A small two seater open sports car market is highly competitive with those excellent cars from BMW, Mazda, Mercedes, MG, Lotus, Porsche and Toyota.  Each has its own characteristics, and most of the potential buyers must be having a hard time choosing the right one.  The S2000 is a Honda's challenge against those cars, and when they make a sports car, they get really serious.  The car was first shown as a study model, but later put into production.  The S2000 development was lead by Mr. Uehara, the project leader of NSX.

Style is one of the most important factor when choosing a sports car, and Honda has done a wonderful job to distinguish the S2000 from the other cars of the same category.  In my opinion, the car never looked good in pictures, but when I visited a local Honda dealer and saw the pointy nose from above, it stunned me.  I instantly liked the sharp nose and edges on the hood.

Body

Tamiya captured unique profile of the S2000 well including my favorite front section.  It's a curbside model, so none of the panels are separate.  The headlight brackets are plated, and projector light bulb and headlight covers are clear parts.  Windshield part is molded with the side windows, that can be removed for roll down position.  The masking sheet is included to make the paint job for the black frame easier.  The soft top can be up or down as the parts are included for both positions.  The S2000 logo behind the front wheel are represented by metal transfer.  Tamiya left the frame on the body, but this is incorrect for production car, so they have to be removed.  

 

Chassis and Suspension

The chassis feature good 3d details, and the lower half of the engine and transmission are molded together.  The front suspension assembly features good looking double wishbone suspension details, and the steering is posable as usual.  The rear suspension assembly is composed of six parts, and it includes stabilizer and coil over shocks.  The brake disk/caliper parts are included for all four corners.    Exhaust pipe is represented by two parts, and the tips are separate plated parts.  

 

Interior

Only right hand steering is included, and conversion might be challenging.  The door panels are separate, and they are sharply molded.  The center console, shift knob, parking brake, pedals, steering column and handle are all separate pieces.  The gauges are represented by a decal, and two kinds are included included in the kit; one represents the car at stationary position, and the other seems to be right after the key is set at "on" position. The wind deflector between the seats are provided by a clear part.

 

Tires and wheels

The rubber tires feature the Bridgestone Potenza S-02 logos, and the wheels are satin plated.  The wheel parts look too shiny, and it might be better removing the chrome plate, and paint with more realistic looking paints, such as Testor's metalizer.

 

Overall

The kit is typical Tamiya, and it will be a good companion to their Miata, Z-3 and SLK models.  However, t's a shame not to include the mighty four cylinder engine in the kit.  Still, this is a good kit for all sports car lovers, and the quality of the kit makes it an ideal starter for the beginners as well.