# Honda S2000 (AP1 / AP2)
Source: https://fullysorted.com/research/models/honda/s2000
Publisher: Fully Sorted (fullysorted.com), collector car research
Last updated: 2026-09-24

## Key facts
- Make: Honda
- Model: S2000
- Generation: AP1 / AP2
- Factory code: AP1 (1999-2003), AP2 (2004-2009)
- Years: 1999 to 2009
- Body styles: 2-door roadster with power-operated folding soft top, 2-door roadster with removable aluminum hardtop (S2000 CR, standard; accessory hardtop optional on other cars)
- Engines: 1,997 cc F20C DOHC 16-valve VTEC inline-four, naturally aspirated, 3.4 in (87.0 mm) x 84.0 mm, 247 hp at 8,300 rpm in Japan (11.7:1 compression) and 237 hp / 240 hp at 8,300 rpm for export (11.0:1), 153 lb-ft at 7,500 rpm US specification; 2,157 cc F22C1 DOHC 16-valve VTEC inline-four, naturally aspirated, 3.4 in (87.0 mm) x 90.7 mm, 11.1:1, 240 hp at 7,800 rpm and 162 lb-ft at 6,500 rpm; fitted to North American and Japanese AP2 cars from 2004 while European cars retained the F20C
- Production notes: No single production figure survives contact with the sources. Honda's discontinuation announcement of 27 January 2009 gives more than 110,000 units worldwide and over 20,000 in Japan as of December 2008 - a cumulative sales figure, not a build figure. Wikipedia's infobox carries 110,673 as the production total, while the body of the same article states that 110,673 was Honda's reported worldwide sales through the end of 2008 and that the final official production figure was 113,889 by the end of 2009. Its table separates the two: a total-built column summing to 113,889, and per-market sales columns of 66,544 in the United States, 21,661 in Japan, 19,793 in Europe and 2,585 in Canada, coming to 110,583, with the warning that the columns use different methodologies and are not directly comparable. JDMBUYSELL repeats roughly 110,673 as a build figure across both generations. Hagerty gives United States production as 66,860, against the 66,544 in the sales table. None of this is reconciled by any source consulted here, so no total is asserted. Two sub-totals are agreed: 699 CR cars for the United States across the 2008 and 2009 model years, and 1,755 Type S cars sold only in Japan. Build ran at Takanezawa from 1999 alongside the NSX and moved to Suzuka for the AP2, ending by the end of June 2009 in all regions; cars continued to sell from inventory into 2010 and 2011 with nothing built.

## Summary
The Honda S2000 was launched on 15 April 1999 to mark Honda's fiftieth year, a front-mid-engined, rear-drive roadster descended from the SSM concept shown at Tokyo in 1995 and, more distantly, from the S500, S600 and S800 of the 1960s. Its 1,997 cc F20C revved to a 9,000 rpm limit and produced 247 hp in Japan and 237 hp for export, which Honda advertised as the highest output per liter then reached by a normally aspirated production engine. The body was a monocoque built around what Honda called a high X-bone frame, in which the center tunnel, sills and straightened side members meet on one plane; Honda claimed torsional rigidity equal to a closed car and bending rigidity better than either. In 2004 the AP1 gave way to the AP2, with a longer-stroke 2,157 cc F22C1 for North America and Japan, shorter lower gears, 17-inch wheels and revised rear geometry aimed at the earlier car's reputation for letting go at the back. The track-biased CR followed in 2008; production ended in June 2009.

