REVscene - Vancouver Automotive Forum

Levitron · 02-06-2011, 11:45 PM

Your thoughts on this?

Here in Vancouver it gets rainy and sometimes a bit snowy. The snow days are the ones that worry me.

!Tigger · 02-06-2011, 11:46 PM

buy a hardtop?

ddonovan · 02-06-2011, 11:47 PM

There are lots of guys over in Van that DD their car. Check the S2Ki site. I DD mine.

flagella · 02-06-2011, 11:54 PM

Hardtop isn't necessary, unless you prefer the look of it. In winter, with snow tires, there shouldn't be any issues unless it snows so hard to the point that you have clearance issues with your bumper. Really depends on if you like small cockpit honestly. Driving the car for prolonged period of time may be tiring.

!Aznboi128 · 02-06-2011, 11:56 PM

^ snow tires would be great

example with out snow tires

Groot · 02-06-2011, 11:57 PM

careful, you dont want to be like our famous larry chu

edit: FUUUU beat me to it

TypeRNammer · 02-06-2011, 11:57 PM

!Aznboi128 · 02-06-2011, 11:58 PM

hahahhaha 1 min!

GabAlmighty · 02-07-2011, 12:09 AM

Snow days? What snow days?

1exotic · 02-07-2011, 12:21 AM

why not, manual and rwd is a fun/good daily driver just getting around town.

+ it barely snows over 12 months in the year... if it gets cold just drive careful and not like larry faggy chu.

Energy · 02-07-2011, 12:38 AM

I dd mine and lots of others do too. Most important thing is to have the right tires for the conditions and to be sure those tires have plenty of tread.

Use some common sense when its not nice and sunny and you'll be fine. Just remember there's no stability or traction control before 06 so there are no electronic nannies to save you and the s2000 will respond to every little input you make. The handling is very neutral and you can tell when the rear is going to break loose so be aware of that.

The car makes for a great dd.

truong · 02-07-2011, 12:44 AM

I use my as a dd for summer driving. But it does take some time to get use to the way the vehicle handles in certain weather conditions

toyota86 · 02-07-2011, 12:47 AM

anything can be daily driven. sometimes, sacrifices must be made to do it.
i dd a 4.0l v8 that takes premium and only gets 15L/100km when hypermiling. 20L+ with spirited driving. car was designed when gas was 35-40 cents per liter. i budget some of my "eating out at fancy restaurants" to feed the beast instead.

as for the s2k. why not. i've driven a few. the only things that i have a problem with is the ground clearance even when stock, the road/exhaust noise and the lack of space because im a big guy. i would dd one if i had one. they are quick, reliable, cheap to maintain, ok on gas.

ree666 · 02-07-2011, 01:05 AM

i dd mine too. might as well enjoy it everyday. why not enjoy getting from point A to point B. just transit it when theres snow, if you dont want to invest in some snow tires.

FerrariEnzo · 02-07-2011, 05:08 AM

wouldnt snow be rough on the soft top??? im guessing the hardtop is more suited for the winter.. but then again it doesnt snow alot here, just look at this winter.. so it wouldnt really matter

it rains lots, so having good wet tires on the other hand is a far better idea..

jasonturbo · 02-07-2011, 05:30 AM

I am looking at getting back into another s2000 for this summer, here is my take on the car and using it as a DD.

Back in 2005 I test drove a brand new S2k and hated it. I was slow, numb, and it was a bit rainy that day so we went for the test drive with the top up... I felt like I was in a very small and confined cockpit. So I jumped back into my 97 del sol with ITR swap, 5 lug, tien coils, etc. and left thinking "Why would anyone want one of those cars?" Compared to my del sols roomy cabin, power, tight handling and steering response, and removable targa top, to me it seemed to be the superior vehicle. Though even with mugen aero on the del sol, the s2k obviously won in looks department.

So fast forward a couple years of me bashing the s2k, I end up trading my 1998 CW ITR for a 2000 S2k, bone stock other than H&R springs. Well this is when I learned the difference between ap1 and ap2... ap2 is bunk. I loved that car so much, but had to sell it when I started my company to free up some capital... plus it was silverstone, not my first choice in color.

So now I am looking at buying another ap1 as a summer car, to me there is no downside to this unless it rains all summer and I can never drop the top. Which leads me to why I wrote this in the first place....

Top up in the s2k, well how I would describe the car with the top up? Nasty, dingy, loud, very confined. The main reason I wouldnt want an s2k as a DD, is because I have a very hard time enjoying the car with the soft top up. The cockpit just feels way too tight with the top up, and I'm a pretty skinny guy at 155lbs 5'11". So for a large part of the winter, long road trips, rain and shit weather you will have the top up and IMO it's not nearly as easy to enjoy the car when the top is black instead of sunshine.

Having said that, is the trade off worth it? It might be... I also cant comment on a hard top but they still fetch 2500-3000$ on s2ki, plus you need 2 people to remove it, and somewhere to store it when it's off... someplace safe because it cost so much friggin money.

I would say go for it, worst case scenario you decide you dont like it as a winter car, buy a 1000$ civic and use that the 3 months of the year the weather sucks.

Hope this helps you decide, really spend some time in one with the top up is my advice.... I dont like it at all... but maybe you wont mind?

On a side note, S2K FTMFW!!!! Hoodrat bitchz love rolling with the top down pretending to be rich, so it's great for picking up durtyz.

hk20000 · 02-07-2011, 07:53 AM

It can be summed up by one picture and one picture alone:

you aren't gonna be able to fit much of anything in there...

LiquidTurbo · 02-07-2011, 07:57 AM

^ My thoughts exactly.

jasonturbo · 02-07-2011, 08:11 AM

I was always surprised at how much I could fit in the trunk of the S2k?

It seems to me a much bigger trunk than a g35 for instance. (With it's useless mini pass through)

I don't even like having shit in my car, trunk or cabin area... interior scratches are my enemy.

PJ · 02-07-2011, 09:03 AM

S2K's trunk is actually surprisingly big for its size. Bigger than a 350z, I don't think it's bigger than a G35..

Leopold Stotch · 02-07-2011, 09:07 AM

Don't even talk about the G35 trunk. Its so low profile and shallow it amazed me. With my 12" sub in there I have enough room for 2 or 3 backpacks but the G35 is a bit wider so without anything in the trunk you can fit a hockey bag in, and not in S2000 I don't think, also no room to put a hockey stick. That was one of my nmain concerns when I purchased my /G35
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jasonturbo · 02-07-2011, 09:09 AM

Yes if you need to put long items in the S2k, you're limited to having that item ride shottie lol.

You could fit a hockey bag in S2k trunk. If you're a goalie... maybe not.

Energy · 02-07-2011, 09:35 AM

Trunk of an S2000 fits two golf bags. It can even fit regular sized luggages if you remove the spare.

ddonovan · 02-07-2011, 09:40 AM

I can fit all my hockey equipment in the trunk of my S2000.

RabidRat · 02-07-2011, 09:52 AM

I daily drive my '03 AP1 year-round. I used to drive up to Whistler through snow storms all the time to go snowboarding and never once had any issues.

I'm working in Waterloo, Ontario right now and regularly drive back and forth to Toronto. It snows here pretty much every day and I've seen some pretty epic snowfall - just last week there was a blizzard warning and all the schools shut down. Got an email from my boss not to come in to work and everything.

...so I went to work anyway

. There is no stopping this beast, you just need good snow tires. My Blizzak WS-70's have been great to me. The only time you're in trouble is when the snow piles up significantly higher than the front bumper and you've run out of forward momentum. But even then I used to carry chains (still do actually, even though they're illegal out here) and they were good for peace of mind.