I finally had the chance to test drive an S2000.

I had to get my 2003 accord v6 serviced so I dropped the car off and wandered into the showroom. The first thing I see is a nice silver 2008 s2000 and within a few min a salesman shows up. Now I basically have never driven a manual transmission car except one time, and for about 5 miles total, but I know all the theory behind a manual car. So I just go with the flow and he ends up showing me an s2000 outside. He asked me if I want to drive it and I tell him I don't really have practice in a manual car but he told me he would drive. So we go on a little drive and then I just had to try driving it myself, so we switch.

So I immediately stall it, the clutch seems very sensitive. But then I get started again and its all good. I drove it on side streets for the next 20 minutes. Wow, what an awesome car is all I have to say, you s2000 owners out there are really lucky, why the hell would anyone complain about needing more speed? The handling is ridiculously good, infinite amounts of grip compared to an accord obviously.

After that great experience I tried out a civic si coupe. The inside is much larger (space is my only complaint about the s2000) and the clutch was much easier to modulate. Changing gears was also very smooth but it didn't have a chance against the s2000 in terms of power or handling.

I am really thinking about getting a 2004/2005 s2000, I don't think I would need another car after that for a long time, I would even go so far as to say its my "dream" car, its a real engineering masterpiece.

 

Has anybody recently bought a 2004 or 2005? What kinda prices should I expect, maybe $17,000-$19,000?

 

Depends on the mileage, but I bet you could get a low mileage 04 for 19k where low is < 30k. Not sure though.

 

You could definetly sell the Accord and pick up an AP1 for not much more.

I remember when I first drove an S2000 years ago I felt the same way you did.

 

That might be a bit low for an 04-05 unless it had alot of miles on it. '04s probably start around 17k and '05s around 20k. You might also what to check out the earlier years to see if you like those more.

 

I went to test an s2k. The dealer just said they dont test drive s200s and i said well how to people know if they really want one. He says well they usualy have already had one in the past. So i go to a private lot. I have never had any luck at private lots. Any way i ask the guy their and he is like the only way you can test drive it is if i have a check in my hand. I didnt show up in an old beater either. I was in my rsx-s wich looks pretty nice and all.


Any tips on how to get in one lol..

 

Do yourself a favor and get a Civic or something else cheap and FWD as your first manual car. Experience is the harshest, but the best teacher.

 

Hariku,

Do you look young by any chance (I'm 24)? Maybe if they think you're not serious (them pre-judging you because you look young) then they come up with some excuse for not letting you do a test drive. I know car salesmen are infamous for "profiling" even based on race/gender/age.

When I went in the salesman was pretty cool about it, I think he figured I might buy the car, but I was surprised he let me drive it AFTER i told him that I havn't driven a manual for a long time. I'm sure he could tell that during the drive especially since I didn't know how to get into reverse!

Paul S,

I was thinking about the civic si but I really didn't feel like I was getting any performance upgrade compared to my accord v6. It handled better but not that much better than the accord and it felt less powerful. Also I like the roadster appeal on the s2000.

I do understand what you're saying because I think a lot of new s2000 drivers might drive recklessly and don't respect the car's reflexes, but I'm a pretty conservative driver, at least until I know the car very well, I'm not trying to race it around public roads.

 

2 months ago I got a 05 Certified from Honda with 20K on the clock for $22,000 and that was pretty good.....so you would be in that price range....a little less for 04 and a few more miles but 17-19 might be a little low.

 

I don't even mean you should get a new Civic Si, either. There are situations you will run into where you won't know what to do in a manual. You will start panicing and stall or even worse, crash. This is true with manual cars and RWD cars. Combine both into one (RWD manual) + an inexperienced driver, and you've got a good chance of something bad happening. Not saying you will, but the probability is increased exponentially.

I would even get an old 240SX or something to practice manual + RWD. People have crashed their S2000's driving moderately and they really thought they weren't doing anything wrong. I call BS on those people and attribute their accidents with their inexperience and/or stupidity.

Seriously, get a cheaper car to practice on for at least a few months. Even if you wreck it--oh, well, it's a cheap car, not a $30k roadster.