Before I bought my Crossfire, I test drove an S2000 for about a half an hour. I took it down some nice curvy roads, and did a few acceleration runs from a dead stop. I really didn't notice much difference in the handling, but in the acceleration dept. I felt a BIG difference. Of course you have to keep the RPM's up in the clouds all the time, but it isn't really that hard to do with the Honda's great shifter.
The reason I bought the Crossfire over the S2K was styling, the fact I liked the coupe XF over the Honda's roadster body. I fit in the Crossfire better, and last but not least, Price. I purchased my Crossfire for 1,000's less than the Honda. Even though IMO the Honda is probably the more dependable car, the Crossfire feels like a Mercedes, and it just comes across as a better car for the money, more solid.
If you beat two different S2K's in a drag race, I would have to say they just didn't know how to drive them. Because whether the magazines got a "ringer" or not, 1 sec. difference in the 1/4 mile is still alot.