Exciting! I hope it’s NA and high revving again and not turbo

well if they dont kill it with out updating every few years

The front looks nice, but damn the rear has a problem!

Bring it on.

They didn’t sell higher quantity not because S2000 is not a good car but the boy-racer niche is too small. The safer bet is to build a lower price point Miata fighter (similar price range as Miata) with an optional super charger/turbo for high performance model.

If they choose another direction– with higher price will be compete with the crowded Germans. Leave that to Acura maybe. They prob. have better luck with 4 seater (Civic Conv. anyone?)

sad and also kind of funny that this is what the MX5/ Miata aspires to be… pos

Finally Honda!
You brought that car out in 1999, and never gave it a noticable aesthetic update..its been out for almost 10 years! Did you suddenly remember you had an S2000 in your lineup?

The front looks good but that rear is horrible.

I think the entire thing looks great including the rear. It has that “kiss my ass” look that I love, since it’s nearly illegal to have a car who’s rear end flips people off.

I like it, very Alfa-ish

this is def. one of the best looking hondas i’ve ever seen.

The S2000 has a wonderfully stiff chassis and actually performs exceptionally well at a reasonable price point. The issue, as I saw it, was an incredibly peaky engine that made you feel that you were driving an econobox when leaving a stoplight.

I’m hoping that the new S3000 has a name that continues the tradition of engine displacement reference.

The S2000 has a couple of problems. You have to beat the piss out of it to have any fun. It has a playskool dashboard.

This illustration is like an SC430 loved a Del Sol. Which is to say very feminine looking. Front: just OK. Rear: start over.

siiiick design…still rice rocket sh!t, made for little asians, grown men under 5′10″, teenage girls, and faggots… I wish the NSX was designed like this

not bad. If only it would not require acrobatics to clime in/out like S2000 did.

“In October 2005, Honda’s Motoatsu Shiraishi admitted the “S2000 has not been a success for us.” He suggested a different approach would be taken for the car’s replacement. He said the car’s manual gearbox was a turn-off to many potential buyers.”

Thankfully someone at Honda Noticed. The last statement is so true. If the S2000 had a clutchless-manual or DSG or even a 5-6sp slushbox it would have sold more. I also think the same is true of the Civic Si. The price of the S2000 is fine for what it competes with but the lack of transmission options just kills it. As to the illustration its fine, but I thought I had read somewhere that Honda was looking at 2 possible convertible models. One geared to compete with the Miata/Solstice and another to take on the Z3/SLK/maybe Boxster.

t-ak-box: the problem is, little 2.0L high-revving engines are totally useless as automatics. there is a reason why there is no automatic RSX-S, Civic Si & S2000. toyota went on to make automatic 180HP celica gt-s (1.8L VVTL-i). up to 100km/h, it was slower than the 140HP celica GT. that high-compression lift **** lacked too much lower end power. and with every automatic, you launch from idle. worse, they only paired it with a 4-speed, with massive gaps between each gear change. the name “S3000″ could potentially signify a 3.0L engine. that will be fine with an automatic. but realistically, the engine will probably be based on the Acura RDX–turbo charged 2.4L inline four. probably tuned for close to 300HP.

I have an S2000. One of the best PURE cars ever at any price point. A car so completely over engineered for any real profit. So ahead of its time that it is still relevant after all these years with only one major “tweaking”. No automatic offered. Pure. No options except color.

For the relatively low entrance point you get a vehicle designed by one the best F1 racing companies ever. Plus they race everything else too. Bikes, boats , IndyCar, everything. Now they make jet planes.

The car is real world fun, you get to work it through the gears constantly, and they move with tremendous precision. The handling and balance for this car were prime directives. Stiffness and rigidity are as if the car is a solid milled block of alloy.

100% Honda reliability and cost of maintenance.

Buy one and you come to realize you have to spend a lot of dough to get more fun. An S2000 at high rev with VTECH it is a freak show of power and acceleration and worth the short wait.

S3000 is a no brainer

I predict a 3.0 V8 as well.

Why is torque such a dirty word at Honda? Sure it’s great fun to keep a high winding, silky 4 banger at full boil while snaking through a twisting section of two lane or, better yet, on a track. The problem is how often do you really get to do either of those. For better or for worse, most of us live and drive in an environment that affords very little opportunity to really wring a car’s neck.

Canuck come on you know cars better than that, Honda, Ferrari both implement F1 technology into their engines thats why they rev so damn high. A 10krpm K20A is a wonderful thing to hear.

