They should follow Nissan's lead with their flagship performance coupe. The next GTR is supposedly able to rival a 911's performance (ok its just speculation now, but bear with me) at a $60k-$70k price tag. To move more units Honda will have to price the next NSX right around this level if they want to have a realistic sales volume. The market for $100k supercars is way too thin.

 

Seeing as how on the other website they've declared rather often that Honda execs and engineers have been unusually forthcoming in declaring how performance/enthusiast oriented the next (7th gen, 2006) Civic is going to be, I find it extremely hard to believe that Honda would nix both the S2000 and NSX. Honda won't disapoint us, they always have shit up their sleeves. I'm not gonna worry about it.

 

Then what did you mean here?
In its base form the Boxster has no more equipment than the S2k. It doesn't even have cruise control.

 

Twisting someone's words and arguing semantics and stat sheets, nothing new with you. He meant that the Boxster isn't as performance oriented, which is true. How you can even argue that is beyond me. The Boxster may match the S2000 in acceleration, visceral thrills and road holding in S form, but you cannot tell me when you sit in both cars that the Boxster is just as performance oriented as the S2000. They take entirely different approaches to how to make a great sports car, Honda's approach being much more bare bones and autocross-esque while Porsche's approach is much more of a boulevard cruiser, a car you can drive for long stretches on the highway.

 

I get inside an S2000 and it has seats, pedals, steering wheel, gauges, climate controls, radio, and shifter. I get inside a Boxster and it has seats, pedals, steering wheel, gauges, climate controls, radio, and shifter. Sure, you can add a bunch of gadgets to the Boxster. Sure, the S2000 has a stiffer suspension. But on the whole the Boxster still ain't a boulevard cruiser and really is far more different from the the S2000 in terms of engine layout and suspension design than sporting intent.

I simply thought he was calling the Boxster a puffball and responded based on what I thought. If that's not what he meant then he will tell me.

 

The exaggeration for dramatic effect eluded you. Plus I said 'more of', not that it was. Noone here is saying the Boxster and the Thunderbird have the same driving dynamics.

 

Honda is getting to be too Toyota.

 

nope. not what i meant. thought that was pretty obvious. "less performance-driven" doesn't mean "not performance-driven".

98coupev6 reiterated and clarified my point pretty well.. the s2000 is supposed to be a really bare bones enthusiast's car. sure you can get a boxster with absolutely no options added on, but like 98coupev6 said, honda took a different approach with the s2000. they don't want it to be anything more than a pure performance car. it has almost no options available, whereas porsche gives you the option of making it more of a luxury performance car. you can get the boxster with an automatic, etc, and personally i think the interior is more upscale. not that the interior of the s2000 is bad or cheap - not at all. but when i get in a boxster, it doesn't feel like a performance car to me. and the s2000 does (well, more than the boxster anyway)

 

i agree whole-heartedly.

let me elaborate just a bit on my previous comment, and maybe we can get a little more on-topic rather than debating porsche's intended use for the boxter.

I think the NSX is a special car because it came around when the time for such a car was right. the technology was there to make a great leap and produce a wonderful car that could 'wow' the world. it wasnt produced to sell numbers or to make money. it just happened. if they produce a replacement for the NSX, it wont be the same. it wont be spontaneous and amazing. itll just be business. honda has nothing to 'wow' us with right now. when theyre ready, theyll make a new one. until then, why push it? maybe the next thing will be a hybrid sports car and they just cant pull it off yet. whatever it is, theres no point in rushing it. when it comes itll be great, but if its hurried to production itll be less than amazing. i think i'll like honda and the NSX better if they just let the NSX die out and become legend before they introduce something else. and whatever the next thing is, i hope its a completely fresh design with a whole new set of amazing features. until that can be pulled off, just leave it alone please, honda.

 

I ran a search for the 2006 Civic but I couldn't find any reference to Honda making any public statements about a "performance/enthusiast" oriented 7th gen Civic. Can you post any links to these sources???? Ima just curious.