I'm on the digest so I am a little behind the curve.In terms of Honda's
sporting heritage, Soichiro Honda built and raced cars in Japan before the war,
one of which used a Curtiss airplane engine. Honda's first production car was a
sports car, the S600. The S600 was available both as a 2 seat GT and as a
roadster. The follow on to that car was the S800 which was much more popular in
Europe where small engined cars are much more acceptable and useful. Honda has
always used racing as both a training ground for its engineers and as an R&D
lab. In the Honda organization, the top junior engineers are assigned to the
racing department. The current head of Honda was an engineer in the F1 program
in the '60s.
If you doubt Honda's sporting heritage I've got one word for you, motorcycles.
Alot of what Honda does in racing, primarily in motorcycles, does make it into
the production cars.
When people think of Honda, they think of the Civics and Preludes. Its very
simple, those cars have a wider market and make money. Sports cars are fun,
sexy, make the magazine covers, but never sell in numbers to make money.
Ferrari exists because it is a flagship for Fiat. Porsche makes a lot of money
from its design and consulting work. They are building an SUV because its the
biggest market segment currently. Morgan, well what can you say, they cater to
one of the most dedicated owner bases you'll ever see and they don't
overtstretch their market. Car companies are in business to build cars that
sell and make money. One of the many reasons that the British auto industry is
dead is because they couldn't read the market trends and build product to meet
them.
Personally, I like the S2000. For one thing, I fit in it. I've always fit well
in Hondas and Acuras. Considering I'm 6'4" and 230, there's alot of cars I
don't fit in well. I don't fit in the Z3 and I can't stand the styling.
Remember, the S2000 is front engine, rear drive. Something most of us think of
as a requirement for a sports car.
Go down to your Honda dealer and get a test drive and then decide.
Cheers,
Kurt Oblinger
'54 TR2
'57 TR3
'62 Sports 6
'80 TR7 Spider FI DHC
'54 Swallow Doretti 2 Litre Sports
'71 Norton Commando 750
'90 BMW M3
(Previously owned, '84 Honda CRX, '87 & 90 Acura Integras,
'64 Mini-Cooper S, 55 Chevy Bel Air)
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