Honda’s heartbeat: S660

When was the last time you as a petrol-head was excited by a new rear-wheel drive Honda? Chances are you'll think back to Honda's glory days when they made the S2000 convertible and the mid-engined 90s supercar, the NSX. Well apparently Honda has created a small convertible, albeit with the engine located at the middle and the power going to the back wheels. No it's not the new S2000, it's actually a reimagined version of Honda's Kei car, the Honda Beat.

The Honda Beat (or couldnotbeat) wasn't quite successful back in the day, nor good looking in any way. I mean sure it had good lines, but the headlights and featureless front face made it look sort of a mess. It didn't make a ton of power, but it didn't weigh much either to carry around either possibly because the interior was constructed purely out of plastic from the looks of things.

Enough of the past, let's take a look at the new version, the Honda S660. Mid-engined, rear wheel drive and turbo charged, sounds good?  Well it's not all that exciting when you look at the specs. Powered by a 3 cylinder, revs to the moon to make an uninspiring 63 horsepower, but this car isn't about power, it's a small city car. Certainly looks miles better than the old car, but yet it sort of looks like an oversized hot-wheels toy with funky proportions. I'm not the only one that thinks this way though; out of 10 people I asked only 3 people who have absolutely zero interest in cars approved of the styling.

Although people who have driven this car say it's quite easy to drive and the six speed manual transmission with gear ratios matched to the engine make it a delightful drive. The turbo comes alive at 2500rpm and boosts all the way to the redline, which should be plentiful grunt to plow through Dhaka's traffic. But to get the best out of this car you'd have to shift like a mad-man rowing through all the gears and keeping it at the 5000 to 7700 rpm sweet-spot. This car is not about power or speed, it's all about the way it makes you feel: open top, and the size of an oversized shoe could make up for all the downsides this car has.

On the plus side, the chassis is balanced and designed by the same people who are making the new NSX and Civic Type R, which means handling should be pretty damn good. Renowned magazines have said this car has no understeer nor oversteer even at the limit; it's very neutral in terms of handling. The interior looks heaps better than the old Beat, and quite frankly the center placed tachometer gives this car a false sense of sportiness. This could very well be very enjoyable in the streets of Dhaka where you rarely go past 60 kmph, and if you have no interest in going fast and want to have the most amount of fun you can in an open-top, this just might be the car for you. There are rumours circulating of a few making their way to our shores, so stay tuned till we get our hands on one for a proper review.