I wonder how many people that post to this board have the driver skill required to handle a car with oversteer. Sure, we all drive to what we like to call 9/10ths, but really, a car that oversteers is dangerous. The 04 is more neutral than previous years, but I would hardly say it is prone to understeer. People talk smack that Honda diluted the car, blah, blah, blah. Whatever. You guys are splitting hairs. Just enjoy the car. The model years are more alike than they are different. From the way people talk, you would think they did a full redesign of the car...

 

If you want more oversteer on the 04 wouldn't a stiffer rear anti roll bar accomplish that?

 

It would be simpler to over inflate the rear tires, or to get less sticky rears. But IMHO, the car handles great off the showroom floor. I'm not professional race car driver, but I know what I like.

I'm sure there are people on this board that will tweak the suspension to thier liking.

 

Excessive oversteer is not a good thing. The '04 certainly does NOT have excessive understeer. Don't have a clue what anyone could be referring to. Are you testing this at speed? A joy ride around the block ain't gonna do it.
I'd say better balance, more predictability and certainly more confidence inspiring than previous MY's. I consider it an absolute upgrade and have driven many miles in the previous MY's. And contrary to many, I don't miss the 9k at all.
If I make it back from Lil' Talladega next week in one piece, I'll let you all know how much the '04 truly under/oversteers, or not.

 

keep me posted. BTW great taste on the color combo you chose.

 

This is the same thing that happened with my prior cars:

00 Porsche 996: 993 owners were complaining how civilized the car is, how it doesn't look as sharp anymore, blah, blah and blah
02 BMW E46 M3: E36 owners were complaining how much of a porker it was, how it wasn't as nimble as before, blah blah and blah
04 S2000: 00-03 owners are complaining how it doesn't have the 9K rpm anymore, how it is all soft and so on and so on.

Porsche: It might not be as pretty as the 993 but it is way faster in every aspect, handles better and is just a better car.

M3: it sure looks a lot better, yes heavy but the power and new suspension make up for it more than enough

S2000: I always liked the S but when I test drove it back in the beginning of 03 I couldn't believe how little power it had below the V-tech. Decided not to get it. After reading about all the changes made to in the 04 model and test driving it I liked it a lot better and got it.
If the 04 is so water down why is it in every magazine it states that it is faster around the track?

Sorry for the long post, but this happens whenever changes are made to a existing model. To tell you the truth I have yet to see a newer model be worse than the prior one.....except the new 7 series BMW.

 

Is he sure he was in the right car???

I can flip out the back end at will! In fact, I would say that the car has a significant ammount of controled oversteer.

I test drove (at the same dealer/back to back) a 03 350Z, 03 EVO, 02 S2000, and a mechanic at the same dealer allowed me to drive his MY04 S2000 (so that I could VTEC because the only 04 they had on the lot only had 12 miles on it).

Hands down the MY04 S2000 was the best!

Yes, I left with the car that only had 12 miles on it! Wooohooooooooo!!!!

 

I'll save my judgement for when I take delivery of my '04 next week. I owned an '01 for 20,000 miles...

 

I have an 02 which I feel has a bit more understeer than I would like. If the 04 has more, than in my opinion, it is too much.

 

Regarding the handling, '04s come with about 0 degrees camber in front. With even a little bit of negative camber dialed in, the car is very neutral.

Regarding the engine, mine felt pretty underwhelming at 600 miles and even 1000, but now with 2500 it is most certainly not. I drove it back to back with a 20k mile '02 w/Mugen Exhaust, and my car pulled harder, including VTEC. So IMO, comparing a brand new F22 to a well broken in F20 isn't objective. The new car does run out of gear sooner though.

Also after this back to back swap, both myself and the owner of the '02 were pretty mystified that people are so divided over this. The cars are *so* much more similar than they are different. The differences were honestly rather minor. Here's what I can tell you for sure:

-Clutch is lighter on '04. But think about this- your muscle memory remembers whatever you are used to, and anything else will feel weird at first. But you eventually get used to it. Don't believe me? Try braking with your left foot if you're not used to it, then tell me with a straight face that your right foot hasn't learned a different sensitivity than your left from experience?

-Steering effort is definitely a bit heavier at low speed (below 25 mph) on the '04, but still too light for my taste.

-Steering ratio difference wasn't as noticeable as I expected it to be, '02 owner agreed

-Torque difference out of VTEC is noticeable, but more so in higher gears, '02 not really that bad

-'04 is quieter, but not what I'd call a quiet car.

That's basically it. I can definitely understand why some people would prefer one over the other, but if you think the soul S2000 as you know it is dead, I would suggest trying to drive an '04 that has had its alignment checked and has been broken in. And maybe try driving it more than once so you can accomodate for some differences that get magnified just because they are different, not better or worse.

Peter