When Honda wanted to celebrate its 50th birthday back at the turn of the century, bubble bath, socks and handkerchiefs were clearly off the menu.

Instead the Japanese stalwart sent its finest engineers into a locked room with instructions to design a bonkers two-seater sports car that’ll keep the keenest driver happy, and while they’re at it to bring it in cheaper than rivals like the BMW Z4, Mercedes SLK and Porsche Boxster.

So how did they do? Pretty well by all accounts. The £28,600 price tags brings the single version in the range in cheaper than all but the most basic entry-level models of its rivals, while the 2.0-litre VTEC engine, despite being smaller than its rivals, manages to outperform them thanks to the Honda boffins’ obsessive tweaking. So, for example, the Honda’s 240 bhp delivers almost a quarter as much power again as the 192 bhp available in BMW’s 2.5-litre Z4.

In fact, Honda can claim in the 2.0-litre VTEC to have produced the highest powerto- volume ratio four-cylinder engine on the market. The downside of such highly-tuned engines is often reliability, but in fact the Honda VTEC is renowned as one of the most reliable engines on the market, with the file marked ‘engine failure’ in the company’s complaints department mysteriously thin despite the millions of units shipped.

The engine may be reliable, but it certainly doesn’t compromise on exuberance as a result. In fact the earlier models had something of a reputation for being, well, rather scary, frankly. The aggressive rear suspension set up, coupled with its rear wheel drive, lack of ESP or traction control and that outrageously revvy and powerful engine proved a bridge too far for many owners who found themselves adorning the bushes besides England’s B-roads a little too frequently. The 2008 model has ironed over these issues, with the addition of driver-controlled Vehicle Stability Assistance (nice of Honda to leave the option to switch it off there for the more Kamikaze-inspired owners), softer suspension and some tweaking to the still enthusiastic throttle. Purists may argue that this has somehow dampened the true sports car experience, but if the true sports car experience involves spinning off the road every few hundred yards, that’s probably not such a bad thing.

The gears need to be worked to get the most out of the S2000, but luckily the short shift gear box is a pleasure to use and makes for a satisfyingly involving encounter. The guttural roar created when approaching the 9,000 rpm redline is sublime, although the car is still nippy below the 6,000rpm mark at which the VTEC technology kicks in.

That’s not a typo, I did just state that the car achieves its optimum performance between 6,000 and 9,000 rpm. Most cars don’t even get to 6,000 rpm, and the screaming banshee lunacy that is an intrinsic part of getting the most out of the Honda won’t appeal to all drivers. If you’re one of those to whom it does appeal though, the S2000 really does represent an awful lot of bang for your buck.

That said though, having taken the test model out on a long motorway run I was pleasantly surprised to find that it still had impressive acceleration even relatively low down the rev range in fifth gear. I’d expected to find the power pretty nonexistent in the more sedate lower reaches of the rev counter, but a light squeeze on the accelerator in fifth was still quite sufficient for most everyday overtaking requirements. Of course the devil on your shoulder may still tell you to drop into third and feel bedlam let loose under the bonnet, but it’s not essential.

The steering is spot on, responsive without being tetchy, and the suspension is hard enough to let you really feel part
of the experience, but soft enough to not shake you to within an inch of your life. Inside, the cabin is basic but well put together. There’s little in the way of extras – electric windows and air conditioning come as standard, as does a basic single slot CD player and dual airbags, but that’s about it. Namby pamby extras like heated seats and satellite navigation are certainly not on the agenda, and in some areas the frugality is bordering on Dickensian. There’s no driver’s seat adjustment, for example, and even a glove box is surplus to requirements.

None of this matters though when you hit the gimmicky engine-start button (a real winner for the geek in me!) and see the brightly lit LED rev counter and digital speedometer flicker into life, and besides this is a sports car. If in-car DVD, massage chairs and tea and coffee making facilities are your thing there’s doubtless a luxury saloon out there for you, so walk on by – there’s nothing to see here. Anyway, the weight of all that unnecessary plastic and wiring could add as much as tenth of a second to the car’s 0-60 sprint - clearly the last thing we would want here.

The high transmission tunnel adds to the overall cockpit feel of the interior, as well as placing the gearstick at the optimum height for quick, intuitive changes, and the removable hard top on the GT version tested means the car is a viable all year round contender, even with the unpredictable British weather. The soft top, meanwhile is electrically operated, although the catches have to be released manually, and the car has to be stationary to raise or lower the roof.

Of course the addition of a hard top doesn’t suddenly make this the most practical car on the market. For a start, obviously, it only has two seats, although legroom is ample for both driver and passenger. Its 142-litre boot capacity means weekends away will need to be planned with military precision but practicality isn’t the reason people buy an S2000. The fuel return of just 28 mpg, meanwhile, along with its frightening group 20 insurance price tag are unlikely to appeal to fleet managers either. As if that wasn’t enough, its 236 g/kg emissions rating doesn’t make it an obvious choice either.

For fun and performance, however, it would be hard to find more at the price. The car’s 6.2 second 0-60 dash and 150 mph top compare favourably to much more expensive models, and that free revving VTEC engine is a pleasure to hear and feel. It’s not the best looking roadster on the market – the front engined set up seems to leave the front looking unnaturally long, but it’s far from the ugliest. Plus, since the best looking roadsters tend to be of either British or Italian design, you can expect the associated reliability issues to go with the looks, while reliability will definitely
not be a problem for the Honda.

If you happen to be buying a fleet of police pursuit vehicles, this could be worth a look, although the lack of anywhere to put your suspect once apprehended could be a problem. If, on the other hand, you’re just looking for a nippy, sporty barrel of fun, and fuel efficiency and insurance aren’t high on your list of priorities, this could be a definite winner.

Verdict

Relatively impractical, but that's more than made up for by the smile that's an unavoidable result of driving Honda's little beauty.

Honda s2000

Engine size: 2.0 litre VTEC
Transmission: 6 speed manual
0-62 mph (sec): 6.2
Top speed (mph): 150
Max power (Ps/rpm): 237@7,800
Co2: 236
Combined mpg: 28.2
Euro ncAP: 4*
Max luggage space (litres): 142
Insurance Group: 20
Price (£): £28,600