Ultimately, the rising appeal of the Beat's sister car, the Today, gradually lead Honda to re-think its stance on producing a 'performance kei car', and kill the project in its sixth production year. If the Beat's JDM allure -- and 50+mpg fuel efficiency -- piques your interest, know this: certain legal loop holes permit kei cars to be imported to the U.S. under the guise of "recreational vehicles", due to their small size and displacement. But then again, you'll have a $10K starting price and hefty importing fees to contend with; only 33,600 Beats were produced during the car's run, and all are in high demand back home.
| | 1991 BEAT | 2001 S2000 |
| THENVSNOW | CONFIGURATION | 2-DOOR, 2 SEAT | 2-DOOR, 2-SEAT |
| PRODUCTION | 1991-1996 | 1999-PRESENT |
| BODY TYPE | TRANSVERSELY MOUNTED MID ENGINE, RWD | LONGITUDINALLY MOUNTED FRONT ENGINE, RWD |
| ENGINE | 12-VALVE, SOHC, INLINE 3-CYLINDER | 16-VALVE DOHC INLINE 4-CYLINDER |
| TRANSMISSION | 5-SPEED MANUAL, OPTIONAL LSD | 6-SPEED MANUAL, REAR MOUNTED TORSEN LSD |
| DISPLACEMENT | 656CC | 2157CC |
| FUEL DELIVERY | PGM-FI | EFI |
| REDLINE | 8,100 RPM | 8,000 RPM |
| COMPRESSION | 10.0:1 | 11.1:1 |
| POWER | 64PS @ 8,100 | 237HP @ 7,800 RPM |
| 0-60 MPH | 9.9 SECONDS | 6.5 SECONDS |
| SUSPENSION | FOUR-WHEEL INDEPENDENT, WITH FRONT ANTI-ROLL BAR | FOUR-WHEEL INDEPENDENT, WITH FRONT AND REAR ANTI-ROLL BARS |
| BRAKES | POWER-ASSISTED, FOUR-WHEEL DISC, W/ABS | POWER-ASSISTED, FOUR-WHEEL DISC, W/ABS |
| CURB WEIGHT | 1,676 LBS | 2855 LBS |
UpdateOur SR20DET Is Alive, And Making Record Power!In keeping with our personal resolutions to maintain complete honesty with you, our readers, we have a confession to make: we disobeyed direct orders of our higher-ups this month. They wanted us to dedicate this column to "talking trash" on the competition - you know, to discuss all the reasons why the other mags are screwing up and won't win this engine building competition... but after hearing our SR roar to life inside a G-Dimension drift car test-bed, and its GT42R spool up to kick out some surprising numbers on G-Dimension's Dynojet, none of that matters anymore. We'll be heading off to battle in the next few weeks, armed with one of the most potent four cylinders ever built to burn 100-octane gasoline, with its sights set not only on the competition's laughable "best efforts", but a few long-standing records, as well.
Peep next issue for pictures of the other guys' engines going up in flames, a champagne-soaked 2NR staff, and full disclosure of the SR20DET that won it all. Until then, check out the guide we've compiled below, of the tuning industry's most knowledgeable manufacturers, builders, and tuners, whose expertise played heavily into the build of this monster SR. And don't forget to log onto www.syntectopshop.com to enter for your chance to win this SR when we're done with it! There's still time, and believe us - your chances of winning are good.
The SoldiersSuperior Nissanwww.superiornissan.net
Darton Sleeveswww.dartonsleeves.com
CP Pistonswww.cppistons.com