Last Wednesday (10th Jan), I recieved an email from one of the members residing in N. Virginia. He had seen a post of mine regarding the fact that I am getting my S2000 in February from an out-of-state dealer. He understood that I haven't been able to drive an S2000, due to the fact that the dealers here will only let you drive if you buy. He asked me if I would like to take his for a drive " to get the feel of things ". I ,without hesitation, agreed to do so.

I am meeting him on Monday, the 22nd. I am going to drive his Yellow S2000. The exact same color that I am buying. He has even located some areas that are made to be driven by the S2000.

I am very impressed with his hospitality and wanting to make my S2000 experiance a great and memorable one. I guess this is the level of professionalism that you could expect from an S2000 enthusiast.

If you are reading this, thank you Aran. ( Siempre Fi )

-Chris

 

wow...cool guy. Dealers didn't want to let me test drive the stook in CA either. Probably because I'm 24 but I look like I'm 17 still so they didn't think I was a serious buyer. Oh well, enjoy your ride because I know I did the first time I drove the car.

 

Same here! The dealers look at me and almost smirk when they see a 21 y/o soldier looking at their stook. I can't wait to see the face of the dealer I am buying from in NY.

 

$tealers in the Bay Area are jerks for the most part... good salesman and practices are far a few between.

Case in point. Marin Acura wanted $38k for a USED S2000 with 20 frickin' thousand miles!

HELLO!!!

They treated me rather non-chalantly before informed them of what I had on order (e46 M3). Then I had about 3 people wanting to deal with me. I on the otherhand was out the door already knowing I could get a better deal elsewhere... and I did.

Enjoy the stook!

 

Yes indeed - a class act. Those of you young-looking, try to make a deal, sale contract with a small (i.e. $1,000) "fully refundable" deposit subject to "satisfactory" test drive, this may put you in the driver seat. I would never buy a car with out a test drive, and I don't think Honda expect you to.

 

I'm 16 and look 19, but I test drove beamers and S2000's without any question, of course I explained to em my situation and that I had the loot

BTW: I LOVE MY NEW YELLOW S2000, I feel like a celebrity, hehe. But I'm starting to get tired of people who sit there and talk to you about it for hours in the bloody cold. Eh

 

It occurs to me that many current owners have speculated about what abuse their vehicles sustained at the hands of "test drivers" before actual sale. This is a totally different vehicle in VTEC, but you can't break into that realm until after the 600 miles break-in period. It makes a lot of sense to me that many showroom vehicles have been VTEC'd before they were ready.
I cannot fault a dealer for being very careful about test drives. In fact I would strongly prefer to deal with someone who has such a prohibition!
The suggestion that someone who is ready to make a deal put down a deposit with the final decision riding on a successful test drive (with the dealer riding along to ascertain that no abuse occurs) seems like an excellent compromise. The other solution, as above, is for us current owners to work together with serious prospective owners to offer test drives (again riding along to protect against abuse), especially if our vehicles are past the break-in period.
My commendations to the generous owner who invited the prospective buyer to test drive his vehicle! But I wouldn't dis the dealers who refuse a test drive to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who wants a free joy ride at the expense of the future purchaser of a S2000.

 

Jon, obviously in your case there is not a problem. I would worry about this phenomena: 16 looking like 19, this increases exponentialy, so at 19 you'll be looking like 25, 25 like a 40, etc...too much sun is not good for you..

 

The same thing happened to me, so I decided to buy mine from a individual instead.

 

i'm 21 and look 16.. which is a major pain in the a$$ when dealing with any business.. so for any young-looking future s2000 owners.. i suggest you do what i did.. and hunt by phone.. spent about 2 months and found my s2000 at msrp.. had the deal in writing and my deposit down before they ever met me. i know there is no way that i could of walked into that dealership and pulled that off.

maybe i'll appreciate the ralph machio sydrome when i'm older but right now it sucks.