Honda S2000

Honda S2000 - We have more bad news for those guys. There's a revised S2000 coming their way as a 2004 model, and it features a ton of improvements designed to neutralize the few criticisms we had about the old car.

Both VTEC cam profiles were reconfigured, the compression ratio was raised a 10th (to 11.1:1), and the redline was dropped from a strident 8900 rpm to a merely maniacal 8000 rpm. The redline illuminates as a shifter light on the tidy new instrument cluster and then allows another 200 rpm before shutting off the fun.

With the same horsepower, the '04 car runs similar 0-to-60-mph and quarter-mile times but aces the '03 model in the 30-to-50-mph and 50-to-70-mph top-gear passes, running 8.8 seconds versus 9.9 and 7.9 seconds versus 9.4, respectively. That's quite remarkable, particularly since sixth gear in the new S2000 is actually now two percent higher. (First through fourth are four percent lower, for better acceleration, with fifth just one percent lower.)

Along with the gearing revisions is a change to carbon-composite synchronizers, allowing the use of double-cone rings where there were triples, and singles where there were doubles, lightening engagements and smoothing the whole process. It was a pretty magnificent gearbox before, so you can imagine how slick it is now. Think snick-snick with a dab of Vaseline.

We didn't think there was much wrong with the previous car's handling, but this one got around the Bragg-Smith racetrack at Pahrump, Nevada, at least as quickly as its '03 forebear, and with a pleasing lack of body roll or power oversteer to boot. (New readers note: That's when your right foot mysteriously steers the rear axle.)

Larger 17-inch wheels with bigger-cross-section, lower-profile tires aid the new suspension setup. They're Bridgestone Potenza RE050s: 45-series 215s in front, 40-series 245s out back; and if you're squealing these tires out on the public road, well, you should be grateful for the new, stable chassis. We couldn't run skidpad tests because our usual venue had just been resealed with shiny, slippery black goop, but we'd guess a 10th or two up on the '03 model's already respectable 0.92 g.

Best of all, though, is the fact that you can now cruise the freeway in sixth gear and cut a swath through the antidestination leaguers without even downshifting, at about the same price as before.