Have any of you ever considered buying an M Roadster instead of an S2000?
 

I am in the early stages of looking for a Sunday car as I'm looking to make a purchase within the next year or so. I had a 2002 S2000 over 10 years ago and I've wanted another one ever since I sold it. I am 95% sure I'm going to buy another S, but I am still looking at other cars as well since I have a while.

One of the cars I'm interested in is the M Roadster, specifically from 1998 - 2002. There are features that I like better about the BMW, and features that I like better about the S. I'd think that the BMW would cost much more to maintain, but I've never owned a German car so I'm strictly going by hearsay. The rear tires must be very expensive. I'd also have way more options with the S, as there were about four times more of them made than the first generation of the M Roadster. My budget is around $15,000 and I won't buy a car with more than 75,000 miles. I've found a good amount of S2000s to sift through that meet my budget, but only a few M Roadsters. On the other hand I love the look of the M Roadster, and the exclusivity of it is nice.

So for any of you that considered an M Roadster or even drove one, why did you buy the S2000 instead?

I think you can probably get a better S for $15,000 than you could an M. A poorly treated Honda will last a fair bit longer than a poorly treated M. I dunno, I really like the M, but I feel like a $15,000 one would be a gamble.

Which features on the M do you like? Maybe some mods on an S2000 can make up for it?

I like how wide the rear looks on the M, and part of me probably would enjoy owning a BMW. I've only owned Japanese cars and I've owned a lot of them so it would be something different.

My last S was modded more than I'd like now. I think the most I would do is add on an OEM front/rear spoiler. Since the car would most likely be 12-16 years old I'd probably concentrate on the paint, wheels, interior, and anything mechanically that be wrong with it to get it to be where I'd want it.

I was cross shopping a Z4 3.0Si with the S2000 looking back as someone living in Florida i regret not buying the Z4. For the price of my S i could have bought a sub 60k miles 06 Z4 3.0Si with torque for days and still a +7k redline. I do not like the S2000 seats and the Z4 has fully adjustable seats, no canyons to carve in Florida so a less hardcore roadster would have fit me better.

I think only the ones with the S54 engine could be argued better than the S2k, and those are far more than $15,000.

An 18 year old BMW? Sure, that won't need lots of costly maintenance at all!

I've sworn off German cars. I did most of the wrenching myself. Even then it was costly. And they can be very frustrating to work on. Everything is overengineered, overly complicated. Nothing comes apart easily nor goes back together easily. Lots of specialized tools required. Every task is a total pita.

By comparison Japanese cars seem like magical unicorns that never break down, never leak oil and are easy to work on.