Well I test drove another MY02 Sebring on black last night. This car was in much better shape then the last one I drove. I also liked the fact that this was at a Honda dealer. The carfax showed one owner, who had leased it, and the dealership picked it up at auction. It was Certified Honda. It had exactly 23k on it and was still under the 36k mile warty and had a 7 year 100,000 mile extended warranty. The price was 23,500. I know I could find one for around 22k from a private buyer, but i like the warranty behind it. And the car was very clean.

Outside I only found one scratch, and it did look very deep. I think it could be buffed out. One wheel had curb rash, the other a bad spot on the finish, but i could live with it.....I mean I plan on replacing them in a year or so anyway.

The interior was also super clean.

QUESTIONS:
I found a very small hole in the roof when checking for wear marks. Under further inspection, I found that it was not from wear alone. This was not the bar that the roof touches at the top of the window but the first bar back (Kind of the one right over head/Middle of window). On the driver side the bar had been twisted, and the edge came to a point and it was causing the whole/wear. When I talked to the manager about it, he said that he knew a place that could fix it, AS IN PATCHING IT. I told him i wanted it replaced. I told him I know that wear on the roofs was an issue especially on the 00, 01s and that I had seen them replaced under it before on the internet. He said that he would look into it in the morning. Doesn't honda cover the tops under the 36/36 warranty? He is supposed to call me after he finds out.

They had also replaced all 4 tires. When the guy told me this I was like bonus, but then I looked and they weren't SO3's or SO2's. They were Fuzion ZRi's.....
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?ti...ace=21&index=21
They retail at $72 for fronts and $73 for rears. They are an off brand of Bridgeston/firestone. MY02 should have S02's and they go for 163/176. Thats a big difference. I know that traction/tire setup is important on this car. This being my first s2k, I don't want to end breaking the back end loose because of some cheap tires. What do you think about this? Should I ask for a few 100$ off on price?

Following are results from TIRERACK survey
FUZION 258 surveys submitted 1,126,257 miles reported
SO2's 220 surveys submitted 2,263,820 miles reported

FUZION--------SO2's
Dry Traction------------8.6-----------9.2
Wet Traction------------8.2-----------7.2
Hydro Resistance-------8.1-----------6.7
Snow Traction----------N/A-----------N/A
Cornering Stability-----8.4-----------8.9
Steering Response-----8.4-----------9.0
Ride Comfort ----------8.1-----------7.4
Noise Comfort----------7.9-----------7.3
Tread Wear-------------7.4---------- 5.3

Thanks for all your help on both this tread and the last. I appreciate any and all feed back. Hopefully if things go smoothly Ill be meeting all you guys for my first mod day at the end of July.

 

Sorry if the TireRack ratings were hard to read. The post didnt pick up my spaces...Replaced with ----- hope it makes more since now.

 

The bar problem sounds really iffy to me - if they can't replace it, I'd say test drive other ones in the area - there are plenty of others that will be clean and solid at a reasonable price.

 

It should be covered under the warranty. Is it still Honda Certified? If it is they are suppose to restore it the car back to factory specs. So they would have to put new S02s back on it.

 

Bad tires is not something you want on your s2000... I had my back end slip out when i first bought the car a few times(kumho mx's); now that i have goodyear f1's; its nearly impossible for me to bring the back end out. I thought the car was just really easy to lose control, but now that i have the new tires, its a world of difference. If you dont get on it, im sure it wont matter, but who doesnt want to play in the turns.

As for the top... If they dont replace it, i know i wouldnt want a patched roof and the factory replacement isnt cheap or easy to do.

 

It is honda certified.....Its also still under original 36k bumper to bumper warranty as well as 7year/100k powertrain warranty.

So Honda dealers are required to restore their cars back to factory specs if its Honda Certified? If i push for something I would rather have them replace the top. Do you think i should push for both the top replaced, and SO2's?

 

Also, this is just from my experience. So I could be wrong. I'm sure Poindexter will chime in and have more details.

 

i work at a toyota dealer and if i had a mr2 that was certified and had a hole in the top it would have to be fixed in order to be certified. if the sales manager didn't want to fix it we would either sell it non certified or wholesale it (wholesale more likely). keep that in mind and if they do fix it you should be OK from what it sounds like

 

I also got this feedback on the S2000Talk forum on the tires..

"FuzionZRi are the very best CHEAP tires money can get(225/50 245/45)
On the steet nearly as good as SO2 in the dry(you'll never reach their limit)
Way better than SO2-03,in any other circonstances."

"i had zri's on my other car. they were great tires for me and held up well"

Has any Mid-Aer had experience with these tires? Theres about 400$ in difference, I wonder if i could get it knocked off the price?

 

I would wait to hear from Poindexter to be sure. Maybe want to PM him.