I haven't driven another S1 but your experience sounds familiar. Brian Millar the Aero expert, who serviced my car in February, tells me they are all the same. He also said the ZF box in the S2 helped a bit. I mentioned earlier about your hood cover looking good, it must have been a bespoke after sales item some years ago, never come across one before. Note in the attached image the hood down on my car is untidy, with a different look everytime it folds away.