## Specifications
- power: F20C 247 hp at 8,300 rpm (Japan), 237 hp / 240 hp at 8,300 rpm (export); F22C1 240 hp at 7,800 rpm - manufacturer claims
- brakes: Ventilated front and solid rear 11-inch discs, four-wheel ABS; revised pad material from 2004
- engine: 1,997 cc F20C DOHC 16-valve VTEC inline-four (1999-2009); 2,157 cc F22C1 from 2004 for North America and Japan only
- layout: Front mid-mounted longitudinal engine, rear-wheel drive, 50:50 weight distribution
- torque: F20C 153 lb-ft at 7,500 rpm, US specification; F22C1 162 lb-ft at 6,500 rpm per Honda, quoted at 6,800 rpm by some secondary sources
- weight: 2,778 lb curb, European 1999 specification; 2,835 lb quoted for the 2004 US car, up 24 lb on 2003
- chassis: Steel monocoque built around Honda's high X-bone frame: straightened side members, center floor tunnel, sills and central floor frame forming an X on one horizontal plane, with diagonally braced bulkheads
- redline: F20C given by Honda as a 9,000 rpm rev limit; secondary sources put the redline at 8,800 rpm with fuel cut at 9,000. F22C1 8,000 rpm redline, 8,200 rpm cut
- steering: Electrically assisted rack and pinion, 14.9:1; 13.8:1 on the CR; the Japan-only Type V used variable gear ratio steering at 1.4 turns lock-to-lock
- suspension: Double wishbones front and rear; AP2 raised front spring rate 6.7 per cent, cut rear 10 per cent, reduced the rear bar from 27.2 to 1.00 in (25.4 mm), lowered the roll center and moved rear static toe from -0 deg 19 min to -0 deg 10 min
- valvetrain: VTEC on both camshafts, switching to high-lift profiles near 6,000 rpm; roller followers, chain drive, fiber-reinforced metal bore liners, forged pistons
- bore_stroke: F20C 87.0 mm x 84.0 mm; F22C1 3.4 in (87.0 mm) x 90.7 mm
- compression: F20C 11.0:1 export, 11.7:1 Japan; F22C1 11.1:1
- final_drive: 4.100:1 with a Torsen limited-slip differential, unchanged across the run; AP2 shortened gears one to four by 4 per cent and fifth by 1, and lengthened sixth by 2
- acceleration: 6.2 s to 62 mph claimed and 150 mph top speed (Europe, 1999); MotorWeek measured 6.2 s to 60 mph, 14.8 s at 98 mph and 110 ft from 60 mph on a 2000 car
- transmission: 6-speed close-ratio manual, longitudinal; brass synchronisers on AP1, carbon on AP2; pull-type clutch from 2004
- wheels_tires: AP1 205/55R16 and 225/50R16; AP2 215/45R17 and 245/40R17; CR on Bridgestone Potenza RE070 with a wider rear

## Notable variants
- S2000 (AP1, 1999-2003): The original specification: 1,997 cc F20C, 16-inch wheels on 205/55 and 225/50, and the suspension tune that gave the car its reputation. Japanese cars ran 11.7:1 and 247 hp, export cars 11.0:1 and 237 hp. Collectors treat AP1 and AP2 as different cars, not as facelifts of one.
- S2000 Type V (Japan, 2000-2007): Japan only, from 2000, with Variable Gear Ratio Steering described as the first of its kind in a production car: 1.4 turns lock-to-lock against 2.4, plus its own chassis tune. Never sold in an export market, so a European or American car cannot be one.
- S2000 (AP2, 2004-2009): 2,157 cc F22C1 in North America and Japan, 17-inch wheels, revised springs, dampers, bar and rear geometry, carbon synchronisers, pull-type clutch. Drive-by-wire and stability control became standard for 2006. European AP2 cars kept the 2.0-liter, which matters when reading a European advertisement.
- S2000 CR 'Club Racer' (United States, 2008-2009): 699 built. Aluminum hardtop in place of the folding roof, a rear body brace in the vacated well, wind-tunnel aero, much stiffer springs and dampers, larger bars, a 13.8:1 rack, Bridgestone RE070s, and air conditioning and stereo made optional. The most sought-after S2000 by a wide margin.
- S2000 Type S (Japan, 2008-2009): 1,755 built, Japan only. Shares the CR's aerodynamic addenda and extra bracing but keeps a softer road-biased tune and the folding roof. Frequently confused with the CR in export advertisements; it is a different car.
- S2000 GT and GT Edition 100 (United Kingdom): The United Kingdom GT added a removable hardtop over the base Roadster. The GT Edition 100 closed the United Kingdom run at 100 cars in Grand Prix White with graphite wheels and a red leather interior.
- S2000 Ultimate Edition (continental Europe): The continental European run-out car, announced with the end of production in January 2009: Grand Prix White, removable hardtop, graphite wheels with black bolts, aluminum gear lever, red leather with matching stitching.

