HoondaAP2

Hey all, I have been reading posts on the forums for a little while and decided to join to get some feedback on my search. Some background on me, I am mid 20's, from the Long Island, and looking for a weekend/fun car. I am very inexperienced when it comes to working on cars and I have very little time with driving stick. That being said, I am hoping to change both of those things. My budget is in the 15-18k range, with me financing about half of any purchase. I am looking for as close to stock as possible, preferably AP2. So here are some questions I have for owners or other prospective buyers.

-How far have you had to travel to find your S2000? Seems like everyone I find that I like is 500+ miles away. Kind of hard to go check it out that way.

-How long did it take you to find yours? I have been told be several friends with experience buying used sports cars to be patient and wait.

-Is my budget realistic? I would ideally like to get an 06 or later with 50-75k miles. I really cant stretch past 18k total cost (taxes, fees, etc.)

- Can I get a decent to good car under my budget, just with higher miles? I have read that higher miles S2000's are not a bad idea provided the maintainence has been good. I am concerned however about buying a 10+ year old car with high miles. I guess what is the minimum I would have to spend to get a decent car.

-Another suggestion I have gotten from a few people is to save quite a bit of money and buy a newer lower miles miata. Any experience with both cars? I plan on test driving both, but from purely a looks standpoint, the s2000 is 100x better to me. I also dont like how the miata has no power at all. I dont plan on doing modding or anything like that.

Thanks in advance to any responses, I really appreciate it!

Hfreak

My round trip was 13hrs for MY06 in GPW and it took a year to find it. I wanted a BB or NFR, couldn't find the "right" car.

Depending on what you are looking for in terms of mileage, color, age and so on you will certainly have to compromise. Your budget is reasonable.

Good luck with your adventure.

Jub

You can definitely find a nice S in your price range, the 06+ with targeted mileage is the criteria that makes it slightly more difficult. FWIW, I bought an 03 for under your price range that I feel is a "nice" S. I wanted an AP2 but had a lower budget than you and was not willing to get a poor condition/high mileage AP2 so went with a nice AP1. If it is not your DD, I highly suggest checking out an AP1. Snap oversteer is blown out of proportion as far as I'm concerned and it sounds like you won't need the car in the winter. That being said, keep good tires on it and it doesn't do anything surprising. Things happen quickly but nothing that you didn't ask for.

My advice is to be patient and stick with your plan or reconsider being hung up on a late AP2 and get a nice condition S of any year (to be fair, I wanted 02+). I will also second the miata option. For my wants, a miata would have made way more sense. I justified an S because I never really lusted after a miata and really wanted an S. TBH, part of me thinks a miata would be a better fit. Primarily because I don't have a garage and am young. My car is nice and I intend to keep it that way. Part of me likes that, part of me says I'd rather have a miata for half the price that I can beat on a bit and not feel bad in the least. Overall, my S has been great and I love the car. The purely logical decision is miata but you clearly want an S.

HoondaAP2

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My round trip was 13hrs for MY06 in GPW and it took a year to find it. I wanted a BB or NFR, couldn't find the "right" car.

Depending on what you are looking for in terms of mileage, color, age and so on you will certainly have to compromise. Your budget is reasonable.

Good luck with your adventure.
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Thanks for the reply. I definitely am open to compromising on most things for the right car. I am hoping the right car is rio yellow, NFR or BB, in that order. How did you go about checking out the car prior to making such a big trip? Over the phone, or did you have a local mechanic look at it for you first? Did you know for sure you were buying it before going?

HoondaAP2

Thanks for your help, how many miles were on your 03 when you got it? I would buy an AP1 if I was able to find a great one for the right price. My only hesitation really is that it would be even older than any AP2 id be buying. I also prefer the style of the AP2s. As I am looking though, it seems more likely that I will need to go 04, 05, or later AP1s for lower miles in my price range. Either way, the car will not be my daily unless something unplanned happens to my 09 focus with 110K miles. I definitely want the S more. I am like you in that the miata will deliver everything I want in a fun car, but I have never really really wanted one. Ive asked 3 enthusiast friends who have experience with both, which they prefer and they all said the miata. I definitely am going to give the miata a fair shot, as it is definitely more logical, and my bank account will be much happier.

JoePhotographer

I am on my second Berlina Black AP2. My criteria was for a low miles car and Berlina Black, but my budget was also more around the $20k range.

I was able to find a MY05 Berlina last summer (died at the Dragon Fall Run 2 weeks ago - rollover crash). Bought it 21k and died at 43k and was in perfect condition. I drove down from Cincinnati to Atlanta to buy it - 1200 miles, round trip.

