I agree he should drive before buying, but if Josh is happy with the thrust of a miata, i'm fairly certain he's not going to feel like the S2000 is slow. it's not like he said he's coming out of a 'Vette.
i can tell you that coming out of a '91 miata, i didn't feel like either the S2000 or the very-similar-feeling RX-8 were at all slow around town.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'll be happy with the power levels of an S2k. Back in '05 when a buddy was car shopping we spent a saturday test driving pretty much everything fun under 30k we could find at St. Louis dealerships. We drove an S2k, 350z, RX8, Mazdaspeed MX5, C5 Z06, E36 M3, SRT-4 ACR, and a Subaru STi that day (that was a seriously awesome day, BTW). The S2k was my favorite of the bunch, that and the RX8 were the only two I could actually see myself spending the money for (I tend to value handling precision over power). But the RX8 can't drop the top, uses twice the fuel, and doesn't have nearly the reliability quotient of the S2k. I'd most likely own one already if I lived somewhere without winter. I know the M-roady is more powerful but it's also generally more expensive both to buy and to maintain. I may not be a great driver (yet), but being the "right car" for at least some autocross class is also something I want. Preferably a stock class. I really need to drive one of these again just to make sure I still feel the same way.
Ditto the above. I test drove a 996, Boxster, M Roadster, E36 M3, 350Z and S2000 all in one weekend. At the time, the 996 and Boxster S were simply above my budget. The base Boxster was much more affordable, but felt underpowered and uninspiring. The M Roadster had a terrific drivetrain but was barely within my budget and the styling has never appealed to me (I eventually bought an E36 M3 instead). The 350Z made nice sounds, but lacked road feel and simply wasn't very fun to drive. The S2000 was fantastic though - amazingly responsive, and felt better and better the harder it was flogged. At the time it was also the most affordable of the bunch, and I would have bought one if I hadn't stumbled on a great deal on a turbo Miata instead.
If the back end gets out of line at speed, you better be quite the driver... besides that, great car, buy it!
paul wrote: If the back end gets out of line at speed, you better be quite the driver... besides that, great car, buy it!
The same could be said of any car. Most of the loose back end stories you hear come from people running high mileage tires instead of performance tires and/or undersized rears. Just because the tire size says it's a 225 doesn't mean it's as big as another brand's 225.
I disconnect my rear sway bar when I autocross because I've gone to 18" Kinesis rims and this last time all I could find when I needed them were 265s whereas I had been running 285s. The 285s were perfectly balanced but the 265s are a little undersized hence I get a slightly happy rear end.
If I buy a car that doesn't already have one, I'll probably install a massive front swaybar.
Boxsters are probably wonderful, but I have zero interest in caring for one at the moment.
I think my choices are down to either keep the Miata, or find the right S2K.
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