It should be pointed out that for *very* short $$$ for offset Pedders upper strut mounts and camber bolts, the handling deficiencies of the FT86 are for the most part "fixed". I never drove mine at the track without at least 3 degrees front camber, I have to think that with their stock one at about 0 degrees it's not surprising to hear complaints about lack of grip and unwillingness for the car to "point" at turn-in. He kept on about how it needed bigger tires, but I think -2.5 to -3 front camber would have for the most part addressed those issues.

I don’t track either car, but have a 2002 S2000 with 26k original miles, and it’s as close to mint as I’ve ever seen. I paid 22k for it not too long ago actually, and pursued one because I felt that if I didn’t snag one soon, they were going to get out of sane reach. I also have a ‘17 BRZ PP that I bought new. Both are fantastic cars that are a blast to drive. The S2000 is less forgiving of mistakes, but also can be more rewarding when you’re at your best as a driver. The BRZ is, well, just so much fun to drive. It’s more tossable, forgiving, and friendly while still handling phenomenally well in my opinion. The S2000 feels like the higher end car by a substantial margin, and I still can’t believe Honda made this thing. At the end of the day though, they’re similar but differently tuned driving experiences. They’re both great cars that will be quite collectible in the future as well I believe. I am truly thankful to own both, and neither one is going anywhere.

When the S2000 was new, it was around 1.5x (and almost 2x in Canada) the price of a new 86/BRZ, so I'd hope the S2000 would feel more premium.

Agree on a lot of points posted here. One of my friends just sold his 986 boxster s and kept his ap2 s2000. After driving our cars extensively in the canyons, both of us reached the same conclusion that the boxster was the least fun to drive out of the three cars, mainly because of the vague shifter, long gearing, slow steering and overall softness of the car. I did like the engine the best though. Amazing sounding flat 6 with nice midrange punch. Both his ap2 and even my e85 frs feel anemic in the midrange in comparison. Unfortunately the boxster’s engine was not enough to overcome the other deficiencies.

Proper front camber definitely helps the 86 with turn in. My friends ap2 and my frs seem to turn in similarly, although the feeling from the driver seat is a little different. The ap2 seems to take a set and dig in harder with more input until it washes out. The frs feels a bit more linear and lighter almost. (My frs is on coilovers with -2.8 degrees camber front. His ap2 is on refreshed oem suspension and -2.0 degrees camber.). The video is right that the ap2 responds with the most rotation to lift throttle and trail braking, for better or worse. As someone above posted, that also makes it the least forgiving to push hard.

I’ve posted this elsewhere but I think an 86 with a proper alignment/suspension, LWFW, and e85 is the closest thing to a s2000 coupe there is. Obviously different engine and suspension designs, but the end result is quite similar. I think it comes down to whether you value the top down experience vs. having a coupe top for track rollover protection or security or refinement.

I wonder how a DC2 Integra Type R would go thrown in this mix. FWD though.

I like SavageGeese a lot (best car channel on youtube as far as i've found) but he's very anti mod after having a bad experience with his FR-S. But a few simple mods i think make a good difference to the twins (camber bolts at minimum, decent struts or coilovers, a few bushings).

He does bitch about his past with his FRS. But he does think the 86 is great except for power and trail braking(abs).

I like this guy’s videos, he does a good job and has a pretty objective view considering he’s owned 3 S2000s. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oicgb0R8XOw

He ran into part of the risk of modding your car early in the aftermarket dev cycle. He chose some parts that had teething issues that required later revisions to solve.

I love my BRZ, but S2k - legendary roadster. This is a facts

Some drags. Many models vs various twins.
https://youtu.be/xQdRSLU5YXc?t=296

Even the new Automatics are impressive.

Well they're the same 'box as the old one ^^ (down to the ratios & FD). There might be some soft modifications though.