st_rage

If you want to read all my posts through your frowny face glasses, go right ahead. I'd done serches on keyless ignition and alternate dash panel products prior to posting. Didn't find much.

I think you're being a bit sensitive. I post suggesting that a 6in^2 area of the car needs improvement, and I get a bunch of "you don't deserve this car" crap. Relax. At least I'm not asking which CAI is best or posting fake pics of the CR.

st_rage

The Porsche (left hand key) seems to have the simplest solution if you have to have a key, but I'd rather have a keyless ignition and keep the start button!

My previous cars have been unworthy of the track. I'm signing up for a one day class with a friend this summer and to do some auto-X with the S. I've gotten too old and responsible to drive it the way it should be driven on the street.

RED MX5

That actually makes more sense than some of the stuff in this thread.

Honda designed the car to be what they wanted it to be, with the intent of sharing their vision with those who could appreciate it. After MY01 they started altering the concept, gradually at first, to make the car more appealing to a larger market segment. Guys that prefer the original represent the original target market, so it's only natural that they almost feel that the car was designed around their preferences. In a way, it was. Later MY cars are designed around a slightly different set of preferences, that appeal to even more people, but it remains a highly focused niche market car.

According to Honda, the S2000 is a "race car for the street." Race cars have start buttons. If you want an immitation race car (for the street) then what's not to like? If that's not what you want but you still like the car for other reasons you just have to put up with the starter. It's one of many details that make the car unique.

I guess if you hate the start button you also hate that you paid more for a steering wheel with a magnesium core, but for others, such things are the stuff dreams are made of.

mikegarrison

You guys are all wrong about the start button.

1) Race cars don't have keys, just a button or toggle that starts the car.
2) So ... having a start button in the S2000 prototype was just for a "racy" feel.
3) The press drove the prototype and ALL of them commented about how much they liked the start button, and how retro and "race car" it made it seem.
4) Honda decided, "Hey, they like the start button, let's keep it".
5) Honda created advertising campaigns along the lines of "It's all about the start button". It has always been prominently featured in the brochures.
6) It's become the icon of the S2000, the red "engine start button".

So useless or not, no way is it going to be eliminated. Moreover, useless or not, it's the single most copied thing from the car. By itself it started a massive trend of street cars with engine start buttons (even before the keyless ignitions started becoming popular).

(And my car is track-only so please don't tell me about how I don't understand the usefulness of the button on the track -- but you know, you're supposed to not stall the dang thing anyway. "Both feet in.")

Dave-ROR

I've stalled cars on track with both feet in from lack of fuel

Our race car has a key.. granted it's a big plastic thing outside the car that cuts all electrical power, but it still kinda looks like a key then a toggle switch for fuel pump, fan, etc and a cheap button for the starter..

mikegarrison

I've done it from just not getting to the clutch in fast enough. That's why I said "supposed to".

Interestingly enough, the time I hydroplaned and ended up bouncing off walls on the inside and outside of the track, when the car came to a stop the engine was still running with my foot on the clutch. I was concussed, but I kept both feet in....

Hawkstrike

I personally like the start button. It's fun, though not practical.

But I completely disagree with the OP about the ergonomics of the dash. Honda has done a fantastic job designing a dash where evert control can be activated with a single finger without removing either hand from the wheel. The volume toggle makes that job far easier than a volume wheel otherwie would. It is what you expect? No, which is a bit of a failing if the expectation is for controls that match other cars. But is it designed for a specific purpose, and does the design make it easy for the user to accomplish that purpose? Yes.

aldo90731

I agree with st_rage: (a) the start button is just a gimmick if you still need a key --although a fun gimmick; (b) the car is awesome --and the best overall roadster for the money out there-- but the dash just sucks!

A car this sporty should have a real serious set of dials for the speedo and tach...not the Captain Kirk display it has. It took me 2 years to be able to ignore the space pinball machine display and go ahead and buy a S2000 regardless.

The only reason I can come up for this is: given S2000's low voume, Honda had to come up with a set of instruments it could use in all global markets (i.e., in miles and kms).

After all the fun having this car for almost a year, I don't mind the Star Treck instruments anymore...until I catch a glimpse of a real set of instruments in another car.

stinky_finger

[QUOTE=st_rage,Apr 22 2007, 08:25 PM]

RED MX5

So, THAT ^^ is why my car doesn't stall when I spin.

Seriously Mike, we put a start button in the old X-1/9, because on those rare occasions when I did stall the car in a spin it was a PITA to have to turn the ignition switch all the way to the off positon before going to the start position. Even though the run is blown I still get in a rush to get the car started again, and having the starter connected to a readily accessable button is a plus.

You are right about the marketing and such, but the button actually does serve a useful function, and if the car didn't come with one, mine would have one anyway. I also have a hidden switch to disable the starter on my S2000.