Ownership Experience in the Middle East is Pretty Different

Rocky Road

For many of us, owning and driving an S2000 has been a mostly enjoyable experience. Sure, there are ups and downs like any other car. Things like broken parts and rock chips are always around the corner, ready to ruin our day. But for a fellow named Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury, who's been chronicling his S2000 ownership over at Drive Arabia for some time now, things haven't gone quite as smoothly.

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Open Your Wallet

When Chowdhury, a United Arab Emirates resident, first purchased his AP2, it had just over 9,000 miles on the clock. Since then, he's racked up another 7,000 or so. Since then, he's declared his car "one of the greatest ever built," despite a myriad of issues. Chowdhury has had to replace the top, battery, tires, and a few other cosmetic items over that time period. But it was his latest outlay of expenses that really hurt.

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>>Join the conversation about the bad luck this S2000 has experienced right here in S2Ki.com.

Disappearing Act

Chowdhury and his family were out of town on vacation for a couple of weeks recently, only to return and find his S2000 gone. Apparently the local municipalities towed the car, despite the fact that he had a valid parking permit. As if it couldn't get any worse, the car was taken straight to an auction yard. Chowdhury had to visit five different offices to get it back.

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>>Join the conversation about the bad luck this S2000 has experienced right here in S2Ki.com.

Bad to Worse

When he was finally reunited with his car, Chowdhury quickly found out that it wasn't taken gently. The authorities had broken into the Honda to disable the alarm when they took it. They also damaged the front bumper while loading it onto the tow truck. And for all this trouble, Chowdhury also had to pay a fine for "parking too long," along with storage fees for the time the car sat in the auction yard. Yikes.

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>>Join the conversation about the bad luck this S2000 has experienced right here in S2Ki.com.

Persistent Issue

The alarm issue persisted, and Chowdhury took his S2000 to the local Honda dealership so they could fix the problem. But that proved to be a huge headache as well, and it took two months before they could sort it out. During this time, the dealership also fixed the broken front bumper piece and a window regulator. And Chowdhury had his scheduled maintenance done while he was there for good measure.

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>>Join the conversation about the bad luck this S2000 has experienced right here in S2Ki.com.

Silver Lining

Altogether, this proved to be a rather pricey visit to the dealership. The bill came out to just over $3,800, but Chowdhury managed to cut a deal for $2,450. A local body shop also repainted the bumper for a discounted price of $272, which was considerably cheaper than the dealer's quote. So there's a little bit of a silver lining.

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>>Join the conversation about the bad luck this S2000 has experienced right here in S2Ki.com.

Many Misadventures

So far, Chowdhury's S2000 ownership experience has been plagued with bad luck. Much of it obviously not the fault of the car or himself. But if nothing else, his stories are well worth the read. So be sure and head over here to catch up (and keep up) with his rocky road of adventures!

Photos: S2Ki Forums

>>Join the conversation about the bad luck this S2000 has experienced right here in S2Ki.com.