Selby

>>Ummm...Where's Selby <<

Right here - was a little surpirsed to see this thread show up again. Don't check S2ki.com too often since I sold my 2002 S2000 last year.

Yes, I did pick up the car. Black '04 3-door Euro package, purchased back in May. The car MSRP'd at ~23K, I paid 17.5 after Ford's 3K rebate applied to an invoice price. I've heard of a few others who've done even better, but not here in the Seattle area.

So far, I love it. The car handles as well as any FWD car I've ever driven, and the ride/handling balance is right in the middle of that sweet spot - you know, the one BMW traditionally owns. This car just "feels" right, surprisingly similar to my '99 M3 and my friend's '04 325Ci w/SptPkg in terms of refinement and tuning sophistication. There is nothing else out there in the price class that even comes close. Nothing I've driven, anyway.

Specific likes:
--6 speed gearbox
--Nice stereo
--Great HID lights, and nice high beams.
--nice exhaust note - deep, but not ricey
--nice paint quality
--Comfortable daily driver


Complaints? Well, a few:

The car surges when cold, or on warm restart. Only lasts about five mins, but it can occasionally be annoying. This is a common problem, but so far Ford has no fix for the '04s (With 02-03 models, an ECU reflash fixes the problem).

First gear is rather tall. This can make launching the car a bit tricky at times. The bright side is with the tall gearing it's a good autoX car, and with the 6-speed, it's a great highway cruiser.

My in-town mileage really sucks. I didn't expect hybrid numbers, but I've seen some tanks return as low as 21 MPG. Hell, my M3 does better than that! (Well, ok, sometimes....) And to be honest, I don't really drive the car hard at all -- like the S2K, stoplight drag racing is NOT this car's forte. Besides, that's what the M3 is for.... This, coupled with the premium fuel requirement makes it a bit on th expensive side for a daily driver car of this class. I should note that highway mileage is a different story - 30-32MPG. My hunch is, with the mileage and surging mentioned above, Ford didn't really finish sorting out the tuning on this motor for around-town driving.

The interior design is, well, interesting. It's surprisingly functional, however, and despite the cheap-looking materials, is reasonably well put together. And the heated Recaro seats rock....

All in all, I've got no regrets about buying it. No real issues with 5K on the clock other than the surging. It makes a great daily driver. with a 100K powertrain warranty, I'm not too worried.

And as for that "balance" concern expressed above, well, let's just say the motor is smoother at high revs than the S2K powerplant....

Selby

Grimace

For anyone in Ontario interested in one, there are two leftover SVTs at Markham Ford, priced at $21000 and $22000 CDN. They've got the cold weather package and the upgraded stereo, IIRC. Good deal.