Honda S2000 for £5k? (to good to be true?)

[T66ORA]

The Mrs has a ultra reliable 2003 facelift MR2 Roadster,aircon leather and hardtop for the winter, however she has always fancied the Honda. They are now available for around £5k, are we mad to consider selling the MR2 and buying a very early S2000? Ideally, what ever we got for the Toyota plus £1000,would be the budget.
What can you tell me about the Honda? What to look for etc?
Thanks Tony

[300bhp/ton]

T66ORA said:

The Mrs has a ultra reliable 2003 facelift MR2 Roadster,aircon leather and hardtop for the winter, however she has always fancied the Honda. They are now available for around £5k, are we mad to consider selling the MR2 and buying a very early S2000? Ideally, what ever we got for the Toyota plus £1000,would be the budget.
What can you tell me about the Honda? What to look for etc?
Thanks Tony

I quite like the Honda, but unless you make use of the 6000+rpm range I can't see it as much of an upgrade to the MR2. Suppose you get a boot though....

[hornetrider]

There's loads of info in the Jap>Honda forum here chap, as well as S2Ki.

[stargazer30]

Watch out on the insurance for the S2K its higher than a porsche boxter S :-( much higher than an MR2 Roadster. I drove both before I bought my MR2 and the S2K is a nice car, roofs electric, has a boot, feels heavier to drive but handles well. I'd say if you want more performance its worth it but if its just for the sake of owning one then not much advantage over the MR2.

[Lost soul]

300bhp/ton said:

T66ORA said:

The Mrs has a ultra reliable 2003 facelift MR2 Roadster,aircon leather and hardtop for the winter, however she has always fancied the Honda. They are now available for around £5k, are we mad to consider selling the MR2 and buying a very early S2000? Ideally, what ever we got for the Toyota plus £1000,would be the budget.
What can you tell me about the Honda? What to look for etc?
Thanks Tony

I quite like the Honda, but unless you make use of the 6000+rpm range I can't see it as much of an upgrade to the MR2. Suppose you get a boot though....

As always you take the biscuit for pointless comments

[300bhp/ton]

Lost soul said:

300bhp/ton said:

T66ORA said:

The Mrs has a ultra reliable 2003 facelift MR2 Roadster,aircon leather and hardtop for the winter, however she has always fancied the Honda. They are now available for around £5k, are we mad to consider selling the MR2 and buying a very early S2000? Ideally, what ever we got for the Toyota plus £1000,would be the budget.
What can you tell me about the Honda? What to look for etc?
Thanks Tony

I quite like the Honda, but unless you make use of the 6000+rpm range I can't see it as much of an upgrade to the MR2. Suppose you get a boot though....

As always you take the biscuit for pointless comments

At least it was on topic, unlike yours so you win

And if you check, I'm not the only one who's commented with this opinion...

[Hell27]

300bhp/ton said:

Lost soul said:

300bhp/ton said:

T66ORA said:

The Mrs has a ultra reliable 2003 facelift MR2 Roadster,aircon leather and hardtop for the winter, however she has always fancied the Honda. They are now available for around £5k, are we mad to consider selling the MR2 and buying a very early S2000? Ideally, what ever we got for the Toyota plus £1000,would be the budget.
What can you tell me about the Honda? What to look for etc?
Thanks Tony

I quite like the Honda, but unless you make use of the 6000+rpm range I can't see it as much of an upgrade to the MR2. Suppose you get a boot though....

As always you take the biscuit for pointless comments

At least it was on topic, unlike yours so you win

And if you check, I'm not the only one who's commented with this opinion...

Another off topic. How do you manage nearly 10,000 posts in 2 years?

[chr15b]

I think his comment was pretty much spot on

[Lost soul]

chr15b said:

I think his comment was pretty much spot on

Why ! i am sure the OP knows about the S2000 being a rever so its pointless to mention

[ywouldi]

I recently bought an S2000 for a shade under £5k and am very pleased. It needed a new rear screen and the rear bumper was slightly damaged but these cost £120 and £200 respectively to fix. it's got a reasonable mileage on it too and goes like stink.

