satanboy
Psychonaut seven
We all know Tokyo to be the hotbed for futuristic, sporty Japanese concepts and now after a successful NSX revival, Honda is reportedly turning its attention to the next much-anticipated car in its portfolio – the successor to the S2000 roadster.
Well, when we say S2000 successor we don’t mean a straight-up, two-seater convertible, because while Honda engineers are reportedly in the early stages of research and development, it is mooted it could be more of a baby NSX, a compact mid-engined sports car based on the S660 kei car. Sounds radical and intriguing and earlier this year, patent drawings (next page) revealed as much with what looked like a mid-engined sports car.
But that doesn’t mean Honda will abandon the S2000 ethos of reliability, impressive drivetrains and seat-of-the-pants, rear-wheel drive dynamics completely. Workers from Honda advanced engineering reportedly attended an S2000 owners meet to talk with enthusiasts about the previous car and how the company can best connect again with its fan base.
As before, the third-generation S2000 should in theory exceed the performance of cars like the recently released Mazda MX-5. The turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine from the Civic Type R would be an obvious if slightly manic fit then – 231kW and 400Nm. Other rumours, if it goes the kei car route, suggest a new 1.5-litre turbo from the regular Civic hatch could be boosted to 145kW to do the trick too..., with the help of some unspecified Formula One technology.
Transmission wise the S2000 will almost certainly retain a six-speed manual transmission and perhaps, so it keeps with the easy-shifting times, there could be a two-peddle automatic version offered as an alternative. Of course it is still early days and talk is of Honda's sub-NSX/S2000 replacement coming in 2019 to mark 20 years since the introduction of the original S2000. That would certainly appeal to Honda enthusiasts.
topcar