Hardtop vs wheels
 

Folks, I need some quick opinions here.

Being married to an accountant has its disadvantages, and my wife would prefer I only buy items for the car that are likely to not drop in price over the years, i.e. they should at least hold their value. Bear in mind I'm in New Zealand, where there's a total of 309 S2000s, so the supply of parts is tight, but then so is the demand.

I was considering bringing a Mugen FG hardtop (genuine, not replica) into the country, however a nice set of S2000-spec 17in Mugen GP wheels has popped up on the local version of eBay. The wheels, with tyres and shipped to my door would cost a little less than the hardtop, which would still have to be shipped over here and fitted. In effect the (used) wheels + tyres would be about 60% of the cost of the (new) hardtop. Car is NFR, wheels are bronze, which wouldn't be my first choice but beggars can't be choosers.

I could just buy both but my wife controls all the most fun body parts in our relationship, and I still want access to them too. To make matters worse I only have 40 hours to make this decision before the auction for the wheels ends.

So...IF YOU HAD TO MAKE THE CALL AS TO WHICH WOULD BE THE BETTER INVESTMENT (80% FINANCIAL, 20% JOY), WOULD YOU GO HARDTOP OR WHEELS?

Another thing to consider is if the object got damaged, will it be covered? Sure in 5 years it might be worth about the same but if in 2 years it gets damaged and is not covered under insurance you are SOL. If you the car will just be sitting in the garage then sure it likely won't get damaged, (unless something happens while it's in storage, but if you drive the car a lot and say you went with the Mugen wheels, though unlikely, you may curb rash them or hit a pot hole, stranger things have happened.

Neither of those are investments - so I say buy whatever your heart draws you to...

Buy a hardtop. Even if the hardtop wasn't an option, I wouldn't even buy the Mugen GP wheels. As far as I know, all specs of the GP wheels are narrower than rear AP2 wheels. So buying a square set in either 17x7 or 18x7.5. No thanks, stock AP2 rear is 17x8.5. The GP wheels just seem like a downgrade in performance, and imo don't look good.

I prefer the look of the hardtop. The wheels not so much.

I'd buy the Hardtop.

A different, more interesting (my opinion) set of wheels later.

But....its summer, bruv.
are you a top down man? Is the hard top going to spend its time on the car or on a storage rack?

I can go top up or top down but my wife suffers constant and chronic headaches since she had a tumour removed about 5 years ago. I'm thinking a hardtop may be a good idea if only to improve her enjoyment of the car due to less wind buffeting.

I should point out the wheels are proper S2000 fitment, i.e. 17x7.5 ET52 and 17x8.5 ET59, so not the gammy 18in fitment. To complicate matters, a guy I know has just advised me he has a set of near-mint AP2V2s for sale that he'll give me for around $US670 with tyres, which is a mighty attractive deal.

You're in NZ, not Chicago. You bought a convertible. Unless it's for looks, and I agree the car looks better with a hardtop, get the wheels, if they're a size you can live with. Otherwise just get out there and enjoy your summer.

Your wifes issue may be the higher concern here then.

But for me, a hardtop is the last thing I would buy for this car. I live in the midwest US, so weather can change. I do not want to have to decide ahead of time to put the top on or not :) And if I had a hard top that allowed keeping the softop in place, that woudl just seem kinda dumb and I would never bother with putting he hardtop on. The hard top looks cool, but I am not paying $4000 for look cool :)

Now from my personal view, I buy parts that make mine better for autocross, so a hard top is just money I can use for parts or tires and so I really have no use for one :)

Plus, 95% of the time I am in the S, the top is down. Only if it is raining do I put the top up, and if it is light rain and I am on the highway I do not even put it up then since above 60mph I never get wet. When my wife is with me and we have been outside in the hot sun in the summer, we sometimes put it up to run the AC a bit to cool off, or if we take it out and her hair is fixed, I will then (if she aint happy ... I aint happy!). But with that amount I would never put the hard top on.

Now, if you wife will enjoy riding in it more with you with the hard top, then go for it. there is a lot to be said for that and it make the S2k investment something you both can enjoy (back to my statement above about her being happy! )

Like others have said neither are investments at all and I would bet that if you went to sell either in your market you would lose money thanks to the very limited demand for such items. If you were in the US then the hardtop would probably be the better choice but you'd still be out the cost of having it painted and it would still depreciate some. Modding a car is never a good financial choice (yes there is a very few examples where it works out but it is extremely rare).