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CNET editors' rating:
4.0 stars
Excellent
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Product summary
The good: With incredible handling, a high-rpm engine, and a precise six-speed manual transmission, the 2007 Honda S2000 gives you a lot of fun on twisty mountain roads. Its eight-speaker stereo sounds very good.
The bad: The cabin of the S2000 is very dated--with no ability to play music from MP3 players--and in bad need of a modern makeover. There is also no Bluetooth or navigation option.
The bottom line: The 2007 Honda S2000 is almost pure sports car, more suited for winding roads than trips to the grocery store or the daily commute. It's a car you will dream about driving while you're stuck in the office, and is best used for recreation.
Specifications: Body style: convertible; Trim levels: Base; Available Engine: Gas See full specs
Price range: $34,250.00
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 06/04/2007
The 2007 Honda S2000 isn't terribly practical--it uses a classic two-seat roadster design--but it is terribly fun. It doesn't have much in the way of cabin tech, but we love driving it. The S2000 is a pure sports car, made for winding roads rather than the daily commute. It won't haul your stuff, but it will keep you happy.
The body is a wedge, softened by rounded edges, while the hood dips in from the fenders. The fender lines are reminiscent of a boat's gunwales, a design theme Honda emphasized a little too much in the Acura Advanced Sedan Concept that we saw at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Fortunately with the S2000, those lines don't meet in a point at the front, instead disappearing in the front bumper.
Test the tech: Tearing up the twisties
Because there was nothing particular in the cabin to test with this car, we tested the handling by driving it over the twistiest roads we could find. North of San Francisco, Highway 1 runs along the coast, incorporating tight turns as it follows the landscape. Just off of that, the Fairfax-Bolinas road gets a little raw, doing away with niceties like painted lane lines as it works its way over the coastal mountains inland.
Roads like this are the next best thing to a racetrack, as you couldn't possibly go over the speed limit without driving off a cliff. So we had challenging turns that we could take without breaking the law--it was going to be a good day.
We know the Highway 1 portion of this run well, and we could enjoy the dramatic ocean views on the bits of straight road between the many corners. The lanes are also wide enough that we had some room to maneuver the little S2000, attacking the turns from the outside, then diving into the inside edge.
The steering on the S2000 is tight, with very neutral handling. Wherever we pointed its nose, the car easily followed. We never broke traction on these corners, partly due to the car's limited slip differential and also due to our desire not to end up in the ocean. Even with some 15mph-rated corners, we didn't lose too much speed as we sped up the coast. The car was completely in its element, and we were enjoying the foggy day with the top down.
On the tighter Fairfax-Bolinas road, we were forced to be more cautious, as the corners often weren't marked with a recommended speed and it was impossible to see how hard they wrapped around. On this road, we really got to appreciate another aspect of the S2000--the 8,000rpm redline and car's wide power bands. The S2000 let us enter a tight turn in second gear, then get up some speed again on the short straightaway before the next tight turn, all without shifting up to third gear and back down again.
The car helped us tackle this course with vigor. Its tightly tuned steering pointed the nose very precisely, while the high redline let us move from one turn to the next without dropping power. The engine, placed far back from the front wheels, evens out the weight distribution of the S2000. The car almost feels like it's on a turntable on really tight turns.
In the cabin
The S2000's instrument cluster would have a high-tech look to it, if this were 1995. It uses orange lights instead of needles to show the engine temperature, fuel level, and tachometer, while the speed is a digital readout. It's an interesting novelty, and it works well enough, but it's time for an update.
The S2000 lacks most of the common cabin gadgets--navigation and Bluetooth cell phone integration aren't available. But its stereo offers a few interesting features. First of all, the stereo system gets eight speakers, which is a lot to disperse around the cabin of a roadster. But this count includes four small speakers in the uprights of the roll bars, right behind the driver's and passenger's heads. There are also two speakers in each door.
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Where to buy
2007 Honda S2000:
$34,250.00
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Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price From Edmunds.com
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