I am about to make a deal w/ a dealer in the US for a 07 model. My only concern is that they are making me sign a waiver that US warranty is void in Canada. This is a little scary! But then again I am saving approx $10,000 compared to a Canadian 06. Will the warranty play in as a major factor in my ownership experience?

Also, how is the car in Edmonton winters? Is the front end too low to get around in residential areas?

How difficult will it be for me to sell the car in the future since it is an "American" car?

 

your car will be good in winter as many of us drive it in the winter
mine is older.. for the 2 years that i have had mine ihave had no problems...

for the savings... i think it is worth it!

 

I never had any warranty issues or claims with my 01 (bought new 03/01, sold last week)...was I just lucky, or is this something you could reasonably expect on an 07? Personally, I think that by not abusing the car (no burnouts, so speedshifting, etc.) the chances you'll never need to make a claim increase substantially. And if you're prepared to live with/repair minor problems yourself, the warranty is less important than someone who freaks out because the clutch is noisy, or the top rattles a bit, or a simple window relay doesn't function properly. A $10k cushion covers a lot of minor parts/repairs...

The S was never a problem for me through 5 Calgary winters...but that was running at normal height with no lip on the front, OEM or otherwise. Generally, the snow in Edmonton tends to stay on the streets a bit longer than here, but you'd be fine with good winter tires.

On the resale side of the equation, IMO not having a factory warranty would make the car a bunch harder to sell in Canada during the first three years of ownership unless the price was a bunch lower than a local car. Once the car is out of warranty, much less of an issue. Normally, anyone can go out and buy an aftermarket warranty...given that the car is new, don't know how these aftermarket warranty guys would view your situation, but could be worth checking out to cover any major failures. (I guess if you blew an engine or something else went horribly wrong, you could trailer the car back to the States for repair under the US warranty....but wow, what a PITA that would be.)

 

I agree with what was said about warranty vs resale...

As far as ride height, we've had a few winters in a row with hardly any snow. As long as you have 4 winter tyres, you should be fine... Unless we get a lot of snow this year in which case you'll have about the same amount of trouble as everyone else not driving a truck.

Good luck!

 

What you save now on the purchase price will quickly disappear if you decide to sell the car anytime soon. If you're planning to keep the car for 5+ years then I'd say save the money and buy a US car.

 

Well I do plan on keeping it for a while. Is it worthwhile even w/o a warranty? I'm assuming that the S2K has been in production long enough to iron out all the wrinkles...

 

Well, as gcurnew pointed out, if you're willing to take care of some of the minor issues that'll come up with this car on your own then don't worry about warranty. But if you're the type of person that complains about everything that goes wrong then you're gonna want warranty.

The S2000 has tons of nagging issues, but none of them are serious and they're all the sorts of things that you can work on yourself without any real mechanical background.

 

I think you're good with the 10K savings. Even if the engine goes, you'll come out even, worth a chance on the potential long term savings.


I might be a bad example but I've had:

a new short block and head components work done.
new transmission gears from 1-3 put in.
slave cyclinder replacement.
time chain auto-tensioner replaced.

I think that is it, otherwise the S is great in the winter.

 

Thanks for the feedback!!

I'm currently researching AFTERMARKET WARRANTIES. I heard you can purchase them at a fair price and service your vehicle at a Canadian dealer under this plan. Does anyone have any experience with this??

 

Hi there could you tell me where in the US you are buying your S2000