Production of what was possibly the greatest sports convertible of all time has finally ended. What makes a 2 seater Honda such a good car? I hear you ask. The s2000 has all of the key ingredients that make up the toffee sponge cake that is convertible motoring.
Historically all the original two seater racing cars were roofless. In fact it was an advantage in Le Mans, where the start used to involve the drivers sprinting from the other side of the track and jumping in their cars.
The rich posers of the 50s and 60s splashed out on soft-top versions of their favourite sports coupes. No convertible bragged about your wealth more than the Ferrari 250 california, they were expensive in the sixties and you have to be sheikh or a successful bbc radio 2 dj to afford one nowadays. Normally there are two problems with buying a convertible; the compromised rigidity of the chassis due to the absense of a strong roof and secondly the sort of people who buy them. Take the Mazda mx-5 for example, a great car, it is fast, rear wheel driven and very reliable. The major problem are the owners - women. This prevented the petrol pumped alpha males from even mentioning them in the pub, male owners lived in fear of someone saying "My wife's got one of those". Car companies started targeting some of their cars at the hair dresser females with a bit of spare cash to splash on a car; take the Ford StreetKa or the the Nissan Micra C+C I could go on but I don't want to risk having a nightmare where I wake up driving one.
Honda got rid of this nonsense by giving the s2000 a menacing look and an exquisite high revving engine with a proper rear wheel drive system for driving pleasure. In its 10 years at the top, the s2000 gave the world Civic Type-R beating performance without the need to look like a boy racer.
The car will be greatly missed by the handful of people who didn't get a chance to order a brand spanking new one. For the sensible car buyers, there are thousands of second hand ones for a fraction of the cost of a new s2000. My advice would be to get a 2004 onward, it has a revised interior and the lights are a bit more modern. Don't worry about performance fading with age, it will still make that wonderful neeeeeaaaaaawwwww noise whatever model you get. However, if you are on the pull and want to attract a partner, don't even think about buying one, in fact you should not be allowed to buy one, the s2000 must remain a driver's car. A driver's car is that bit on the side, the alternative to an everyday family car and an alternative to Botox; after a hard Sunday drive around the countryside, the s2000 will leave a permanent smile on your face.
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