Honda S2000

Overall Average Rating - 88.59%
Position in the Top 100 cars - 13th

Will it ever lose its appeal? Having hit the top spot for two years, in 2005 and 2006, the S2000 has slipped to a still impressive 13th.

Despite being a highly focused performance car, it is rated fourth for reliability and fifth for build quality. A poor 93rd for practicality shows where Honda needs to put the effort in on future roadsters.

WINNER OF CLASS - Sports

A vocal band of happy owners means the S2000 always does well, taking the overall Top 100 victory in 2005 and ’06. While it’s slipped out of the leading 10, superb quality tops off its white-knuckle thrills and sensible running costs. The easygoing charms of Audi’s TT scooped the silver medal. With its more manageable running costs, it edged ahead of Porsche’s 911, whose thrills can’t quite outweigh the big bills. Two Mazdas make up the rest of the top five. Despite the MX-5’s two-seat layout leading to some practicality gripes, it never fails to raise a smile. That’s helped it to leapfrog its big brother RX-8, which is another sports model with spiralling running costs.

Ratings

Position in the Top 100 cars
Reliability: 4th
Build Quality: 5th
Running Costs: 29th
Performance: 3rd
Braking: 4th
Ride Quality: 46th
Handling: 9th
Practicality: 93rd
Comfort: 27th
Ease of Driving: 45th

Manufacturer Verdict (Position - 5th)

Bosses will be concerned to see Honda drop two places in the manufacturer chart. The Top 100 podium eluded the Accord and Civic, so all hope will rest on the latest Jazz boosting the firm’s ranking next year.