The high-revving engine pushes the sports car to 163 mph.
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Enthusiasts have been asking Honda to bring back the S2000 for years, but to no avail. In the meantime, those who are fortunate enough to own the little sports car are looking for ways to give it more power. Forced induction is an obvious example, and while most tuning projects we’ve seen came with a turbocharger, this AP2 from 2008 has a supercharger bolted on.
The extra hardware has boosted output to 420 horsepower, which is quite the bump compared to the stock 2.2-liter unit’s 237 hp. There’s no word about the torque increase, so we’ll remind you the series S2000 had 162 pound-feet (220 Newton-meters) at its disposal. The engine still revs all the way up to over 8,000 rpm and is an absolute joy to hear at full tilt.
Carrying Dutch plates, this right-hand-drive example looks impeccable and has a few mods beyond the supercharged engine. The rear wing and dual exhaust tips are on the list of customizations, as is the screen neatly integrated into the dashboard on the passenger side. We’d love to know more about this S2000, but for now, we’ll settle with the top speed run on the Autobahn. Driven on an unrestricted section of Germany’s glorious highway, the AP2 accelerated all the way up to a GPS-verified 163 mph (263 km/h).
Earlier this year, an S2000 fitted with a turbocharger unleashed its 520-hp fury on the same Autobahn where it was slightly faster than this supercharged example. Some would argue fitting a turbo or a supercharger to the high-revving naturally aspirated engine is sacrilegious, but there’s no denying going down this road turns the soft-top convertible into an absolute pocket rocket.
With everyone going electric and the sports car segment shrinking, the only chance we’ll ever get to another S2000 will be as an EV. There are some rumors of a Civic Type R-powered version coming in 2024, but we wouldn’t necessarily hold our breath.
Keyword: Supercharged Honda S2000 With 420 HP Sounds Great In Top Speed Run