Honda S2000 expensive?
Discussion
For a while now I have been increasingly interested in the Honda S2000 but I can't help think they are overpriced. Decent examples with reasonable millage seem to start at the £7-8k mark. Looking at what else is available for that price it seems you can get a lot more car E46 M3 territory etc. Am I missing something, I'm happy to be corrected on this.
The S2000 was last made in 2009. The car has a cult following for all sorts of reasons - it was designed as Honda's 50th birthday present to itself to be the best two-seat roadster that Honda could make (and expect to sell in reasonable numbers), it handles well as it's mid-engined with 50/50 weight distribution, albeit with the engine in front of the occupants, and with probably one of the best four-cylinder engines ever to be mass-produced.
Given that the supply of S2000's in good condition and with a good history will only diminish, and the fact that Honda are returning to the "enthusiast" market with a new Civic Type R, NSX and as an engine supplier in Formula 1, there will be an increased awareness of performance Hondas, so the S2000 may have reached its price nadir, and will only increase in value.
Hopefully.
Given that the supply of S2000's in good condition and with a good history will only diminish, and the fact that Honda are returning to the "enthusiast" market with a new Civic Type R, NSX and as an engine supplier in Formula 1, there will be an increased awareness of performance Hondas, so the S2000 may have reached its price nadir, and will only increase in value.
Hopefully.
Dermot O'Logical said:
The S2000 was last made in 2009. The car has a cult following for all sorts of reasons - it was designed as Honda's 50th birthday present to itself to be the best two-seat roadster that Honda could make (and expect to sell in reasonable numbers), it handles well as it's mid-engined with 50/50 weight distribution, albeit with the engine in front of the occupants, and with probably one of the best four-cylinder engines ever to be mass-produced.
Given that the supply of S2000's in good condition and with a good history will only diminish, and the fact that Honda are returning to the "enthusiast" market with a new Civic Type R, NSX and as an engine supplier in Formula 1, there will be an increased awareness of performance Hondas, so the S2000 may have reached its price nadir, and will only increase in value.
Hopefully.
I thought the earlier ones had fairly tricky on the limit handling. Best Motoring managed to shove one into a barrier during a test.Given that the supply of S2000's in good condition and with a good history will only diminish, and the fact that Honda are returning to the "enthusiast" market with a new Civic Type R, NSX and as an engine supplier in Formula 1, there will be an increased awareness of performance Hondas, so the S2000 may have reached its price nadir, and will only increase in value.
Hopefully.
Baz2000 said:
For a while now I have been increasingly interested in the Honda S2000 but I can't help think they are overpriced. Decent examples with reasonable millage seem to start at the £7-8k mark. Looking at what else is available for that price it seems you can get a lot more car E46 M3 territory etc. Am I missing something, I'm happy to be corrected on this.
They are good cars however I'd take the M3 no doubt! (and yes, I've driven both)I bought mine in november just gone and I'm enjoying it so far. I wanted a z4m coupe but couldn't justify spending £16k at the time so asked myself what I could get instead. For a 2 seater sports car you can either get a z4 that won't be an m version, an mx5, an mr2 or a boxster for £9k or less really.
The main compromise with them is age, I went for a 55 plate because if you get one any newer it's £500 rfl per year which is a lot for what isn't a very powerful car. They are also higher maintenance than you would expect, they have double wishbones on every wheel so full wheel alignment is necessary to get the car feeling right and a lot of cars have seized suspension bushes which prevent the alignment being done and you have to get them cut out and replaced which can get close to £1k if all or nearly all are seized.
Genuine replacement honda parts are ludicrously expensive, have a look on lings honda which is one of the cheaper sites to get stuff from but most things on there are still expensive for what they are. Also the nature of the engine means you have to rev it hard to get the most out of it so fuel economy isn't great.
There is something about them though, I'm really glad I got mine even though I'm throwing money at it to try and make it a very good standard example. I expect as the weather gets better they will get more expensive. Don't get me wrong an e46 m3 is probably a better all rounder but it's been superseded twice, the s2000 is the last of the breed and much rarer. HTH.
The main compromise with them is age, I went for a 55 plate because if you get one any newer it's £500 rfl per year which is a lot for what isn't a very powerful car. They are also higher maintenance than you would expect, they have double wishbones on every wheel so full wheel alignment is necessary to get the car feeling right and a lot of cars have seized suspension bushes which prevent the alignment being done and you have to get them cut out and replaced which can get close to £1k if all or nearly all are seized.
Genuine replacement honda parts are ludicrously expensive, have a look on lings honda which is one of the cheaper sites to get stuff from but most things on there are still expensive for what they are. Also the nature of the engine means you have to rev it hard to get the most out of it so fuel economy isn't great.
