[QUOTE]Originally posted by Howie
[B]Well I think resale value is an important consideration in the purchase of a car.

 

I'm sorry but doesn't a S2000 already smoke an IS300-- and despite that the cars are NOT even close to direct competition. The IS300 (and XVL) seats four and has a solid top while the S2000 seats two and has drop top. Making a 2.2L for the S2000 has NOTHING to do with competing with the IS300!! Waiting around for a 2.2L S2000 (or S2200) might be a long wait...

 

[QUOTE]Lesson number one: buying a car should not be considered a form of investing.

 

Waiting 25 years for a 100% return on your investment (while also running the risk of a loss) still makes a car a bad investment choice.

 

A car is not a good investment. However, if I had put the $32,400 in the stock market in Oct of 1999, it might be worth about $20,000 now.

I once owned a 1974 Bricklin which I purchased for about $7400. They only manufactured 2700 of these before going out of business. There may be 1000 left in the country and the price they fetch now is between $5000 and $12,000. Even low production numbers won't guarantee a good automobile investment.

 

OK... let's set this to rest.

If you had bought the right car at the right time it would be worth a lot today (see the Shelby Cobra example). But it's simply NOT a good investment in the grand sense of things. I don't remember off hand how much a Cobra cost retail but I'll just say $30k as a rough estimate (probably wrong). If you had invested $30k in the right stocks at the right time starting in the late '60s you would have a hell of a lot more than $250k. In fact, if you invested in a simple index fund you'd probably have between $750k and $1M. If, on the other hand, you'd invested in private equity over that timeframe you'd be at least a multi-millionaire.

Cars are fun. Cars are cool. Cars make us happy. But they are not, under normal circumstances, good investing.

 

Does investing in a shell and rebuilding it or building your own car count as an investment?

If you really want to look at it, a car can be seen as an investment for happiness among other things so it may be a good investment.

I think it is stupid to buy a car hoping that it will go up in price.

What I would like to see is a S2000 with a retractable hardtop though this will definately add weight and decrease performance.

 

My former partner paid $6,000 for his 427 Shelby Cobra in 1966 or 1967. He traded in his 289 Shelby Cobra.

I don't know if the $6,000 was after the trade or the price of just the car. I do know it was $6,000 because my friend has a copy of the bill of sale framed in his house, with Carroll Shelby's signature on it.

$6,000 was the price of three normal cars in 1966-1967.

Another friend bought a 911 for $6000 in 1969.

Barry

 

Sure because it was a TURKEY then and it is a TURKEY now. Brought to you by Malcom Bricklin who also brought us the YUGO. The only good thing the guy did was put Subaru on the map in this country.

Had you bought a Cobra in the late 60s (a DESIREABLE Automobile) you would have enjoyed it all these years for it's own sake, owned a piece of automotive history AND had something worth a quarter mil today. That is if you left it alone and did nothing to "improve it".

A 1969 $3500 Z28 is worth 50 thousand today provided you kept it original.

Any nice sports car from the late 60s early 70s (Pre Fed Regulations) is worth a nice amount today. Should you invest in cars instead of other more conventional investments? No of course not but good cars (read desireable cars) can appreciate nicely in value WHILE STILL BEING FULLY FUNCTIONAL AS CARS. Kept nice, kept original and kept for 25 years they will be worth much more than you paid for them as well as giving you years of enjoyment.

 

IMO, Honda is notorious for changing things in cars almost every other year! With that, I believe there will be a 2002 production year with a little more power/torque maintaining a 2.0 engine. Going to a 2.2 engine will be too much work and will add to the cost significantly. Also, I would think the MSRP will increase again a couple hundred dollars. They will also introduce the blue color!
My 2 cents donated!