Greets to everyone. We just picked up our MY05 yesterday for $23.7 & change. Honda Certified - and here's the best (?) part - with < 9000mi on the clock - and still in original 3/36 for another week or so!

We know the car was a lease return, and it was returned to the selling dealer, which we bought it from. Either the original owner decided the car was too much for them, or they only drove it 3K each summer (we live in N. IL). Given the low miles, I'm worried about a million short trips being made with the car. We plan on storing the car during winter as well, so it'll continue to have some longer periods where it won't be driven.

Any advice on potential issues wrt the low miles over the past 36mos. are appreciated, as I'm not a professional wrench. I do maintain our fleet - but as you can see, none of the fleet has many miles on it yet (the Civic has the most, at just over 36K as of this weekend).

Why we bought the S2K:
-I've loved Hondas since my first one - an '88 CRX Si (yes, with the B16!) in Rio Red. To this day, THE most fun car I've ever owned (we'll see what the S2K has to say about that, I guess!). I've had my heart set on an NSX for a while now, but the right one hasn't come along yet. And it might never. So the S2K is to tide me over until then. Not that I'm 'settling' - but I'm not getting any younger, either.

-Not only does it have the performance & handling which I crave (especially enduring the 1.3L in the Civic for a daily commuter), it's a convertible as well. Bonus points with the wife, and I'm waiting eagerly for warmer weather, myself!

I got the fever about 2 weeks ago, when I passed my regular dealer, and there was a spotless MY03 w/ 41K on the pad - also in NFR, as it turns out. Stopped in, my salesman tossed me the keys and said "just be back by closing" We've steered a lot of business his way (both our own & friends), so we're very friendly with each other.

I was to find out afterward this car was an AP1. Wow...when people say "visceral" - that's exactly the right word for this car. Loud, brash, and begging to be pushed. Put the wife in the passenger seat, and she was grinning as widely as I was. Got back to the dealer and put some numbers together - $18K & change, and they'd put it through certification for us (it was on the Nissan side of the lot). Put a small deposit down & went home to talk about it - we both wanted the car, but I wanted to check out an AP2 before pulling the trigger.

Found an AP2 to scout out at a Carmax in Kenosha, WI. Yes, this was the car for us - one both of us could drive, & more usable torque down low, where we needed it. Was it the original design, as Honda intended ? No, and that weighed on me, as a purist. Was it a better car, an improved car? For us - it was. Now to find a certified one at a Honda dealer - an '04 or '05, so that we could eventually go the FI route if we wanted to later.

Two days later I found it on Honda's site. I had to look twice when I saw the mileage listed - 8997 miles? On an '05? Something had to be done to save this poor neglected car - and we were just the ones to do it. E-mailed the dealer - yes, the car was available, and oh, by the way - we're knocking the car down from 25.9 to 24.8 without even being asked. See you Friday.

Drove down to check the car out yesterday - it looked, sounded and drove absolutely new, inside & out, except for one very tiny gouge on the RR pass wheelwell, a slightly loose moulding trim piece on the RR driver wheelwell, and one pin-sized paint chip under the driver's side headlamp - all of which the dealer said he'd repair for us, or we could negotiate it in the price. So we did. 30min later, we sat down in the finance office with the car down to 23.7, and a 'we owe' in our hands for the dealer to fix the aforementioned items, and 4.9% financing, thanks to an AHF current special on Certified used S2K / Accord / Ody's that's going on right now (which also was a deciding factor for us).

The kicker? Having called my insurance agent a few days earlier, when we were scoping the AP1, the S2K is cheaper to insure than the Civic Hybrid, when you factor in the multicar discount. Go figure. I had to laugh at that one - but I remember that my old CRX Si back in the day was more costly for me to insure than a Porsche 924 at the time - so I've given up trying to figure out the insurance game from a logic standpoint.

Anyway, that's what brings us here, and you to the end of this post (finally, huh?) Reading through your boards provided a wealth of info when we were looking for our S2K; hopefully, we can contribute to the community as well.

PS: After we got the car home, I opened the pass. door to find two very neat / fresh holes drilled in the back door jamb. One is about 1/4" diameter, the other, above & to the left, is about 1/2" diameter. Any idea what these were drilled for? Carfax came out clean for the car, so I don't think it's for any collision-related stuff. Neither are visible unless the door's opened, and they don't exist on the driver's side door. Since I didn't spot them before I bought the car, I don't think we have recourse to have the dealer fix them - or do we ? I imagine it'll cost $400-$500 to fix it; we have a good shop that we trust to fix it correctly, and I think it'll be a war with the purchasing dealer (not our regular one) to have them cover it. I'll put this in a separate post as well, but figured I'd mention it here.

 

Welcome to the site, I have no idea about those holes.

 

congrats on your new car. just FYI, remember that having a clean carfax really doesn't ensure that the car hasn't been in an accident or been tinkered with...you could hit a pole, replace the front bumper, and no one would be the wiser.

 

Welcome to the site. Good MY with NICE low mileage, good find.
I thought the holes might be for rustproofing until I read "don't exist on drivers side"... certainly begs the question, why are they there? I'm not a professional wrench either, but if there is no sign of repair work (have you had the car on a hoist?) runs/drives good, the alignment is true and notice no unusual tire wear; I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

TYM2FLY - thanks. Yep - all those things check out; the car is perfect otherwise. But I've done some research and I think I know what's up - they were drilled in order to perform a 'paintless dent repair' in the rear qtr pass side, and they forgot to plug / seal them afterward.

Off to the body shop to confirm & have them go over the car with a fine tooth comb. Then to call my attorney and see what recourse I have - the car was represented as near-flawless low mile 'cream puff' (yes, I am quoting the asst sales mgr on the 'cream puff'...groan).

I should have been wary of that comment but dismissed it due to his 'slick factor' - it was at 10+, after he 'took over' the deal from the 'internet sales mgr' - it was obvious the first guy got a little flabbergasted at my initial offer - his quote, but as an OTD price including TT&L - hey - I thought it was fair, considering what new ones go for.

 

Probably dent repair. As for any recourse on that I doubt it. A lot of used cars have had dent repairs. I wouldn't sweat it. Congrat's!!

 

Nice pickup, any pics?

 

I was going to suggest the possibility of dent repair. Nothing wrong with that really. These fenders and quarter panels are pretty soft so be really careful about what comes in to contact with them!

It can also be a real pain to pull dents out of our quarter panels, so if it looks basically flawless then you can likely rest assured that it was a real professional who did the work, and did it well (aside from forgetting to fill/plug the holes).

Congrats on the new car and thanks for the story!