## History

### Fifty Years, and a Question Honda Had Asked Before
Honda's first sports car, the S500, appeared in 1963, then the S600 and S800. The S2000 was launched on 15 April 1999 to mark the company's fiftieth anniversary, and Honda's European material called it the successor to the S800 and the first front-engined, rear-drive Honda since it. The design study was the SSM, shown at the 1995 Tokyo Motor Show and credited to Shigeru Uehara. The NSX had been Honda's attempt at the same problem a decade earlier from the opposite direction, and the two shared a roof: the S2000 was built at Takanezawa alongside the NSX.

### An Engine Announced by Its Output per Liter
Honda announced the engine on 23 February 1999, separately from the car, and led on specific output rather than power. The Japanese F20C made 247 hp from 1,997 cc - 123 hp per liter, which Honda called world-leading - while export cars were quoted at 237 hp at 8,300 rpm, about 118 hp per liter, against a 9,000 rpm limit. Honda's own wording is inconsistent about how wide the claim is: the American introduction release says the highest specific output of any normally aspirated production engine in the world; the powertrain release narrows it to any 2.0-liter one. Either way it stood until the Ferrari 458 Italia entered production in 2010 at roughly 126 hp per liter. The means were unexotic in isolation and rare together: VTEC on both camshafts switching near 6,000 rpm, fiber-reinforced metal bore liners in an aluminum block, forged pistons, and 11.7:1 compression in Japan against 11.0:1 abroad.

### The High X-Bone Frame
Honda published the structure as a technology in its own right the same day as the engine. Rather than reinforce a conventional open shell, the center floor tunnel became the backbone of a structure tying the straightened side members, the sills and the central floor frame into an X on one horizontal plane, with diagonally braced bulkheads fore and aft of the cockpit. Honda claimed torsional rigidity equal to a closed body and bending rigidity better than either an open or a closed conventional one. It is why the car does not shake, and why the CR could later get a usable gain from one added brace.

### AP1 to AP2
For 2004 the engine was stroked from 84.0 mm to 3.6 in (90.7 mm), giving 2,157 cc as the F22C1. Peak power stayed at 240 hp but arrived 500 rpm earlier and torque rose to 162 lb-ft 1,000 rpm earlier, Honda claiming a 4 to 10 per cent gain between 1,000 and 8,000 rpm. The cost was the rev limit, cut to 8,000 rpm on rising piston speed. Gears one to four shortened 4 per cent and fifth 1 while sixth lengthened 2, on an unchanged 4.100 final drive. Wheels went to 17 inches, front spring rate rose 6.7 per cent and rear fell 10, the rear bar came down from 27.2 to 1.00 in (25.4 mm), the roll center was lowered and rear static toe moved from -0 deg 19 min to -0 deg 10 min. European AP2 cars kept the 2.0-liter.

### The Snap-Oversteer Question
The reputation is not folklore, but it is more specific than the shorthand. The AP1's rear geometry gives substantial toe-out in droop, so when the rear unloads - a mid-corner lift, a crest, hard trail-braking - the rear wheels steer outward just as the tires carry least load. Specialists recommend at least 0.12 to 0.16 in (3 to 4 mm) of static toe-in on an AP1, and kits exist to reverse it. Honda's 2004 material is the strongest evidence the company agreed: it lists more gradual fall-off at the limit and reduced sensitivity to disturbances among that year's gains, and the changes ran to roll center and rear toe, not merely spring rates. Against that, Larry Webster has said he found the tail basically impossible to provoke.

### CR, and the End
The CR was shown at New York in April 2007 and sold for 2008 and 2009. Honda quoted a reduction in coefficient of lift of about 70 per cent with the hardtop off and 80 per cent with it on. Springs went from 4.75 to 15 lb/mm front and 4.88 to 14 lb/mm rear, damping up 65 and 40 per cent, with larger bars, a 13.8:1 rack and a brace across the well the roof had used. Sales fell from 2006 and collapsed in 2008; Honda announced on 27 January 2009 that build would stop that June, and the successor was abandoned.

