Haha, it is funny reading all these replies and arguments for and against the S2k. I have experienced this phenomenon in my line of work as well. Being a technical support agent for a very large internet company, I see all of the negative experiences that many of our customers have with our service. Like many others have said, you will only see most of the negative side of things with this car on the boards.

Once in awhile we receive some compliments but those are few and far in between, same as in these boards here. But in comparison to the millions of customers we have, and the few thousand complaints, it only makes up about 2-3% of our customer base having problems. But since the majority of the people who call or write in are doing so because they are having problems, we only see the negative side of things and we see 98% of the customers having problems with only 2% happy.

Like our support services, the internet boards are also a place where people will voice their concerns, problems they are having with whatever products or people. Seldom do people say "hey, such and such is working great!" Most people post issues they are having to see if any others had that same issue and can offer solutions.

That being said, I only have one issue.. 2nd gear grind, and it is a 2001. Checked my sparkplugs and they were all nice and tight, back window looks fine for a plastic one so crossing my fingers, the tranny is my only issue. I had the same issue with my 2000 Si but after driving it 50k in two years, it held up fine. I admit that I am biased but I am not fooled into thinking that Honda is the best company in the free world but it is a company that makes extremely efficient cars that are very low in cost to maintain. This is my 5th Honda and I had a blast driving every single one of them. Starting from an 86 Accord LXi (120k miles), to a 90 Accord (189k miles and still running at 250k miles on the original motor and tranny, no rebuilds yet), to a 99 Civic EX, 00 Civic Si, and now my S with 4k miles after 3 weeks.. I also owned a 1980 Toyota pickup as my first mode of transportation and that thing was damn near indestructable.

My parents on the other hand, owned more domestics and one German car. None of those cars, made it to 100k without having something replaced or rebuilt. Amongst those was a 78 Olds Cutlass that needed a tranny rebuild after 80k miles. An 84 Cadillac Eldorado that needed the exhaust system replaced at 40k miles do to it rusting out. Also had the auto ride leveling system go out the first day we owned the thing. Lastly, a 90 Mercedes Benz 300E. That car had too many little problems to enumerate but it amounted to approx 500-700 per month in repair costs. Now they have converted over to owning a 94 Toyota Previa and a 97 Nissan Maxima. Both are flawless needing only the standard oil changes and such.

But back to the S2k, I can't think of any other company that makes a sports car/roadster that costs so little to operate, gives the fuel economy, power, and handling prowess that this one does for less than $35k. But that is just my opinion..

Even with it's quirks, I love to drive it, top down cruising along the beach, or carving up a mountain road, it will bring a smile to your face..

Happy motoring!

 

Why do people always bring this nonsense up? Who the hell is Alldata anyway? If I were a car manufacturer, I wouldn't want information as important as TSBs and recalls to be reported by third parties either. Honda's TSBs and recalls are available at the NHTSA site as they've always been:

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/

As for dealer service, please remember that car dealers are weasels first and formost and that is regardless of manufacturer.

 

Alldata is a well-respected and widely used source of TSBs and repair information for independent shops that don't have access to factory materials- Alldata works with different manufacturers to centralize this data and sell it to independent shops.

Honda shops do get this info from Honda directly. Independent shops can't. The NHTSA can't provide the level of detail, either, that Alldata can (but at a cost).

 

I guess I've just been very lucky. I haven't "experimented" any problems whatsoever with my S2000 except a defective window regulator.