Here's the situation:

2002 S2000 bought in 03. Was all my wife and I could afford at the time. OEM hardtop as the only modification.

2004: CTSC with AC, 4.57 gears, ACT clutch, reinforced diff.
2006: 7# pulley, heated seat, stereo and speaker upgrade, IPOD integration, subframe bracing, some sound deadening.
2007: firewall sound deadening, Racelogic traction control (ordered today).

In the meantime, our income has improved and I've replaced our other two cars with an 07 FJ Cruiser and an 04 Audi S4.

All cars are paid in full. Prior to the 7# pulley, the S2k was running 4.7 second 0-60 times on snow tires.

I estimate I've probably spent ~$15-17k on modifications over the past 4 years. I don't plan on making much of that back at resale.

At each point, I thought: what other cars are out there and what am I missing. Upgraded things bit by bit. The last thing lacking (in my mind) and almost enough to be a deal breaker was lack of AP1 traction control.

I really wanted an added safety margin in snow/salt/slush. I don't like driving like a Granny (no offense to Vintage members) all winter just in case there's a patch of road salt or melting ice hidden up ahead on an otherwise dry day. But the only way to completely avoid an accident in the wintertime is to drive all the time to the least common denominator or risk the happy fishtail.

With the addition of the Racelogic Traction Control and the high boost pulley, I'm estimating 4.5 second 0-60 And ~13.0 second quarter miles at ~108ish, will go to the track after the RLTC installed and S02's back on (higher rpms at launch without tire slip... here's a vid of a Supra running 10s in the quarter with the RLTC system)

The only cars that I'd rather have at this point are: Exige S, Boxster S, Cayman S, Carrera S cabrio.

But all come with a minimum $20,000-50,000 upgrade price.
What would I get for my extra $20-50k? That "Porsche feeling" and more inconvenience in having to drive an extra hour for service?
The P-cars are no doubt more "refined," but we have other vehicles for cruising.

I can't think of any car worth the price of upgrading. That kind of scares me a little bit. I'm also loathe to "upgrade" to a slower car.

Any thoughts?

 

Keep the S!

Or better yet, buy a newer one!

 

But then I'd have to transfer all my junk over to the new one....

Was thinking about an 06 DBW for the TC, but the incompatibility of the SC was a deal breaker on that one.

I only have 34k miles on my AP1 anyway....

 

Sell it and get a Lotus Elise. You'll get the same 0-60 times but will enjoy better braking, steering and handling.

It's not 20-25k more. You can get a 2005 for 34k.

 

Why drive your fun car in the snow when you have two 4wd/AWD cars to choose from? Wife drives one, you drive the other, S stays in garage. Am I missing something?

 

I was figuring ~$15k trade in. When adding the cost of taxes on the difference, it'd be $18-20k more.

It's an option, but I'm getting old and was a little put off by the gymnastic ingress/egress when I test drove one.

 

(I get bored with the truck sometimes)

And winter is ~6 months long here. Like today is ~50 degrees and sunny, but there's still complete ground cover with snow. The roads are dry, except for patches of road sand and slush from melting piles of snow.

If I waited until it was dry and the roads were clear, it'd be May.

And my right foot gets itchy after a few months of Winter.....

 

so why are you even thinking of upgrading? did i miss something?

 

I'd simply ugrade to an later gen S.

 

Not too crazy. As long as you love the car and want to keep it.

I owned a 91 MR2 Turbo that I absolutely loved, but I also like getting new cars. So several times I went to a dealer to test drive things. My used MR2 was better IMHO than the new Integas I drove (including type R's) then the RSX's I liked, and so on. Every time I drove something I thought would be my new machine, I came away liking what I had better.

I finally sold it when it got to 130,000 miles for the S, and to tell you the truth I still like the MR2 better, I just got tired of all the things that go with a car that has been driven hard for 130,000 miles.