## What to look for

Establish which car it is before anything else. AP1 and AP2 are separate propositions, the European AP2 keeps the 2.0-liter while North American and Japanese AP2s do not, and Type V, Type S and CR are all market-restricted, so a badge alone settles nothing. A genuine CR has the aluminum hardtop, the rear body brace behind the seats, the 13.8:1 rack, the lower spherical shift knob and Alcantara trim; replicas built from an accessory hardtop and a bodykit are common enough that the interior and the brace are worth checking directly. Honda fit and finish is the best crash detector available: uneven panel gaps at the hood or boot, mismatched paint, and missing VIN stickers on fenders, hood, radiator support and boot all point one way, and salvage titles are not rare on this model. Take the oil level and the service history together, since AP1 consumption is normal enough that a car with no top-up record has either been watched or has not. Listen for a high-pitched buzz from a worn chain tensioner, and drive firmly through every gear on and off throttle listening for pop-out of second, fourth or sixth. Check compression against roughly 240 psi. Inspect the soft top behind the driver's head where it tears, and the plastic rear window for fogging and cracking. On a 2006-onward car look at the dashboard for bubbling or blistering. Factory hardtops are scarce and priced accordingly. Mileage matters less than the record of what was done at it.

## Common problems

The engine is durable and the chassis is not fragile, so the fault list is specific rather than long. AP1 cars burn oil - a quart per 1,500 miles is described as normal by one guide and as ring-tolerance wear by another - and the same engines up to mid-2002 carry the oil-feed banjo bolt arrangement associated with high-rpm oil starvation and cylinder scoring, revised during 2002. AP1 intake valve retainers can crack after a mechanical over-rev, which is why a preventative retainer service exists; the F22C1 received upgraded retainers and does not need it. Wheel bearings fail and are not cheap. Timing-chain tensioner wear announces itself as a high-pitched rattle. Second and third gear synchronisers wear with hard shifting and old fluid, and AP2 gearboxes have a documented tendency to jump out of second, fourth or sixth. Clutch master and slave cylinders leak. Differential bearings whine. Radiator end tanks crack with age. Spark plugs back out and axle nuts loosen, so torque values want checking. Soft tops tear behind the driver's head and the plastic rear window fogs and cracks. Dashboards on 2006-onward cars bubble and blister. Recall history is light: NHTSA lists two 2000-model-year seat-belt campaigns, a 2004 tail-lamp non-compliance, an owner's-manual campaign, and a 2013 brake-booster recall covering 2006-2007 cars built between January and November 2006.

## Market notes

As of August 2026, classic.com records an average recorded sale of $50,659 across 503 tracked Honda S2000 listings with 56 cars advertised, and a market benchmark of $29,652 that the site scopes to the AP1 rather than to the model as a whole - the gap between the two is a difference of scope, not a contradiction. The tracked range as of August 2026 runs from $6,600 for a 2000 car in September 2022 to $118,900 for a 2008 CR in September 2025. The CR is tracked separately and trades in a different market: as of August 2026 its benchmark stands at $76,602 on a falling trend against an average sale of $79,336, with results between $23,500 in April 2024 and $132,000 for an 8,000-mile 2008 car in January 2026. Ordinary AP1 and AP2 cars sit in broadly the same band as each other; the CR carries a multiple over both, and the falling CR trend line suggests the six-figure results were reached by a handful of exceptional cars rather than by the variant. Delivery-mileage examples form a third category: Broad Arrow sold a 42-mile, never-registered 2000 car for $95,000 including buyer's premium on 12 March 2025, reported at the time as a probable public-auction record for an AP1, against an owner who had wanted $150,000 for it in 2020.

## Value trajectory

The S2000 spent its first decade after production as a used sports car and was priced like one; Hagerty put a number two condition car at an average of $24,000 in 2013 and $29,500 in February 2021, a 23 per cent move over eight years that is barely a move at all in real terms. What changed was who was buying. Hagerty's own insurance data showed millennials holding 31 per cent of insured S2000s against 18 per cent of the wider classic market, and quoting activity on AP1s rising 103 per cent over three years and 257 per cent over five. The market then split rather than rose evenly. As of August 2026 an ordinary AP1 or AP2 sits near the classic.com AP1 benchmark of $29,652 while the CR benchmark is $76,602, and the very best low-mileage cars have detached from both, with a 42-mile AP1 at $95,000 in March 2025 and an 8,000-mile CR at $132,000 in January 2026. The CR trend line is currently falling, which suggests the six-figure results were reached by a small number of exceptional cars rather than by the model. The gap that has widened is between documented, unmodified, uncrashed cars and everything else, and there is no sign of it narrowing.