There is something about them though, I'm really glad I got mine even though I'm throwing money at it to try and make it a very good standard example. I expect as the weather gets better they will get more expensive. Don't get me wrong an e46 m3 is probably a better all rounder but it's been superseded twice, the s2000 is the last of the breed and much rarer. HTH.
Edited by Al U on Monday 26th January 20:39
CraigyMc said:
I thought the earlier ones had fairly tricky on the limit handling. Best Motoring managed to shove one into a barrier during a test.
Early examples were considered to be a bit tricky in extremis, and coupled to the sudden transition into "the VTEC zone" (yo!) made certain situations challenging. The suspension revisions in the (I believe) 2004-onwards* coupled to a toning-down of the VTEC transition made the car a bit less demanding. Later still came the introduction of electronic traction control.- Somebody will be along shortly to correct me, no doubt.
Dermot is right, the pre 2004 cars have a more aggressive vtec transition and different suspension settings. All cars pre 2006 have no traction control, but all model years can be a handful in this weather and you need to take it easy.
Everything you need to know about all model year differences can be found here http://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/301506-technical-f...
Everything you need to know about all model year differences can be found here http://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/301506-technical-f...
Edited by Al U on Monday 26th January 20:47
Bought one in 2001 for 31,800 USD, today, with hardtop could probably get 24-26K for it, not bad for 15 years of ownership, though just a weekend cruiser with 29K miles, but pricing keeps going up on these, either the small numbers made get wrecked beyond repair or someone has over modified them driving numbers down of good remaining vehicles.
I'm going to have to sell my 2005 model. I've loved it for the last 8 years as a daily driver but having just passed 100,000 miles and with my milage about to drastically increase, it's time to pass it on to someone else.
Paid £14k for it in 2008. Should still get about £8k for it now. Cheapest car I've ever run!
Paid £14k for it in 2008. Should still get about £8k for it now. Cheapest car I've ever run!
I've just bought a 2005 S2000, have owned a lot of different cars (inc. a low mileage E46 M3) and while the S2000 isn't as fast as the M3 or some other cars I've had.. straight line performance isn't what it's all about. It handles extremely well, sounds unreal when heading to ~9,000rpm redline and (IMO) still looks sharp today. Compared to other small two seater convertibles in its class, it punches with the best of them if you drive it properly.
They come with leather, climate control, LSD, very quick semi-automatic roof, xenon headlights and mine has a bluetooth stereo fitted so I can stream music and make calls in the car, in fact, the only thing it doesn't have which I'd like if I was using the car as a daily (which I'm not) would be cruise control. The engine is a complete masterpiece, it's extremely unlikely that anything like it will ever be made again in a production vehicle now we live in a world of low capacity turbos and tougher emissions.
Don't regret my purchase at all and if people keep binning them in the wet or running them into the ground via poor maintainance and thrashing them to death, then they're only set to get even more rare.
Cheers,
Grant
They come with leather, climate control, LSD, very quick semi-automatic roof, xenon headlights and mine has a bluetooth stereo fitted so I can stream music and make calls in the car, in fact, the only thing it doesn't have which I'd like if I was using the car as a daily (which I'm not) would be cruise control. The engine is a complete masterpiece, it's extremely unlikely that anything like it will ever be made again in a production vehicle now we live in a world of low capacity turbos and tougher emissions.
Don't regret my purchase at all and if people keep binning them in the wet or running them into the ground via poor maintainance and thrashing them to death, then they're only set to get even more rare.
Cheers,
Grant
I bought mine last August; £8300 for a one owner 55 plate with 64k on the clock. The engine/gearbox are a delight and although its not that fast its quick enough to entertain...I looked at E46 M3s, E9X M3s, Cayman/Boxster S and Z4M Coupes and ended up buying the S despite it being less than half my available budget.
I'd say it was a bargain
I'd say it was a bargain
Al U said:
Dermot is right, the pre 2004 cars have a more aggressive vtec transition and different suspension settings. All cars pre 2006 have no traction control, but all model years can be a handful in this weather and you need to take it easy.
Everything you need to know about all model year differences can be found here http://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/301506-technical-f...
I drove a pre 2004 car on a track day and it was the most evil handling thing I've ever driven! Everything you need to know about all model year differences can be found here http://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/301506-technical-f...
Edited by Al U on Monday 26th January 20:47
It gripped, gripped, gripped then the rear let go with very little warning other than a couple of little twitches. On the limit it was like driving on a knife edge. I will admit I liked it but that handling put me off ever owning one.
it does help that loads have been written off when people have lost control of them ... my local honda dealer told me they had nick-named them 'widow makers' as they werent that expensive new and the middle aged men that had predominantly been sold them at that dealership had subsequently written them off!
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff