While it’s only been off sale since 2009, for a few years now, the Honda S2000 has felt like a modern classic in waiting. With its high-revving, naturally aspirated four-cylinder, manual gearbox and rear-wheel drive, not to mention handling that some found to be a little snappy especially in early examples, it’s authentically old school. Yet with Honda engineering and a design that wouldn’t look out of place on a (likely digital) 2021 motor show stand, it also offers a decidedly modern motoring experience. A PH hero through and through.
Plenty will attest that an S2000 is a sports car that can be used properly with much reward, although they’re not entirely invincible. As last year’s Pill showed, 158,000 miles needn’t be of concern in a cared for VTEC model, but well-used S2000s aren’t completely resilient to rust, especially when confronted with rain and salted wintry roads. The best way to avoid it, of course, is to keep such a car for high days and holidays, which we presume to have been the case of today’s 29,435-mile and 16-year-old Spotted. It’s averaged little more than 1,800 miles a year.
And hasn’t that done it good? This car looks almost box fresh both outside and in, with a lovely shade of blue paint that’s accented with a blue rag top and those silver 17-inch rims. The original buyer clearly had good taste, as the cabin is specced to match, oozing noughties cool with that retro-even-for-then digital rev counter and short, stubby gear knob poking out the transmission tunnel. Given the condition of that lot, we’re optimistic that the 2.0-litre’s 6,000-mile service intervals will have been met, so the oily bits ought to be as lovely as the leather and metal ones.
This being an AP2, it’ll have the chassis improvements Honda brought to the S2000 to better its on-the-limit handling. As PH well knows, the early cars can be a little spikey on the limit, thanks in part to the high-rev delivery of that four-cylinder and the throttle ‘adjustability’ that brings. Honda managed to widen the grip-to-slip window in its facelift model, and the result was a car that felt much more resolved and cohesive. And the key ingredient, that engine, remained fizzy and enthusiastic, even with some mild retuning that made it less peaky, shaving a few hundred revs off its original 9,000rpm limit for more mid-range punch.
As a driver’s car, it was and still is an exciting two-seater offering, so naturally, we have been expecting prices to climb in recent years. But this car’s £22,000 price suggests they’ve remained stable more than anything. That’s good news for a buyer, because it suggests the next rise in values is yet to come, making today’s Spotted appear as much a safe investment as it is a tremendous example of Honda’s old atmospheric ways.
SPECIFICATION | HONDA S2000
Engine: 1,997cc, 4-cyl
Transmission: 6-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 243@7,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 163@6,500rpm
MPG: 28.3
CO2: 236g/km
First registered: 2005
Recorded mileage: 29,000
Price new: £28,050
Yours for: £22,000
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