I just picked up a MY07 Berlina with 36k in Toronto. I flew from Dayton to Toronto, picked up the car and drove a long 600 miles across the 401 to Detroit, in order to come home. I love Google Maps... :-(

I have found the 04-05 AP2s are just a little different than the 05-09 AP2s (seats, steering, etc.)


Since your criteria is for a weekend car, I concur with the post to find the car you want in your price range, regardless of year. If I had to do it over again, My MY07 would have been an AP1. I test drove a '16 Miata and thought it was too plastic for my liking, but a S2000 owner bought one for his spouse and she loves it.

Get a daily driver you will be happy with and the S2000 will beg for you to pull it out and enjoy all he twisty roads in NY and NE.

aeroskipper

Shameless offer, but my 05 Rio Yellow is up for sale for 15,500. I purchased her from Missouri and had her shipped. I just don't fit very well! She has a couple body issues, but is otherwise solid. Check out my for sale post. When I was looking for cars anything 06+ was out of my budget. It was weird how the difference between 05-06 can be several thousands and dealers were not willing to budge on their prices very much. Had one dealer tell me they couldn't move their price on their 04 even though was clearly modified.

Love how dealers will dock you for an aftermarket exhaust on trade, but then highlight it when they sell it as a "custom exhaust." Haha. Anyway, welcome and good luck.

Jub

I originally wanted to buy an 04-05 AP2 for 12k. It is possible as an internet windowshopper but not realistic which I quickly realized. I've learned from past purchases to find the best example of the car you want. Aside from troublesome years, any year, color, etc. is secondary to condition. My S had 86k on it when I got it for 13.7k. I purchased private from the second owner of the car who bought it off lease with under 20k miles. The lease history was the only thing I did not like about it. The woman I bought it from was in her mid 60s and clearly did not drive it hard. On the test drive, she told me I could open it up a bit. She then proceeded to tell me to shift up at 5k rpm's. I don't think the car saw VTEC for years. It was babied, had no accident history, and a new OEM top. It was a little more than I wanted to pay for an AP1 but I was very comfortable with the purchase. It has been about a year and a half and I do not regret purchasing the S that I did. I could have spent more time driving hours to look at cars, etc. and saved maybe a grand if I got lucky given the condition and new top.

I started autocrossing the car this year and it has been great. I got to try an AP2 at an event and it was very interesting. The car was more different than I expected. It was an 08 that was better set up than my car (245/255 tires and a front sway bar). It was fun and the F22C and lower gearing definitely lent better to the course I was on. However, I think the AP1 was more fun. The biggest stand out to me was the slower steering rack of the AP2. It really bothered me coming from my car but I probably wouldn't notice after a week. I also did notice the slower revving with the heavy flywheel. The AP2 felt torquier and was faster but less playful overall. If only I could have a CR with an AP1 flywheel and the CDV removed....

Forward_Momentum

I was where you were at a few months ago. I started with a budget of about 10-12k thinking I'll go for higher mileage and just do the maintenance and repairs myself. Then as I look I considered spending more for a better quality example and not have to spend more in repairing. So for me it was a real balancing act. I started looking at Ap1s but ended up with an Ap2 and I'm so glad I did. Just the extra refinement and updates really made it worth it to me. The LED tail lights and the updated center shifter console of the Ap2 are just to examples that really made me feel I had a more modern car.

Chuck S

If you don't get the car you want you'll have buyers remorse every day. Since this seems to be a long term ownership the difference between an $18K and $20K car is minimal in price but usually major in terms of lower miles, better condition, etc. How far did I drive? 15 minutes to a large Honda dealer in Columbus, Ohio, who had the car on their used car showroom floor for almost two weeks. I'm driving about 5000 miles a summer.

For a weekend car you can afford to hold out for "matching numbers." My priority list was headed by 2006 or later to get tuneable drive-by-wire as a good tune completely transforms the car just by programming the ECU. This requires piggy-back or stand alone ECUs on earlier cars.

Other items on the list included matching numbers, under 50K miles, clean CarFax, etc. I was looking in June a couple of years ago and the priority list served it's purpose by eliminating otherwise good cars. The one item at the absolute bottom of the list was color. It's higher on other folks lists.

My rule of thumb for early summer prices says $20,000 is the target price plus or minus $1K every year older/newer than 2006 and every 10K miles less/more than 50,000. I wasn't willing to buy a car older than 2006 (priority to DBW) so mileage became paramount. Bought one with 38K miles (but buggered with black aftermarket wheels) for that $20K. The rule-of-thumb said it was a $21K car. Put OEM wheels on the car as soon as they could be delivered. I'm guessing the horrible wheels put off some customers.

Color for me was not a consideration other than last on the list. No surprise the car is silver as about 40% of the cars imported to the US were one shade of silver or another. Nice match to my Honda outboard engine!

-- Chuck