All the official paperwork says 5.1 but several owner's claim it's 5.5. ?? Both of my changes were done by Honda. The first I was three states away from home & the second was done while the spark plug TSB was done. Next one will be my first... and I'll know for sure.

Capacity per Service Manual
4.5 L (4.8 US qt, 4.0 Imp qt) at oil change.
4.8 L (5.1 US qt, 4.2 Imp qt) at oil change, including filter.
5.6 L (5.9 US qt, 4.9 Imp qt) after engine overhaul.

 

Modern engines are much less critical of ring "break-in", as they use lower-tension compared to the past. That said, the oil ring lands and the cylinder bore do have to become "friendly", and do so over the first 500-1500 miles or so. As already stated, this varies from car to car, even with the precision of modern casting and machining.

Over-changing of the oil and the use of synoils prematurely will delay the setting of the oil control rings, so I recommend staying non-syn until oil consumption homeostasis is achieved. And, oil consumption ("burning" is not a good term) is a fact of life in a car with a sewing machine like redline. It does not play into emissions since the emissions test sequence is not long enough to see small oil consumption as an emissions issue, and the fact that modern ignitions are so effective.

 

7 OIL CONSUMPTION
Honda has asked it dealers to Tell Customers About S2000 Oil Consumption. Due to the high performance nature of the