For being a wannabe porsche at a cut price?
How on Earth is it a "wannabe Porsche"? The only remotely similar thing about it to any Porsche is that it possesses four wheels, and it has a fabric hood like a Boxter.
The laptimes are there to show its not even all that fast these days. Half the hothatches on sale today are faster.
Lap times between road cars really, really don't matter.
70kgs is the weight of one person.
Yeah that's quite a bit still... think of it is 70 bags of sugar. Where would you put those 70 bags in your car? In the boot? If you were half awake you'd notice 70kgs on the rear axle. Around the car? That's a lot of sugars scattered about the car. Alternatively, think of it as a washing machine. I used to heft them about for a living, and trust me, they aren't light things to heft about. If one landed on your foot you'd know about it (I certainly did!).
70kg is a fairly big chunk of weight to be lighter than something.
Hell, since the Audi R8 came out last year, many of its competitors (barring the 911) have moved forward as well.
Even the 911 has moved forward now too 👍
Re: The appeal of the S2000
I found
this article on MSN cars. Obviously, it's not the last word in motoring journalism, but the last paragraph is quite relevant to the discussion:
MSN Cars
Would we buy one?
Actually, yes. The S2000 - for all its flaws - has one quality so often engineered out of modern cars: character. It also challenges you to drive it properly and, with its new suspension set up, gets better the harder you push it - again rare qualities. The styling has aged well too and it remains one of the better looking roadsters on the market and, pound for pound, offers you some serious engineering for the money. But most people are more interested in image than mechanical purity and for them the S2000 is a rowdy, plasticky toy rather than a serious status symbol. It's their loss.
The last line is particularly telling. You question what you really need in a sports car. Fair enough, you'd like to be able to use it every day, but lets face it, this is a Honda so despite it's sporting pretentions it's as easy to drive as a Civic, albeit with a hard ride and a "cosy" cockpit. And it's not too likely to break down unless you're ignorant with servicing, but then anything will die eventually if you don't service it. In fact, it's come near the top (or at the top) of Auto Express's Driver Power survey for a number of years now.
No, you buy a sports car for the excitement. And the S2000 provides this in spades - any review from 1999 right up until now will tell you this. The last line in MSN's test sums up the way a lot of people think of cars like this - that just because something is a bit raw and not as luxurious, it's not as worth getting. In the meantime, the genuine enthusiasts will go for cars like the S2000, and damn the practicality.
@
Forza - fair enough, you don't seem to think much of the car. But most of your arguements against it seem pretty weak, and you're not providing nearly enough evidence that the S2K isn't competitive, save for laptimes that mean next to nothing.
. I would definately call that luxurious/family/fun car in my book, I just can't wait to see how advanced technology cars will be 5 years from now.
