To be fair, I’m a Hondaphile. I’ve even got an old-school 70’s “Honda #1” belt buckle. I’m also a sports car purist, thriving on Chapmanian ideals like low weight, bare bones performance and physical suffering in exchange for a second off of your lap time, so Honda’s S2000 would seem to be right up my alley. The good guys and gals at Goodyear provided us journos with a number of vehicles with which to punish their new Eagle GT, and one just happened to be a 2007 Laguna Blue S2k. Read on for a gallery of shots and our impressions.

Settling behind the wheel, the first thing that comes to mind is how tiny the cockpit is. Honestly, my coffin will probably have more elbow room than this car. Storage too. That said, for an average adult (I’m 5’11) the fit is remarkably comfortable. All of the vehicle controls are within a finger flick, and the leather wrapped steering wheel is a joy. The electronic instrument cluster could use some updating to gel with the rest of the Honda line, but its uniqueness manages to fit fine with a car that’s so different from everything else in the fleet.

Second, the 8,000 rpm redline stares you in the face. I’m disappointed. The 2.2-liter four used to rev to a mind-blistering 9,500 rpm until Honda saw one too many popped blocks. The problem was the car just kept pulling, even well past the red line. Stick the electronic tach into the upper stratosphere and the sound isn’t just addicting. Combined with the willingness of the motor to pull beyond its ability to stay together, it’s a mesmerizing recipe for blown blocks. The car goes from civic sounding to CBR 1000R screaming with a thrust of your right foot. It’s delicious.

Still, hit the push button start, drop the clutch and nail the gas, and you don’t really miss that extra 1,500 turns of the motor. Even with VSA off, the car launches hard from half way up the tach. Cutting the quick-ratio wheel results in immediate turn in, and it doesn’t take much to swing the sportster sideways. Earlier incarnations of the car were plagued by what owners call “snap oversteer,” spinning the car in a heartbeat before the driver had a chance to react, even at comparatively low speeds. Honda has worked to cure the problem, and the addition of Vehicle Stability Control Assist (traction control) has done much to keep the roadster planted on the street. Flick the switch off, and the car is much better behaved than its older brothers.

Come in hard, tap the brake to upset the suspension and nail the gas and the car does just what you would expect a 240 horse rear driver to do—it steps out. Unlike earlier versions, recovering the slide is a few foot and hand inputs away. When you’re not being an intentional ass behind the wheel, the car stays stuck to the tarmac, making for a chariot that dances through cones or off of apexes with surprising grip. It has enough power to get you into trouble if you don’t mind your p’s and q’s, but if I’m buying a sports car, I’m not looking for a baby sitter. I want a vixen that’ll tempt me and push my limits with every curve, and the S2000 manages to fill that role with ease.

Is it a daily driver? Hell no. The power comes only when the block is singing it’s “arrest me now” song, leaving lackluster umph for the lower rpms. The suspension is really too stiff for daily commuting and the coffin I mentioned earlier has better ingress and egress, too. Still, for a track flogger, it beats the pants off of a Miata.