Renton, I envy you. I drove an S2000 once. What a blast. I own an Acura TSX, it has a similar transmission. All these idiots who can’t or won’t drive a standard need to grow balls. Paddle shiifter…kiss my arse. A pure sports car needs a pure standard transmission like the S2000 provides. Hope the S3000 keeps the faith.

======>>i absolutely love the way my brother’s ‘04 TSX is geared….i just wish it was a 5spd manual instead of automatic.

The overall profile looks as a rip-off of the 1995 Alfa Romeo Spider.

NSK, mine is an 04 TSX with standard 6 speed…you gotta try one of these or the S2000 gearbox…you’ll never go back to an auto afterwards, no matter how they try to simulate a real standard with paddles or whatever.

I don’t care if they offer a flappy paddle gearbox, so long as manual is an option

Manual and a retractable hardtop and I’m game.

I am willing to forgo a retractable hardtop in the interest of weight and storage. The S2000 has decent trunk space and a top that goes up or down in six seconds.

Manual transmission is a must., Since I do not race at a track, I can afford to make “slow” manual shifts.

There are plenty of leftover S2000 out there and you can steal them. You will not be disappointed. The engine is a like a 4 cylinder Ferrari.

S2000 is a blast to drive, and sells well. It does very well in SCCA as well, always placing in the top spots in it’s class (with the EVO, STI, etc). It’s time for an update, but I hope they don’t try and make it a niche product like the Sky, Solstice, and Miata … which is what this illustration shows me they are trying to do.

Renton’s comments are spot on.

I’ve owned my ‘03 S2000 for five trouble-free years now and am more obsessed with it than ever. There’s just nothing out there (except for Lotus vehicles) that handles like these cars. The sense of right-now immediacy in handling; the purity of the sports-car experience… You just can’t get that in many places these days. I sometimes let my friends borrow the car when I’m traveling for work, and they are always blown away by what a great car it is.

With that said, the reality is that Honda is a different breed of automaker. They seem to prefer to engineer every last ounce of performance out of a minimalist approach; thus the 2.0-liter, 9,000rpm engine putting out 120 hp/liter and the 16″ tires pulling 0.92g on the original model. They wanted a pure sports car, not an oversized, overweight muscle car.

Fair enough, and an awesome sports car it is. But yes, someone please make them put a damn V-6 or Inline-6 in the thing! The new 370Z is going to eat the S2K’s lunch at the track. And make the interior roomy enough that my heavier friends will stop literally refusing to ride in my car. And sadly, an automatic would probably quadruple the sales volume.

I’m surprised and thrilled that they’re even considering making another generation of these cars. Considering that mine is now a 10-year-old design and is still one of the best-handling and best-looking cars on the road, I can only imagine how incredible a new model could be.

Butt Ugly

Inline six would be perfect… I guess they could build a six. The 4 cylinder for the S2000 was unique to the model. No attempt at cost saving in the engine dept. So the same principle would be applied here.

I was thinking a small V8 could be made more cost effectively from the new NSX V10.

Either of those two would be awesome. But the front mid engine design and perfect weight distribution must remain. So whichever is lighter and more ideal.

Honda is at the top of heap in Japanese auto engineering, if not the world. I would certainly expect the same effort applied the S3000 as they gave the S2000 and NSX.

Yeah, I have to comment on the appearance.
I actually like the front, except for the squarish looking headlights.
Then there is the rear…ALL WRONG
I think if this is the follow up of the S2000, there should be SOME aspects of the earlier model, re worked into the newer look.

Yes I think the weakest link is the rear. Kind of Lexus SC430-esque. Which is gross.

The front end is good. They should really keep the proportions of the S2000 in tact, even if the new car is larger.

Your Comment

Easy on the acceleration of the S2000. I’ve driven one and it only sounds fast to the driver until it’s passed by a healthy V8. They are highly wound rubber-band motors and make as little torque as possible.

No Japanese car company has ever made an engine that produces any assemblence of TORQUE.

Drive one on a track. Which V8 did you have in mind?

The S2000 pulls like mutherfukkker at top revs. It is a race engine.

watch this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWjMvrkUqX0

S2000 can run with more expensive and more powerful machines any day

A 3.0 liter high reving V8 would be sickness

Paddle shifters are fine if you offer it as an option, no the only transmission. The S2000 appeals to a lot of true auto enthusiasts, and they want a traditional manual. So offer both transmissions, and use a turbo charged direct injected 4 cylinder that has good low-end torque too. An engine like GM’s 2.0L turbo direct injected – 260hp and good low-end torque would work very well in a light car like the S2000.

