An 06 in the color your want with 57k and is otherwise in good condition. Body, paint, interior, motor all good. NADA clean retail is $18500.
Considering the top damage, I'd probably offer $18000 for that.

I wouldn't offer more then NADA clean retail on any s2k. That's $16175 on an 04 with 50k.
Personally, I'd go for an 06+.

 

Well.. the only thing that's keeping me from purchasing a car is the interior color. I think the blue theme looks horrible, but the seller had it maintained by the dealer and it looks to be in great shape minus the 1" rip on the roof. He originally wanted 20k for it and I haggled it down to 19. It seems clear to me that these cars are high in demand as no one is willing to sell for below market value.

What would be your max mileage limit from a used AP2? At what mileage does S2k start having trouble?

Thanks again,

 

Dunno about the milage. A well maintained f2{0,2}c that is just street driven will probably outlast most of the rest of the car. I wouldn't have any problem buying an s2k under 100k miles so long as it's been maintained (oil changes, valve adjustments, etc) and a compression test checks out.

If you're not concerned about color/codes matching for resale value down the road, you could easily find someone to trade your blue interior to.
But if the color combo isn't doing it for you and you don't want to deal with it and the top, walk on. There's plenty of cars out there.

 

If you are picky (like I am) you just need to keep searching and be patient. When the car that rings your bell comes up, just get it, IMO. I was on the fence for color but when the perfect one for me popped up in Rio Yellow I went for it. I found I fell in love with the color despite a black interior. In a hot climate I thought the black interior would be death but I happily discovered that was not the case. Leather is much cooler than vinyl. (Plus I park in the shade and use a window shade for the seats.)
If you hate blue, don't get it. If you are indifferent to blue, it will grow on you.

Sometimes it seems reading these forums, there are a lot of problems with the cars but in reality its a very trouble free car if you don't make some classic mistakes and take care of it.

 

To me the small rip would be less discouraging than an interior color that you don't like!

My advice is to keep an eye out and be patient; the right one will pop up eventually... And be willing to travel for it. I drove 7.5 hours to find the perfect one for me. They're relatively rare cars so you kind have to expect that.

 

Thanks for the help everyone. I agree that I should be patient and keep an eye out for one that suits my need, however, it seems that lots of sellers "lie" to describe the condition better than it actually is. I checked out two vehicles over the weekend and they all had curb rashes, fender bender even though the seller told me it's in mint condition without any cosmetic defects. Sure, it sucks to be me for driving 90 miles out of my way to walk home empty handed, but I am unsure how I'd feel when I have to travel almost a thousand mile just to know I've been lied to.

 

Welcome.

If you get one check out the link in my signature.

 

Black Book gives the following values for an '06 w/ 57k miles.

Clean

$19,525

Average

$17,575

Rough

$14,000

 

Yours is, unfortunately, not an uncommon complaint. There are some sellers out there who don't lie and after a while, it seems to me, you begin to "read between the lines" and you have a sense of how straight the story is. Not always but often. Dealers seem to be upfront about things. They usually have good pics, good descriptions. I actually bought mine sight unseen and it was 2 weeks before I could pick it up. We did have a contractual agreement that if the thing was not as represented (If I found evidence of body work/damage) the contract was null.

I have a great deal of suspicion for the Craigslist seller. Not as much for eBay-seems like a more upfront crowd. That is a reason you might be able to get a local S fan to go and do a quick look to check it out for you before you travel a thousand miles.