If Mazda’s MX-5 was the spiritual successor to the British sports car then Honda’s S2000 was its unhinged second cousin.
Like its Japanese compatriot, the S2000 offered rear-wheel-drive top-down fun with a healthy dollop of reliability. But the Honda added something else – proper power from a high-revving VTEC engine.
With around 240bhp, the 2-litre roadster has a specific output that would better almost all naturally aspirated cars even today, giving it 0-60 in the low 6s and a top speed of 150mph.
Combine this with a stiff chassis, excellent handling, plus Honda’s well-documented durability and it’s no surprise that this was a popular car in the UK.
In fact, one of the few things people complained about was the price, but that problem has long since past. Nowadays, the hardy Honda can be yours for less than £4000.
A fact that’s confirmed by a visit to sister site PistonHeads where we found the £3750 example shown above. Sure, there’s mention of rust (and this could point to it being an import), but that’s the stuff of irrelevance for the classic fan. What’s more important is talk of a full service history, four new tyres and a recently replaced roof.
Meanwhile, C&SC’s classifieds throw up a car for the mid-range budget. A facelifted model from ’05, this car (above) shouldn’t suffer as much from the spiky tail-happy antics of earlier models, and your £9695 gets a vehicle that’s lived indoors all its life and supped on only the finest Optimax (by which we assume he means V-Power).
