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" This is not one of those glamorous rumors, where an automotive journalist overhears a private conversation between engineers about a secret project. This, basically, is wild-ass speculation. But if you start looking at the evidence, it&amp;#039;s not entirely based on thin air. According to UK-based outlet Autocar, &amp;quot;representatives from Honda&amp;#039;s advanced engineering department are said to have attended a recent S2000 owners&amp;#039; club event in the British Isles\u2014a sign that the firm wants to listen to enthusiasts in order to help it to position the next version\u00A0of the car accurately.&amp;quot; That&amp;#039;s it. That&amp;#039;s the foundation for this entire rumor. At face value, that&amp;#039;s pretty thin. Automakers often send representatives to enthusiast gatherings, especially for halo cars. The S2000, which ran from 1999 to 2009, definitely built a loyal following among gearheads. Nearly seven years after the last one rolled off the assembly line, demand for the lightweight, elemental roadster with the screaming, high-revving naturally-aspirated engine is still strong. It would almost be more shocking if Honda didn&amp;#039;t\u00A0send someone to the meetup. But look at the landscape right now. If you wanted to buy a brand-new,\u00A0sporty drop-top right now, you could get a Mazda Miata . . . or spend a whole bunch more to get into\u00A0Z4/Boxster/370Z/4C territory.\u00A0 Autocar predicts that a new S2000 would &amp;quot;stay true to the original&amp;#039;s principles of a front-mounted engine, sited behind the axle line, and rear-wheel-drive,&amp;quot; which is an incredibly safe bet\u2014you really think they&amp;#039;d switch to front-wheel-drive?\u2014but it&amp;#039;s the speculation that &amp;quot;it will be pitched as a faster alternative to the MX-5&amp;quot; that really piques our interest.\u00A0Autocar also posits that the rumored roadster would be available in two flavors, a base-model with the 1.5-liter turbo four cylinder from the Honda Civic, and a performance model perhaps packing the raucous 306-hp 2.0-liter turbo engine from the Civic Type R\u2014a car that we&amp;#039;ll finally be getting in the U.S. when the next generation debuts. Such a setup would run pretty parallel to the\u00A0Fiat 124 Spider. The Italian-branded Miata variant brings the 500 Abarth&amp;#039;s turbocharged 1.4-liter four-cylinder in 160-hp trim, and a hotter Abarth-ified 124 Spider is rumored to be in the works.\u00A0 And Honda&amp;#039;s global boss Takahiro Hachigo has spoken at length about the automaker&amp;#039;s need for more enthusiast offerings. While he didn&amp;#039;t talk specifically about an S2000 return, he told Autocar &amp;quot;we are receiving requests from our regions who are saying they would like more sports cars, so we are considering ways to do that.&amp;quot; He also admitted that Honda had hurt its enthusiast image by &amp;quot;abandoning&amp;quot; hardcore cars like the S2000, which, he&amp;#039;s not wrong about that. Take a look at all the unconnected\u00A0dots: Fiat is building a Miata-style roadster. Honda is moving back toward enthusiast offerings with the Acura NSX. The new Civic has a turbo engine that competes eye-to-eye with the Fiat 124 Spider, and the Type R will bring a bigger, better turbo engine to the U.S. market soon. The Miata and upcoming 124 Spider have essentially no convertible\u00A0competition, and not everyone can afford the step up to the European drop-tops.\u00A0 Maybe this rumor isn&amp;#039;t so crazy after all. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/future-cars/news/a27535/a-truly-wild-rumor-says-the-honda-s2000-will-return-as-a-miata-competitor/>