Don't buy the car to boost your image. Make sure you really love the car in order to actually be willing to clean out your checking account for it.

You can also try to find preapproved financing from your bank... and you can compare the rates of your bank versus the dealer rates.

Don't willingly allow people to walk over you.

Anyway, I personally don't think that any car is worth cleaning out your checking account for. Perhaps you should just consider a cheaper car. I can be just as happy driving a Civic. Of course S2000 is better, but when you don't VTEC it, it kinda feels like a Civic anyways... except the ride is a bit rougher and it's not as roomier...

 

People from the snowy atlantic seaboard, please don't bother speculating on the value of an S2000 in Southern California. You don't know what you're talking about. Thanks!

 

Computers are a wonderful thing, Manheim online shows all there owned auctions around the country including cali. I do speak from authority and 20 plus years in the car business. Sorry for trying to help out a soon to be fellow S2000 owner.

 

Whoa! that price is really high. I bought my MY'00 used with 75k miles on it for $15k off a private seller. I took out a bank loan at 8.2% and I'm only 18 years old! You can get a better deal out there. For $20,000 you can buy one off a private seller with less than 20K miles on it.

 

You should try http://www.autotrader.com

good deals there and legit people. I've bought 2 cars from there before with no problems. THe reason being, the ads cost 75 bucks to post so only serious sellers are willing to put up that kind of money so you get a pretty legit car. Well good luck hunting.

 

[QUOTE]Computers are a wonderful thing, Manheim online shows all there owned auctions around the country including cali.

 

Just throwing this out there.. Being from the midwest, and winter approaching you can get an s2k for a good deal from what I've seen. It only costs about $500 to ship a car, so why not buy one cheaper with less miles and ship it? Ideally from a Honda dealer that has it certified.

Also check out cafcu.org for auto rates, I got 5.25% on 72mo.. The difference in rate would mean you finance 100%, keep your $2,000 and your payment would be about the same.

 

A good source for comparison shopping is autotrader as pointed out before. There are several cars with that mileage on them in the price range I suggested. The price I suggested is the most i would pay for it and a very reaosnable offer for them. From a dealer's stand point An 80+ thousand mile 03 is not a real desirable car. Our cars have a really good resale but 57% with 86,000 miles is a little much. Just my .02. Good luck with your purchase.

 

Believe me, I did my research, including financing options (I still have an active long thread at credit board forum regarding how to get the best rate/loan). And I also consider buying a used car from dealership my last and final option (I've searched Autotrader, Cars.com, ebay, biglot, lycos auto search, Craig's List CA, NV, TX, AZ, UT, and even WA area). I've opened a thread in the Car for sale forum and got no reply for over a week now. The problem is, compariable model with industry average mileage costs over $20k here in SoCal. Plus if I do buy the car from other states, perhaps I have less power to haggle the price and I must register the car here in CA, that means at least another $1500 to pay tax (making a $15000 car $17000 to purchase). I was hoping the dealership would do all the work while the price include everything.

I suppose sometimes you win, then some you lose. I bought my first Honda back in 01, it was a nice green Prelude SH with 34k miles. Ad price $15900, I took the car home by writing a $16600 check. That car last me till my birthday (June 4th, 03) when I relocate from TX to Socal. 30+ hours with no sleep in a packed car + thunder storm + twisty sandy road = car hit the mountain. I manage to get $13300 from insurance, paid off all my debts and bought a 90 Supra turbo.

I think I owe it to my Prelude, an SH model wiped off from the face of the earth because of me. I guess the Honda God above would bless me when I take home an unwanted S2000. Unfornately there is really no chance I can get that 03 S2000 for $17k. The reason is simple, the same dealership have a 01 S2000 for $17.9 (White/red with AEM intake and 79k miles). Dealer would simply point me to that car and happily sell it for $17k.

I was pretty surprised at the price people selling S2000 around mid-west area, even in my home town Houston you can find bunch of good deals. But! If you consider the HOUSING price here in SoCal, paying $2000 extra for a enthuist car is consider the norm.

 

In texas at least the DFW area you could easily get that for like 15-16 probably OTD since there are several 00-05's with miles from 4k-45 that are anywhere from 20-24k