wrx. get a brand new with a good warranty. or a4 with cpo. a4 2.0T engine is so popular i bet you can find parts for it fairly easily and cheap if you have any problems. but i bet you will have other problems than engine problem. i have cpo b7 s4 and i am happy with it. love the interior quality, fit and finish, attention to detail. since it is my daily also so interior played a big factor when i was shopping around.

 

I also love the A4 interior, and the B8 is such a great looking car on the outside (B7 too). I'm not concerned with motor problems so much (though I hear the 2.0T drinks oil), more so just about everything else in the car; the more features a car has the more things that can go wrong. When I had a BMW I remember reading on a forum where a guy had to replace his headlight module because one of the little motors that turns the headlight with the steering wheel went and it was not cheap to replace. If I get CPO at least I could be covered for a while but knowing me I will start to think my car is a ticking time bomb as my CPO clock runs out.

I'm trying to be patient for the S2000, it's what I know I'll be happy with. Just hope ownership is as fun the second time around as it was the first.

 

we all know any european vehicals are time bomb after warranty runs out. you just have to deal with it or save up enough while you have warranty and purchase a good 3rd party warranty. that 2.0T audi engine might drink lots of oil but it's pretty solid engine and like you mentioned most likely something else in the electrical system or interior is most likely to go wrong not the engine. i have 45k on my car (v8 s4 not 2.0T) and had 2 problems. valve cover gasket leak and arm rest lid hinge broke and both are well known problem and valve cover gasket got covered by cpo, i had to pay $85 deductible and that was it.

to me s2000 is one of the greatest car ever built. i am sure it will be as fun as first time if not better. i miss it a lot. something i didn't realize how much i liked it and until i sold it and sun came out. simply you can't go wrong with s2000 but it's not built for daily. i actually feel bad to drive it. i appreciate s2000 so much i just wanna have one keep it in my garage n just look at it everyday.

 

Totally agree, I made my decision during the snowiest winter my area has seen in a long time. Between annoyance with how much the car stinks in snow and having it for 7 years and it at 109k miles I felt the time has come. Less than a week later I was regretting it and wanted a new one, 14 months later and here I am ready to buy

I disagree with the S2000 not being a good daily driver, I enjoy feeling every bump while driving, awesome handling, and ripping through VTEC when I feel like it-especially thru tunnels. Plus, the top can go down on a nice day. To each his own though.

 

i get paranoid to take my car to work, groceries, movies..etc. i hate leaving that car in a public parking lot. it should only be parked in my garage only or an empty parking lot to take a nice picture.

 

If you could swing it, I'd say S2000 + a beater. A little Civic or something that could get 30+ mpg as the DD and then the S2000 for weekends/nice weather, etc would be a pretty good combo I think. A little Civic hatchback could still be pretty fun and useful to have anyways. Plus you could start with the beater and then just stay on the lookout for the S2000. WRX would serve the same purpose roughly, but you'd be losing money more quickly due to depreciation and fuel consumption.

 

Dude, it's a Honda not a 458 Italia, no one cares about or will mess with your car.

 

I used to, but my current jobs parking lot is like fort knox. You pass thru a manned gate for which you need an ID to get in, and the lot itself is patrolled. Gigantic parking lot and the outside spots are always wide open so thats where I'll be.

Trying to decide which route to take.

1. Buy a newer 08/09 S2000 w\ 40k'ish miles for 20-22k
- Would love a newer one that I can baby from it's young years until forever...but I hate to pay a premium for low mileage since I will rack miles up pretty quickly anyway. The S2000 is timeless between model-years for the most part, so whether its an 04 or an 09, it's relatively the same car.

2. Buy an older 04-07 w\ higher miles for 15k
- Not a fan of buying a car that has been driven a lot without knowing how it was maintained. I know the same can be true for a newer one but I feel safer having one w\ less miles and fresher interior. For some reason MY06 is the most costly to insure for Comp\Collision over any S2000..not sure why but it is.

3. Get a cheap beater for work and buy my friends 00 GPW\Red, comptech sc'd, OEM hardtop, 19" wheels (+ stocks), newly built motor (pistons\rods\sleeved) which isnt even broken in yet, for what I'm guessing somewhere around 20k.
- Reliability is my biggest concern being this will be my DD for a bit, and it's a 12 year old car that I will have a bank note on, for which a decent chunk of the vehicle price is for mods.

 

Still trying to decide on my DD but going in another direction. Going to spend $10k on a car for commuting to work and keep on the lookout for a clean low miles S2k. Right now looking at an 06 Civic Si coupe w\ 105k miles for 11,300 OR a 04 Acura RSX w\ 97k miles for 8700. I'm not looking to race\mod these cars in any way, simply a means of getting back and forth work, thought either of these would be fun to drive. I saw the Civic in person tonight and it's in excellent condition. Going to look at the RSX tomorrow. Trying to decide which I'd rather have. Opinions anyone?

 

Either would be a great choice but I prefer the looks of the RSX over the Civic Si coupe. I like the Civic Si sedan over the RSK, though (stock for stock).