The unfortunate demise of Honda’s light weight rear wheel drive roadster has sparked a tremendous amount of interest from driving enthusiasts about an S2000->ke1409 successor, well good news, the Japanese automaker is planning on bringing a new fun to drive vehicle to market and it could be as early as 2012. However, according to the latest rumors about the new Honda, the only thing that the future automobile will have in common with the S2000 will be the number of doors.

The original S2000 was praised as a marvel of engineering, the F20C 2.0 Liter naturally aspirated four cylinder engine made well over 100 HP/Liter with the help of V-TEC, this set a new standard for lightweight high output engines that was previously seen with Mazda’s 13B turbocharged rotary power plant. The future Honda sports car will feature a lineup of low emission engines that will be tuned more for economy than for fun. Unfortunately for those who adored the S2000 for bringing back the light weight rear wheel drive sports coupe, the future model will be driven by the front wheels.

Unlike the S2000’s rag top, the successor will feature a retractable hardtop, an added luxury over the previous model, but at the cost of a few extra pounds. In order to compensate for the extra weight, the successor to Honda’s memorable roadster will utilize a hybrid drive train, most likely the same unit that will go into the upcoming Honda CR-Z.

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