It's a car that needs to be screwed to enjoy though, it's much more grippy and more modern that the MX-5 it replaced. Which was more fun though? I think the 5.

Ben

[russy01]

Op, I'll talk about the s2k for you!!

Great car, on boil it flies, but Its hardwork, when pushing on you have to be on the ball, early s2k (ap1) known to be very aggressive on the limit. Take it very easy in the wet.

Being Honda the reliability is great, the k20 engine is virtually bullet proof providing you put oil in it, so keep an eye out for good service history. But don't worry about a high miler it will still sing happily a 8-9k.

Not a huge amount of things to look out for, however check the roof, on a car this age the cloth will be getting tired and they are not cheap.

Apart from that go for it, brilliant cars.

[chr15b]

Lost soul said:

chr15b said:

I think his comment was pretty much spot on

Why ! i am sure the OP knows about the S2000 being a rever so its pointless to mention

doesn't make the comment any less valid though. it's not like he said it's st because you have to rev it

and for the record the s2000 is high on my list as potential next car

[homerjay]

I've been looking at these too today.

Surely they can't drop much further.

Buy wisely and sell wisely and it should depreciation proof fun for 12 month

[H_Kan]

As mentioned, the early ones are snappy on the limit and therefore need to be driven carefully in the wet etc. I think there are suspension mods available to rectify this, but they will obviously cost.

I also found when running quotes that the S2k came out quite high- maybe as a result of the snappy suspension...?

Having said that, if neither of those are an issue for you, then it is a lot of car for 5k.

[coleo]

russy01 said:

the k20 engine is virtually bullet proof providing you put oil in it, so keep an eye out for good service history. But don't worry about a high miler it will still sing happily a 8-9k.

Honda fitted the 'F' series engine into the S2000 not the 'K' series. F20 (2.0) was fitted to the AP1 and then the F22 (2.2) into the facelift AP2 as they upped the cylinder displacement for more torque but in doing so reduced the redline.

[nonuts]

coleo said:

Honda fitted the 'F' series engine into the S2000 not the 'K' series. F20 (2.0) was fitted to the AP1 and then the F22 (2.2) into the facelift AP2 as they upped the cylinder displacement for more torque but in doing so reduced the redline.

That's only in the USA though, in europe they were all 2.0

[ARH]

When looking to replace my MX5 a few years ago I looked at the s2k, boxter and newer mx5. s2k was hard work as you really had to give it stick, and the insurance was high, the boxter was good, insurance again was big. I ended up with the mr2 roadster, soon got bored with it though. now I have an XKR convertable as the insurance was cheaper and the performance is V good, handling was not as lithe as the others though. I think if I was after a sports car I would still get an MX5.

[homerjay]

ARH said:

When looking to replace my MX5 a few years ago I looked at the s2k, boxter and newer mx5. s2k was hard work as you really had to give it stick, and the insurance was high, the boxter was good, insurance again was big. I ended up with the mr2 roadster, soon got bored with it though. now I have an XKR convertable as the insurance was cheaper and the performance is V good, handling was not as lithe as the others though. I think if I was after a sports car I would still get an MX5.

how are the running costs on an xkr?

[hornetrider]

russy01 said:

Not a huge amount of things to look out for, however check the roof, on a car this age the cloth will be getting tired and they are not cheap.

Go in with eyes wide open!

[T66ORA]

Thanks for the replies, i have had a read of the web site that was linked.Some useful stuff on there
As already mentioned, it will be for the Mrs, who is buying purley on looks, i doubt it will see 5/6k rpm never mind 9k The same for the handling, but i`m sure it will be a pussy cat compared to the TVR`s we`ve had What is the real world fuel consumption like? Not that that is a major issue for someone who will do 3000 miles P.A!
99/00 S2000 or 2003 MR2? Not sure, but she is fed up with the lack of practability of the Toyota. I think she should buy a TT 180 Roadster