by Ty Duffy
The Honda S2000 has evolved to become an absolute legend. It was a rear-wheel-drive, front-mid-engine sports car between 1999 and 2009. It featured a six-speed manual and naturally aspirated inline-four VTEC powertrains that revved to 8,000 RPM and delivered up to 247 horsepower. The S2000 also offered nearly perfect 50/50 weight distribution. It hit the sweet spot between entry-level sports cars like the Mazda MX-5 Miata and German sports cars like the Porsche Boxster and BMW Z3.
| 2000-2009 Honda S2000 | |
|---|---|
| Engine | 2.0-2.2-liter NA I4 |
| Transmission | 6-Speed Manual |
| Power | 237-240 hp |
| Torque | 153-162 lb-ft |
| 0-60 mph | 5.7-6.0 seconds |
| Used Value | $17,400-144,000 |
Honda S2000 values have hit the stratosphere on the used market. And there is some desire within Honda to build a new version. Alas, any Honda S2000 revival project may face an intractable issue: it would be too expensive.
Honda Engineers Want To Build A New S2000, But Cost Is A Factor
The Australian outlet Drive spoke to Tomoyuki Yamagami, the chief engineer for the new Honda Prelude, about the potential for Honda to build a successor to the S2000. He confirmed that "every Honda employee loves S2000," and he would want to make one. But nailing the pricing would be too difficult to work out. He noted that building such a conventional sports car in a limited production quantity "is very expensive" and would put the pricing out of reach of the younger generation.
Honda was able to build the Prelude. But Yamagami noted that much of the reason was that it relied on other vehicles for its development.
"This new Prelude is created and produced and developed as a combination of the Civic, Civic Type R, and EHV, so we can decrease the price," Yamagami told Drive. "And still we received the feedback from buyers that it's still too expensive."
Traditional Two-Seater Sports Cars Like The S2000 May Be An Endangered Species
Yamagami's comments hit on a broader truth: traditional, two-seater, manual-transmission sports cars are (and will continue to be) a challenging economic proposition moving forward. Subaru, for instance, has sold just 2,284 BRZ sports cars year to date. Subaru's Crosstrek crossover has outsold it more than 62 times over so far in 2025. The BRZ's poor sales have spurred rumors of a partnership between Toyota and Mazda to use the MX-5 platform to underpin the Toyota GR86.
And it's not just the Subaru BRZ. Ford Mustang sales are currently at an incredibly low ebb compared to the nameplate's historic sales volumes. If a new Chevrolet Camaro ever emerges, it's hard to see it doing much better.
Read the full article on CarBuzz
This article originally appeared on CarBuzz and is republished here with permission.