I like the current S2000, but I would never buy one because the lack of low-end torque in that engine would drive me crazy.

“The S2000 pulls like mutherfukkker at top revs. It is a race engine.
watch this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWjMvrkUqX0
S2000 can run with more expensive and more powerful machines any day”

That’s nice, Renton. But that car isn’t even close to stock. Mugen is an aftermarket tuner that built that car into something considerably faster than a stock S2000.

I can show you YouTube videos of 1,200 + hp twin turbo Vipers and Corvettes that make the $1.5 million Bugatti Veyron look slow by comparison, all day long. But there’s no point, because they’re not stock.

Don’t keyboard race – it’s bad for your health.

it would be nice if it came with a 3 liter striat six then I might consider buying one. It’s hard for me to part with the cash for a BMW and Toyota and Nissan have abbanbdoned the inline six.

An I6 would be awesome, in my opinion. I’d prefer an inline 6 in a car like this much more than a small V8. It would be a good way for Honda to put some torque in their engines for once. I used to own a ‘76 280Z, and even though it was no small block V8, it was pretty torquey. I could spin my tires through 3rd gear if I wanted to, and I started in 2nd and 3rd just for fun. I can’t tell you how many clutches I glazed as I was learning to drive it, either. I let my sister try driving it once, and she was used to a Honda Accord with a manual. She left a trail of rubber for at least 60 feet while taking off out of a parking lot. And then when she slowed for a turn, she put it in 2nd and jumped off the clutch without giving it any gas – instant brakes! It slammed us forward so hard that she hit the steering wheel and made the horn beep. Her Accord was much more forgiving than my Z was, which is what I really loved about my Z. I really miss that car… **sniff**

I could see myself getting something like this as a toy car if they put in an inline 6. It would be a blast, to me.

Z06ified –

There is not a lot that can be done to the S2000 engine without forced induction. It comes from the factory at a very high state of tune. Those S2000s can run.

I realize you are a know it all on top of being super cool, but how many S2000 have you driven all out?

How much do you know about THAT CAR? I heard it is just suspension, brakes and exhaust mods. The guy is a great driver and loves humbling more expensive cars.

Last time I checked how many years has Chevy campaigned in F1?

[crickets]

I really like the look of the renderings. I would agree that the maximum Honda would go upto would be a 4 cyl 2.5L engine. Knowing Honda it would still have amazingly high revs.

My 2 cents: They’re gonna offer a paddle shift and manual option…design will have cues from the CRZ and would have the same proportions as the current S2000.

Sadly it will also grow in size as they will try to get a bigger slice of the US market. That would mean offer it with a hard top to attract even more ppl and make it bigger to seat heavier americans!

It should still be an insane driving experience

Hondas are excellent Renton, I won’t deny you that.
Never been in or driven an S2000 but been in an NSX-R and CTRs all the time… quality engines.

How about the reason why the S2k wasn’t a success is because it is $50,000+ here in Canada, and only has 268hp. Despite being lightweight etc who cares about that. I could go get a 335i coupe with 300hp twin turbo for that same price. Really, I’d rather a BMW badge than a Honda for $50k+ (and I drive a honda now).

Also, paddle shifting is a dumb idea. Firstly, I’d never by a sports car with paddle shifters. Real drivers want the manual gearbox, don’t touch it! You want more women to buy the car, just throw in an automatic with tiptronic as a $2,000 option.

I don’t know why when car companies do something wrong, they attempt to fix it by doing more things wrong. It didn’t sell well because it is overpriced – and didn’t have a automatic for all the ladies. Simple as that.

the car looks awesome all around , the rear looks good but honda should make it a little bit more aggresive.i just hope that honda use a HIGH RREEVVIIIIIINN V6 ENGINE! !!!!! under that hood and a 6 sp manual ,please with an automatic as an girly option.

Haha… Renton the Cobalt SS turbocharged can beat a S2000, it’s not very fast stock at all…. Oh **** it just took you 30 seconds to hit V-TEC… HAHAHAHAHAHA

I can not imangine owning this type car, with a small, high revving engine with anything but a stick…an Auto can not be coupled with an engine like that…it would suck the life right out of it