From a Sayonara article about cars going away...

[Synthmob]

Article link: http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/844/6-cars-on-death-row
Honda S2000

Honda (http://autos.yahoo.com/honda/) engineers make some of the world's most practical, dependable family cars -- cars that don't excel at any one thing but do nearly everything fairly well, and never, ever die.

http://a323.yahoofs.com/ymg/autos_content_landing_pages__14/autos_content_landing_pages-127572036-1232490522.jpg?ymaQ.qADHDEbRFLd Honda S2000

It must drive them insane. If you've perfected the craft of timing valves and perfectly mating an engine to a transmission, then just once in your career you must want to build an asphalt-rippling track machine that isn't practical at all.

For the automaker's 50th anniversary, they did just that. The result was the S2000 (http://autos.yahoo.com/2009_honda_s2000/): two seats, a six-speed manual gearbox and the soul of a cheetah. It's a track-day car that barely costs more than an Accord (http://autos.yahoo.com/2009_honda_accord_sedan/). It's pure. It's just a roadster, distilled to its essence. But according to sources inside Honda, for the S2000, the road ends in 2009.


AND...
Saturn Sky

Has an American company built a head-turner quite like the Saturn Sky (http://autos.yahoo.com/2009_saturn_sky/)? It has more ergonomic quirks than an Ikea showroom, its soft top is a pain to fold, and you can't fit a pack of matches in its trunk...but no one even cares. Just one look, and your heart skips a beat.

Buy the Redline (http://autos.yahoo.com/2009_saturn_sky_red_line/) edition to speed it up again -- with GM's first direct-injection engine, its turbocharged, sixteen-valve four-cylinder takes the car from a standstill to 60 mph in under six seconds.

But buy it soon. It's not only the Sky that's on the chopping block, but the entire Saturn (http://autos.yahoo.com/2009_saturn/) line. In its application for federal bailout funds, GM promised to sell or close the underperforming brand, and realistically, there doesn't seem to be a company interested in buying it. The Sky will go down with its Astra (http://autos.yahoo.com/2009_saturn_astra/) and VUE (http://autos.yahoo.com/2009_saturn_vue/) brothers, no matter how gorgeous it might be.


AND...
Lexus SC

Combine legendary Lexus (http://autos.yahoo.com/2009_lexus/) build quality, a sumptuous passenger cabin (in Pebble Beach Edition trim, it approaches the comfort of million-dollar coachbuilt cars), and the freedom to put the top down, and you have the Lexus SC (http://autos.yahoo.com/2009_lexus_sc/) -- perhaps the most elegant convertible mass-produced today. There aren't many true luxury convertibles left, and this one is the most comfortable.

It's also the most endangered. When Lexus ends the SC's run after 2009, the automaker will be left with no convertible models. Plans for a range-topping LF are on hold, so the SC is the last Lexus drop-top, at least until the economy turns around and it makes sense to offer a luxurious top-down cruiser again.

[RotorNutFD3S]

Notice how all the roadsters are targeted first? :(

[jesseealexander]

screw the cars posted, i dont wanna see the viper get axed. :(

[N3v]

saturn going down the ****ter really isn't a surprise. what about the solstice, since its pretty much the same car?

[Jack-MX5ATLanta.com]

The Lexus SC??? Big ******* deal!! It's possibly the worst car ever produced. Handles like ****, looks like ****, expensive as buggery, and is so much worse than every other alternative out there. The Lexus SC is for someone who has a bunch of money and wants to show off to other that he can plow it into something so he goes and buys the easy piece of crap Lexus. It's for people who genuinely don't care about the car experience. I hate Lexus SC's with a passion not shared for any other car other than perhaps the Lexus RX series.

Why would anyone in their right mind buy a Lexus SC when you could get the Mercedes AMG alternative????

[Doppelgänger]

the best news is the Bummer line....can't wait to see it tank.

[wildfire0310]

The Lexus SC??? Big ******* deal!! It's possibly the worst car ever produced. Handles like ****, looks like ****, expensive as buggery, and is so much worse than every other alternative out there. The Lexus SC is for someone who has a bunch of money and wants to show off to other that he can plow it into something so he goes and buys the easy piece of crap Lexus. It's for people who genuinely don't care about the car experience. I hate Lexus SC's with a passion not shared for any other car other than perhaps the Lexus RX series.

Why would anyone in their right mind buy a Lexus SC when you could get the Mercedes AMG alternative????