## Sources

- [Honda Introduces a New Open Car Body Structure](https://global.honda/en/newsroom/worldnews/1999/4990223a.html) (Honda Motor Co., Ltd.)
- [Honda Develops a 2-Liter Engine Combining High Output and Clean Emissions](https://global.honda/newsroom/worldnews/1999/4990223b.html) (Honda Motor Co., Ltd.)
- [Honda S2000 99](https://hondanews.eu/eu/en/media/pressreleases/34329/honda-s2000-99) (Honda Motor Europe)
- [Honda S2000 -- Introduction](https://hondanews.com/en-US/releases/release-5cde0969c7be1d5f5d0747004c34c86f-honda-s2000-introduction) (American Honda Motor Co.)
- [Honda S2000 -- Powertrain](https://hondanews.com/en-US/releases/release-5cf69ff7f30a01d81cc648004c34c870-honda-s2000-powertrain) (American Honda Motor Co.)
- [2004 Honda S2000 - Powertrain](https://hondanews.com/en-US/releases/release-4f6f0a361216ba882f335c004c34c4b2-2004-honda-s2000-powertrain) (American Honda Motor Co.)
- [Honda S2000 Receives Enhanced Power and Improved Handling for 2004](https://hondanews.com/en-US/honda-corporate/releases/release-cbf1a42846ed0695af9940004c34c498-honda-s2000-receives-enhanced-power-and-improved-handling-for-2004) (American Honda Motor Co.)
- [2008 Honda S2000 -- Body](https://hondanews.com/en-US/releases/release-9746d3832ec8cc4c2ce84d004c34be70-2008-honda-s2000-body) (American Honda Motor Co.)
- [Honda to Discontinue Production of the S2000 Sports Car](https://global.honda/en/newsroom/news/2009/4090127eng.html) (Honda Motor Co., Ltd.)
- [Honda S2000](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_S2000) (Wikipedia)
- [Honda F20C engine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_F20C_engine) (Wikipedia)
- [Honda S2000 Market](https://www.classic.com/m/honda/s2000/) (classic.com)
- [Honda S2000 CR - AP2 Market](https://www.classic.com/m/honda/s2000/ap2/cr/) (classic.com)
- [Your handy Honda S2000 (2000-09) buyer's guide](https://www.hagerty.com/media/buying-and-selling/your-handy-honda-s2000-2000-09-buyers-guide/) (Hagerty)
- [Bringing 9000 rpm to the masses: Honda S2000 Buyer's Guide](https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/honda-s2000-buyers-guide/) (Grassroots Motorsports)
- [2000 Honda S2000 (Round 2) Program #1935](https://motorweek.org/road_tests/2000_honda_s2000round_2program_1935/) (MotorWeek)
- [What Is Snap Oversteer & Why Are Honda S2000s Prone To It?](https://www.slashgear.com/1992399/what-is-snap-oversteer-and-why-are-honda-s2000s-prone-to-it/) (SlashGear)
- [Recalls by Vehicle: Honda S2000 (recallsByVehicle API)](https://api.nhtsa.gov/recalls/recallsByVehicle?make=honda&model=s2000&modelYear=2006) (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)
- [AP2v1 Chassis - 2004 Honda S2000](https://www.s2000.club/ap2chassis.html) (s2000.club)
- [Information thread: What makes a CR a CR?](https://www.s2ki.com/forums/s2000-cr-club-racer-edition-279/information-thread-what-makes-cr-cr-863727/) (S2KI Honda S2000 Forums)
- [AP1 S2000 Rear Bumpsteer Correction](https://honeddevelopments.com/ap1-s2000-rear-bumpsteer-correction/) (Honed Developments)
- [2026 Honda S2000 AP2 Buyer's Guide](https://www.jdmbuysell.com/learn/honda/s2000/ap2/) (JDMBUYSELL)
- [This 25-Year-Old Honda S2000 Has Never Been Registered. It Just Sold for $95,000](https://www.thedrive.com/news/this-25-year-old-honda-s2000-has-never-been-registered-it-just-sold-for-95000) (The Drive)

Cite as: Fully Sorted, "Honda S2000 (AP1 / AP2)", https://fullysorted.com/research/models/honda/s2000, updated 2026-09-24.