S2000 at Your Honda Dealer

I absolutely love driving. I think those four words probably sum me up best and there are very few occasions when that fact is ever in doubt. Unless a white van is involved I rarely get agitated with other road users. Speed humps are annoying but rather than get angry and drive over them at 100mph and slice my car in two, I’m happy to tip-toe over them. Having said this, there is one motoring phenomenon that seems to be ever growing that I quite simply cannot cope with – the traffic jam. Spending more and more of your time sitting in a pool of your own sweat frantically trying not to overuse the clutch as you edge forward at one mile and hour is not an enjoyable experience.

There was one occasion where I lost my mind completely and it’ll come as no surprise the city of London was involved. Having driven for six hours, I was now lost in a suburb somewhere that flirted with the congestion charge but managed to skirt around the five pound boundary. Brixton was my intended destination but even the road signs were shrugging their shoulders saying “dunno you silly Welshman”. The icing on the cake hit after nine hours – no I’m not exaggerating. Reaching a t-junction that turned onto a 70mph intersection the traffic lights weren’t working. I stopped as the lights were red – a stupid decision apparently as I was met with an audible squeal of tires behind me as a bunch of cockneys skidded inches away from me. After much horn pressing, swearing and seemingly no break in the 70mph traffic I did the only thing I could – closed my eyes, welded my foot to the floor and repented for my sins. Somehow I made it and when I got lost and ended up at the same junction again it seemed far easier the second time over.

Imagine my surprise then when I spoke to a friend who’d recently been to Japan which was already gridlocked 15 years ago. Amazingly the roads nowadays are near-clear at all times of the day. The reason being that unless you own a parking space you can only buy a car with an engine no larger than 660cc and shorter than 11ft 2in long – hence very few avoid one or the other stipulation as modern cars are constantly growing in size from their predecessors.

If the Japanese can’t make the most of their motoring products, I implore you to not miss the boat. A trip to your Honda dealer will have you greeted by plenty of metal, all of which is over 11ft 2inches and doesn’t matter one bit. After all, there are only 58 models on the market that fall into Japan’s stringent categorising system, the Suzuki Wagon R being the best selling with 250,000 per year being shifted. The problem is that to maximise interior space, exterior styling has to be compromised or abandoned altogether. Therefore there are no tapered windscreens, long bonnets or spacious boots, just vehicular creations that look like washing machines.

Your Honda dealer however can offer you the S2000 which is small but also has style in abundance, 240bhp and a soft top to catch the couple of day’s sun we have every few years. Oh and it’s a bone fide sports car. First appearing in 1999, the S2000 has remained largely unchanged which is testament to its subtle styling than appeals to everyone, whether it’s the gaping front grill for the aggressive styling purist or the cheeky rear to curvy enthusiasts.

To start the engine, a large red button greets you, helpfully saying ‘engine start’ to avoid confusion. I can’t think of a better way to signal the racing potential of the S2000. In typical Honda fashion, the VTEC engine revs all the way to 9,000rpm and with 240bhp wrung from just 2.0 litres of naturally aspirated engine, you can even get 30 miles to the gallon if you drive carefully.

Given the car’s handling though, you’d be a fool not to give it a good run through the countryside, top down on a sunny Sunday afternoon. For a measure of how good the handling is, nip into any racing circuit open to the public and I guarantee there’ll be an S2000 or two being gleefully flung around.

The boring stuff such as boot space and servicing are also favourable, making the S2000 a very practical everyday car that when unleashed will leave you grinning like a loon for days. If you find yourself taking a wrong turn in London never fear, you won’t sweat all over your leather upholstery either – the S2000 has air conditioning as standard.