The older SC's aren't bad. Back when it was basically a supra with a Lexus badge but I do agree the newer SC are pointless.

To be honest the only car I care about getting tanked is the S2k.

_Hummer... piece of sh*T.. the H1 is only real hummer everything else is just some junk SUV badge as a hummer just to jack the price up
_Saturn... wow another car company who just built 100% plastic cars that you had a 50/50 shot on if it would hold up or fall apart
_PT... wow I am doing a happy dance... that car was only beat out by the SSR for ugliest massed produced car I have seen
_Viper... wow so they are finally figuing out that you can get a car with 90% of its abilities for 50% of the cost... just shows how the big 3 every evolved from 30 years ago.

[metalman]

Notice how all the roadsters are targeted first? :(

In the case of the S2k its been my distinct impression from day one that its 'too expensive' for the Honda name. What I mean by that is that those who can easily afford a new one generally want more "status" then the Honda name can bring. This impression comes from everything my dealer friends have told me about selling them and also the fact I know a goodly number who considered buying one and like it and all but due to pricing ended up with a Bimmer or other similar mark.
I wouldnt say its 'unsucessful' but its no Miata...and the price point has had everything to do with that IMHO.

[wildfire0310]

In the case of the S2k its been my distinct impression from day one that its 'too expensive' for the Honda name. What I mean by that is that those who can easily afford a new one generally want more "status" then the Honda name can bring. This impression comes from everything my dealer friends have told me about selling them and also the fact I know a goodly number who considered buying one and like it and all but due to pricing ended up with a Bimmer or other similar mark.
I wouldnt say its 'unsucessful' but its no Miata...and the price point has had everything to do with that IMHO.

I will agree. something that I always wonder about is why they didn't use the market it under Arcua over here in the states. I mean at least then maybe people would have treated it like it was something more then just a Honda.

[Doppelgänger]

Honestly, Honda only planned on making it for a a couple of years at most..it was a present for their 50th anniversary. A 9 year run is pretty damn good for a small niche market car. Even the Miata falls under that title. There bas been what, 900,000 Miatas built since 1989? BMW has long surpassed a million MINIs since it came out in 2004. Yes, this is worldwide numbers for both cars.

[metalman]

Honestly, Honda only planned on making it for a a couple of years at most..it was a present for their 50th anniversary. A 9 year run is pretty damn good for a small niche market car. Even the Miata falls under that title. There bas been what, 900,000 Miatas built since 1989? BMW has long surpassed a million MINIs since it came out in 2004. Yes, this is worldwide numbers for both cars.

Thanks. You have proven my point. :lol:
The Mini is affordable to the masses, and marketed to such worldwide...and is kinda cool.
The S2K is cool but not 'affordable'. Its a 'small niche' market car for Honda worshipers mostly....as the general masses who can afford it will likely buy something else.
So as such it is a 'success' in that they kept it around this long in spite of minimal production/sales numbers...but is no Miata...or Mini. ;)
To suggest that companies produce a car only as a 'favor' to the public or their fans is stretching it a bit. Making/selling a cars is a business. If the demand for S2ks was high Honda would crank them out....but its not...and never really has been. And the price of it has everything to do with that.

[RotorNutFD3S]

Yeah. Thus the reason we had 2 S2000 CRs sitting on our showroom for the better part of a year when I worked at Honda, and I went back and visited not too long ago and one of them was still there.

[Jack-MX5ATLanta.com]

And nowadays it comes to the point where you can choose between an S2000 or a Porsche Boxster. Not necessarily speaking for myself but I know that the pulling power of the Porsche name over a Honda is quite a bit stronger.

[Redraceface]

Ok, so those cars are gone to make room for this, with its fine ***.

[mustangtomiata]

I will miss the s2000 and the viper. I had great love for both of them(especially vipers). The s2000 is a great car, although over priced as we all seem to agree, and makes a good platform for someone with a hearty income. The Viper is just cool, not arguing about how fast it is, but its just cool, like when you pull into a gas station with one people look at it in awe, but the car doesn't give off the "i'm rich im better than you persona" (lambo and ferrari, sometimes porsche) and it was the first 500hp car i drove :). The good thing both cars will still be availible as enough were produced where people will still want them and parts will be availible, probably at a high price though.

[ericsbestshot]

God i hate the Lexus SC. It's wheels were a pain in the A$$. The center caps almost covered the entire wheel and they have 10+ screws you have to take of so you can even balance the wheel.