Here’s an incredibly cool Honda S2000 sports car, seen at an out-of-the-way parking lot in the far north of Beijing in September 2018. The S2000 was in fantastic shape, almost like new, with shiny paint and wheels.
Honda launched the S2000 in 1999 to celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary. It received an update in 2004. The Crystal Black Pearl car in the photos is a post-update example. It has the standard black convertible top.
Behind the window is a temporary license plate from Henan Province. Temporary license plates are commonly issued after a car is purchased and before it is fully registered. However, it is rare to see Henan temporary plates in Beijing. Henan is up to 800 kilometers away. Well, that must have been a great ride in the open-top Honda.
The design
The design of the S2000 is like a perfect classic sports car, with a long, low hood and a short rear deck. It has wide wheel arches and a racy front bumper. The design is super clean too, without any excess decoration like non-functional wings or vents.
The name S2000 was no accident. It followed Honda’s tradition of naming its roadsters after engine displacement, like the S500, S600, and S800 of the 1960s. This one? Two liters exactly. However, with the 2004 facelift, engine size was up to 2.2 liters, but Honda didn’t change the car’s name. The Honda S2000 remained in production until 2009.
The S2000’s chassis balance came from a front-midship layout. The engine sat entirely behind the front axle line, giving it nearly perfect 50:50 weight distribution.
Honda fitted the post-facelift S2000 with pretty gray 17-inch 10-spoke alloy wheels.
Specifications of the Honda S2000
The facelifted S2000 introduced the F22C1 engine, a 2.2-liter naturally aspirated inline-four. Output was 237 hp and 221 Nm. Honda set the engine’s redline at 8.200 rpm. It had a 240 km/h top speed and 0-100 took 6.0 seconds flat. The S2000 had a 6-speed manual transmission and rear-wheel drive.
Interior
The black leather interior looked remarkably clean for its age. Honda fitted the S2000 with a high-tech digital dashboard. The gear lever sits in the perfect position, with the handbrake on the right side.
The rear looks racy, with two big pipes, a spoiler at the bootlid, and a cool old-school rubber antenna.
Honda did not sell the S2000 in China. At the time, the market for sports cars was still tiny. However, some cars arrived via gray imports and foreign-owned companies. Over the years, I have only seen a handful of these great high-revving Japanese machines on Chinese roads.