<<Downside: Crummy torque, and lots of RPM's needed to hit the power peak, which is at approx. 8500RPM (redline is 9000 remember).>>
Uh, actually VTEC allows the production of more torque, though it benefits horsepower a lot more. The reason that the VTEC engines have poor torque is that they are generally small engines, which have a hard time generating lost of torque without forced induction. Also, Honda uses VTEC in other engines than the S2000 engine, in most Hondas (the Prelude for example) the VTEC kicks in at around 4000 RPM because most Honda engines redline around 6000 RPM. Basicall I just wanted to point out that the poor torque characteristics are not due to VTEC, but rather to the basic design of the engine (ie. displacement, bore, and stroke).
Zenmervolt