HONDA
Honda was founded in 1946, and it’s probably one of the most diversified companies in the world, producing cars, motorbikes, power equipment, garden equipment, marine engines, power generators, musical instruments, robots and recently aerospace engines. As of 2019 it is the biggest motorcycle and internal combustion engines producer in the world, with 400 million and 14 million units produced respectively.
In the automotive world they are famous for their extremely reliable V-Tec engines (variable valve timing) which they have fitted in almost everything, from the civic to the NSX. Although most people associate the brand with affordable family cars, Honda has a strong motorsports background which allowed it to produce some of the most appreciated driver’s cars. The NSX for example was developed with the help of Senna and completely shook the supercar scene because of its unbeatable price/performance ratio. The S2000 did the same for the 2-seater sports car and the Civic Type-R repeatedly raised the bar for hot hatches.
I had the pleasure of owning a ‘92 Civic with a B16 V-Tec engine imported from Japan (that’s me in ’05 with my dear Civic and too much hair). If you’ve never had the pleasure of driving a proper V-Tec, put it in your bucket list.
S2000
Honda brought out a slightly revised version in 2004 (AP-2) to address power output at slightly lower revs and a slightly tail-happy tendency of the first generation which caught many owners unprepared. Along with a few other changes, they made the second generation an almost perfect machine for true driving enthusiasts.
Before retirement Shigeru gave us one last gift, the S2000 Club Racer: A more track focused and slightly more powerful S2000. Thank you Mr. Uehara.
The chief engineer of the S2000 is the same man that was behind the NSX, Mr. Shigeru Uehara. The legacy of cars he leaves behind speaks for itself and the S2000 deserves to become a true classic just as much as the NSX in my opinion.
A totally driver oriented (as the dash proves) 2-seater sports car, with RWD and a manual transmission. Roof up or roof down it’s one of the best looking, most timeless designs ever made and the performance this vehicle delivers matches it all perfectly. When it came out in 1999 it blew away the competition both in terms of price and performance, holding for about 10 years the record of most hp per liter for naturally aspirated engines (beaten in 2010 by the Ferrari 458). But it’s not just about power, every shoot-out on a track saw it beat Z3s, Boxsters, SLKs and the lot.