After recently purchasing my first S2000, the previous owner's son left for me in the truck, a bunch of goodies. Now, I know the trunk is tiny, but it still had a lot of cool swag... it was packed with various year S2000 brochures, pamphlets and about 10 magazines featuring the S2000. Hidden among everything were two VHS tapes. After painstakingly copying them, burning them and then editing them, I've finally put them up so all fellow S enthusiasts can enjoy them! Sorry for the poor VHS quality, but hey, it was the 1990's! Also, don't forget to check out my VHS that had the 1998 Media Reveal, inhale the nostalgia here -- http://youtu.be/82HVu_jniXM TEXT TRANSCRIPT BELOW: Fifty years ago a young engineer, named Soichiro Honda, began building motorcycles. Small, light, powerful and fun motorcycles. So his first car, the 1963 S500, was almost naturally a sports car. The S500 was fun to drive and there have been other fun to drive Honda's over the years, but the spiritual successor to that original is this one, the S2000. Built to celebrate Honda's 50th anniversary. It's the perfect car for a top down, sunny day, cruise at the beach. It's also the perfect car for going out to on favorite twisting mountain road. What makes S2000 such a worthy successor to Soichiro Honda's original notion of the perfect sports car, is the fact that this one too, is lightweight and very fast. It's lightweight despite the fact that the body and chassis are made out of steel. It weighs only 2756 pounds but it's moved around by this 240 horsepower, 4 cylinder, VTEC engine that redlines at 9000 rpm. The S2000 has 205/55 VR 16 tires in front and 225/50 VR 16's in back. But the car does have a few of its own quirky traits. For instance, the engine doesn't start with the twist of a key, it starts with a push of the engine start button. There is no glove compartment. The redundant audio controls are over here on the dashboard, to the left of the wheel, not on the wheel itself. Presumably for left handed drivers. (For left handed drivers? I just naturally assumed you would want all your controls as close to the wheel as possibly so you can keep your hands ON the wheel for as long as possibly). And good luck trying to find the fuel door release, it's not here at the center console, it's not on the dash, it's not under the seats or beside the seat, it's not in the door. In fact it took us two calls to Honda and 20 minutes of aggravation to find out it's right here, hidden in the door jam. The compact, all wishbone, in wheel suspension with arms largely contained within the wheels offset, basically replicate's that on the NSX. Although the components are fabricated from steel tube, rather than solid aluminum. The car's curb weight is 2756 pounds. That makes is 66 lbs lighter than the Boxter, 146 lighter than the Z3, and 275 lbs lighter than the SLK. The S2000's 240 horsepower comes at 8300 rpm, or 700 revs short of the fuel cutoff. There's more power on tap in this Honda then the Boxter, SLK or Z3 2.8L. And as much as in the BMW's M Roadster. If the S2000 is the lightest car of the four, it follows that it has the best power to weight ratio. All that power flows through a 6 speed manual transmission with short, sporty throws. There are no traction or skid control electronics on the S2000. Although a torque sensing, limited slip differential is a standard and goes a long way towards matching those electronic gizmos. Honda's VTEC variable value timing, serves up decent torque across the range. The S2000 isn't as weak down low as we might have anticipated based on the screamer such as the Acura Integra R. With the S2000, every input from the brake, throttle and steering wheel has a direct and immediate effect. With the engine located just aft of the front axle, the S2000 has perfect 50/50 weight balance. In many respects the S2000 is the purist among the crop of small roadsters on the market today. It's a car for enthusiasts and not a car that posers will fully appreciate. It's not elitist (favoring, advocating, or restricted to an elite; snobby, superior), it's just good. For Autoweek on SpeedVision, I'm Mark Vaughn.

• published: 03 Jan 2015
• views: 5919