what is a nice ride?

i've started pumping through research on the s2000 and a couple of things are becoming clear:

one is that the performance aspectes of the 2001 are desireable. they played around with the engine a bit after that and took a few teeth out of its road bite. not a big deal to me because i'm such a soft-shoe on the pedal, but it makes a difference in re-sale.

===> BUT <===

the car has a rough ride. so much so that even fat paulie had mentioned it to me in a passing conversation once.

when i bought my del sol i had two criteria: it had to be under $20k new and it had to be some variation on a hardtop convertible because i've never been a fan of the way the cloth in a pure ragtop fades.

three cars qualified: the mercury capri (a freakbox made in australia), the honda civic del sol (first production year and from japan -- most american hondas actually come from the states) and the mazda miata (japan's triumphant return to the 2-seater -- in europe this is called the "mx-5").

i drove all-three and, without question, the merci capri was my favorite. i hate the sports car ride where you feel every rock (which was definitely what the miata had) and prefer a tight-yet-silky sedan ride, something akin to say an acura (honda made, btw).

i went to the books and the capri had so many black bullets on reliability that you could see the printers running out of ink toward the end of the reviews ... instead of finishing the review they would just write, "if you buy this car, you're an idiot." thereby saving both the printer and the customer in one fell swoop.

so a del sol it was.

but i can't take a ride that punishes me. i can't.

and the pt is certainly cushy enough -- it's no kia amanti, to be sure -- but it's better than lots of things.

back to the think tank.