for me when summer hits.

I heard how the 350z roadster is not as fast as the coupe because they have less hp. not sure on the details though.

 

The coupe and roadster come with the same engines (287hp/274lbft for autos, 300hp/260lbft for 6MTs) but the convertible weighs a good 200lbs more than the coupe because of extra stiffening. The added weight is what keeps it a few ticks behind the fixed roof Z.

 

Wow, 6 cars, the oldest being '00, the newest being '05 911c, G35C & RX-8. That's 3 really really really nice brand new cars for mom and dad, three pretty darn nice cars for the two sons. Y'all own the brewery?

 

yeah thats a nice lineup of cars

 

Ive thought about this topic for many months since the two cars have similar specs.

I am single and therfore dont need the two extra seats so thats not a factor.

Considering rotaries dont like the winter cold, i would nonetheless be able to use the RX-8 a bit longer than the S2000 since it wouldnt be a convertible.

Also, I hear that even though there is a hartop available for the S, it is quite noisy in the cabin and cruising would become tiresome.

Thirdly, I'm a bit of an introvert so i think the convertible would be tiresome to me in the longrun, in the sense that id have the top up alot of the time, therfore rendering the convertible aspect of the car useless.

For thosed reasons, id go for the 8.

 

I actually test drove a Honda S2K here in Michigan before I bought my 8.

The ride was one of the harshest I've ever experienced in a production vehicle. Filling rattling.

I can't imagine driving such a car on these roads.

It was quite the easy choice to dismiss it from consideration as a daily driver.

 

You must have some terribly shitty roads in Michigan.

 

Michigan has the worst roads of any place I've ever experienced.

The 350Z I test drove also caused me physical pain.

 

Damn, that sucks.

 

once you crossed the bridge to canada... it's like heaven... from 405 all the way to toronto, you won't feel a bump

 

That's true.

Hey Jeff - Old El Paso Texas is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited in my life.

But I digress.

 

Dont get out much, huh?

 

Cleveland is moonscape too. I rented a brand new Camaro once out of the airport. I swear, the rear end was just about detatched.

Of course, it was a Camaro. PA roads suk too. I know, I grew up in PA.

 

OT but do you really have a rotary powered 'slade? ...that would be sick

 

is s2k noisy with hard top?

 

I can vouch for that. U got speed bumps on the highways.

 

golf last week, still yellow grass, like all bunker