TyrellCorpNexus8

Finally test drove the 2005 S2000 last night. I think I wrung it out pretty good. I love the taut but supple ride quality. I'm not too impressed with the exhaust sound- it seems to drone- but I'm not very experienced in that area. Do people rate the exhaust sound as pretty good (I liked the 350Z and G35 Coupe's better)? I now understand what is meant by the VTEC kicking in but it didn't kick in THAT hard. Maybe it's because the engine wasn't broken in. Still, the engine revs pretty strongly but seems to grind harder and use more effort than the Renesis (maybe the sound and feel of mechanical parts working together is a desirable trait). The Renesis definitely revs faster and more easily; the S2000 engine never seems to be at ease or capable of doing things with ease. I loved the shifter, though. It's even shorter throw than the RX8's, with more precise gates with narrower range-of-motion that take more effort to engage. Its character is right between the 350Z's and RX8's. Several magazines have called it the best mass production gearbox in the world but I like the easier engagement in the RX8 (feels slicker).


Why is it that I love the S2000 in Silverstone Metallic with the red/black interior but I don't like the RX8's red/black interior? Hmm.


Oh yeah, one more thing. For more than one year, I had assumed the S2000 would make me regret buying the RX8. It was a thrill to drive hard but, unexpectedly, NOW I have no doubt that I made the right choice. THAT was my revelation. Our engine simply feels more electric and more dynamic if not more powerful. Do others agree?

mysql101

on a similar note, can someone explain to me what makes the rx-8 rev "faster" than other cars? I was in a new nissan maxima, and it revs twice as fast as my rx-8. I could hit redline extremely fast (car not in gear), of course redline is a bit lower than in the 8, but not twice as low. Even in gear it reved up very quickly.

TyrellCorpNexus8

Are you serious? The Acura TSX seems to rev pretty fast also but with less grinding and effort than the S2000. That created a sense that the TSX was revving faster than the S2000 and as fast as the RX8. But when I immediately test drove an RX8 right after test driving a TSX (a year ago before I bought my RX8), I knew for certain the Renesis revs faster.

camaro194

Andrew Wilson. He is a man in Missouri that officially changed his name to "They" :D

amartin

Lol.. I agree with the very first reply...

Ohh...and about that "no low end torque"... Guess you forgot the S2000 with spank the SNOT out of the RX-8 at all speeds... Go figure 'eh? Not too bad for "no torque".

Ohh..and For what its worth, I own an '04 RX-8 and an '02 S2000...

And the '02's and up come with 4 speakers, and (As I did) you can add 2 more (rear) speakers with a $20 hole-saw, a pair of 4" speakers, and a little wire.

Did I mention the S2000 is quicker than the RX-8 at all speeds yet? Oh yeah... my bad... musta been that lack of "torque" I forgot about /rolls eyes.

And, FWIW, the ****-pit of the S2000 is beautiful, hardly cheap like all the plastic covering my RX-8.

ohh..and I almost forgot to mention, driving the shvt out of my S2000 on the street, I get ~19-22 MPG... Driving my RX-8 like gradma I get 15.5, and if I actually drive the RX-8 agressivly I see 10.5-12.5mpg....and its still slower than my S2000.

If I hadn't gotten such a good deal on the RX-8 from my friend that works at Mazda, I'de have been pretty pissed off about how crappy this car actually performs... especially while consuming 60% more gas than my s2000.

Ike

I don't think I've seen an S2K with a red and black interior, but I've seen the Silver with the red and it's stunning whilc the silver RX-8 with the red/black just doesn't look right to me.

When driving an S2K hard it does take some getting used to. The engine seems to be in distress when you get up to the higher RPMs, it's just something S2K owners need to get over and realize the engine is just fine.

Hibiki

I always thought the S2000 was a beautiful piece of engineering. It has incredible power for a 4 cylinder engine and is less "heavy" compared to a 350Z. I just think that Honda should put some more luxury in the interior like aluminum accents and better plastics.

The one thing I was surprised about was that nobody mentioned the heavy hardtop that needs two people to put it on!