2 Fast 2 Furious: 2000 Honda S2000

With sheetmetal covered in a coating of Dubble Bubble pink paint, the "2F2F"'s Paxton supercharged S2000 sucked the manly life forces out of our testing team just by being parked where it could be seen. This car is so girlie, we thought estrogen leaking from the crankcase would eat through the pavement and burrow down to the center of the Earth where it would give the entire planet a bad case of PMS.

Driven by the character Suki (played by Benihana heiress Devon Aoki who's making the transition from supermodel to actress), the S2000 was a solid driver despite the ego-sucking paint job. And if you can get past the Pepto Abysmol paint, it's not bad looking, either.

The supercharger system for this S2000 uses a Paxton Novi 1000 and is similar (if not the same system) to the Comptech system we've driven before. As in the Comptech system the boost levels are pretty low since the 2.0-liter, VTEC engine's compression ratio is already pretty high. But in the "2F2F" alternate reality, transportation coordinator Ted Moser says this car makes 360 hp and runs the quarter mile in 13.1 seconds and rockets to 60 mph in 5.3 seconds.

Looking through the House of Kolor NE-514 paint (with some appreciation for the anime portrait of Suki airbrushed on each door), and the Veilside "Millenium" body kit bolted to this car is attractive in many of its details. The front piece lengthens the car to a sharp-nosed point that works well with the car's dimension, and the tonneau integrates perfectly with the seats to produce a finished appearance. Not everyone will love the look, but body kits aren't built to please everyone. The 18-inch Montegi wheels and fill the widened fenders well, too. But those exhaust pipes are just phonied up; in order to get this car to appear to shoot pink flames from its exhaust (a sure sign of sophistication) the movie company foreshortened exhaust pipes and pumped their flames through the vestigial tips.

There is, however, no way of finding many virtues in the cockpit. The stuff that's left untouched is fine, but the white fur, duct-taped neon tubes and pink leather upholstery stretches the bounds of bad taste so far it should be continued on the next planet. Those are the stock Honda seats reupholstered in pink and white leather and phony fur and it's just, just, just... let's call it "Fast and Furryous." Also aboard are an A'PEXi tach, boost, EGT and temperature gauges.

Though upsetting to the delicate balance of his machismo, Josh came back from the S2000's acceleration runs impressed by its solidity. "It has enough torque and goes well in a straight line," he came back muttering. "What's better than a screaming pink S2000 with a square steering wheel and an airbrushed chick on the side?" But it was only slightly quicker than a stock S2000, running the quarter-mile in 13.9 seconds at 99.3 mph and pounding from 0 to 60 mph in 5.7 seconds. That makes this pink panther the quickest import car of the day, but it still failed to outrun the Camaro, which, of course, has four more cylinders and, like, 300 more cubic inches.

Although Moser didn't include it in the cars parts list he supplied us, we're sure this car also uses an aftermarket clutch. This pink terror lived through a half-dozen high-rpm launches, and even managed to smoke its tires off the line. Anyone who has driven an S2000 knows the stock clutch gives up the ghost after one good sidestep.

The S2000 acquitted itself on the skidpad where it pulled 0.94g and retained most of the road manners that have made the S2000 so popular. Tester Dave Coleman was able to throw the Honda into a perfect power drift all the way around the 200-ft. diameter skidpad circle, thanks to the S2000's perfect balance and the supercharger's quick throttle response. Of the cars at this test, this one seemed to have survived the ordeal of filming with its basic goodness intact--if not its dignity.