And all without the aid of turbo- or supercharging. In Japan, where the F20C engine ran with a higher compression ratio (11.7:1 compared with 11.0:1) it gave 10bhp more for a world-beating specific output of 124bhp per litre. The vital stats remain exceptional: 237bhp at 8300rpm from 1997cc.
#How much for honda s2000 clutch hose manual
Let alone one mated to a six-speed manual transmission that, as any car bore will tell you, is an all-time benchmark for the stick-shift. You’ll struggle to find anything close to its absolute banshee of a naturally aspirated four-cylinder motor, with its stratospheric red line and scarcely believable specific output. One thing is for certain: in these days of forced induction and twin-clutch transmissions, the S2000’s specification reads like the stuff of dreams. And the Honda surely deserves a shot at redemption. That said, the passage of so many years can alter the context by which you judge a car. Still, when editor Gallagher – who was also on that original test – asked me if I’d like to revisit the S2000, it felt like we were going to give a beaten dog one last kicking. So why are we celebrating it in our Icons series? Because now as then, the prospect of a light, powerful, ultra-high-revving two-seater rear-drive sports car is something to get the juices flowing. Long days, fabulous roads, many miles of hard, fast driving and a typically uncompromising verdict: the S2000 missed the mark. That feature – ‘The Hunter and the Hunted’ – was one of the defining group tests from the early days of evo (issue 009 to be precise). It was respected at the time too, though a few decades of mythos have perhaps built its reputation beyond its original abilities, as Richard Meaden’s story explores in greater detail below. Today the S2000 is seen as one of the greatest cars Honda has ever made. But it would also field a new challenger in a segment it had only ever explored a handful of times previously, that of a dedicated open-topped sports car: the Honda S2000.
Models like the Integra and Accord Type Rs and the NSX were still on sale, while the maker was also dipping its toe into the water with hybrid technology in the form of the aluminium-bodied Insight. Honda rounded out the 90s in particular style however. Bookended by cars like the Mazda MX-5, Lexus LS400 and Honda NSX as the decade opened and the R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R and Impreza 22B before the new millennium rang in, Japan created everything from world-beating superminis to dominating rally legends, and sports cars that threw European rivals into a spin. History will view the 1990s as a golden age for Japanese cars.
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