s2kx2

And in January 2018 at the Mecum auction in Kissamee Fl. a single owner 2003 with 885 miles sold for $71,500.

rpg51

What is "reasonable mileage.? 18,000 miles?
Number of owners? Would 2 qualify?
My guess is no - you will need under 2500 miles and you will need just a single prior owner to qualify for this kind of appreciation.
I think I'll just stick to my plan and drive the heck out of my 03 when I retire and the time comes to pull it out of mothballs.

Hertz Donut

I'd say over the years S2000s will hold a certain appeal to die-hard sports car enthusiasts, but they'll always be a second tier automotive investment. As more and more of them are crashed, modified and otherwise fall into disrepair, values for well-maintained stock and near-stock examples will climb. I don't think they'll hit air-cooled Porsche 911 levels of hysteria, where anything still mobile under its own steam seems to make a solid return, but I reckon over time things like number of owners and mileage will become less important to "lower level" investors, as long as the car itself has been kept in good order. Rich guys will snap up all the truly low mileage, mint examples, while the rest of them will be cleaned up by the wish-I-was-rich guys and bandwagon jumpers.

I don't know if they're going to follow NA1/NA2 NSXs, A80 Supras and R32-R34 GTRs into the stratosphere, but I reckon as an investment they'll hover around the level of things like FD3S RX7s, S15 Silvias, Z32 300ZXs and the like. Come to think of it a nice Z32 would probably be better as an "investment" right now, but I'd hate to maintain one.

s2kx2

Well I guess that would depend on overall condition. But if a single owner flawless unmodified Rio Yellow Pearl with OEM options and top sold last year in Washington with 41,387 miles for $39,900? it once again depends on what the person is willing to pay and if they "get it"...

JacquesHaugh

The closest you can get to a new car is new. A fully restored car could get close, but would never be original. Not to mention you could spend $40k restoring an S2000 and it still wouldn't be a low mileage original. Value goes up exponentially the lower the mileage gets. There's a certain feeling / purity that one feels from seeing under 5 digits on the odometer. The bottom line is scarcity. The car is an automotive icon and ultra low mileage cars are so rare they stop being cars and start being collectors items. There are other icons out there that span automotive history and all are valuable. Given the current economy those cars have boosted. There are far more desirable cars. Just imagine if an 88 Hellrot M3 showed up with under 5k miles on it. Insane money.

To think of it another way - let's say your first sports car was a red S2000, you sold it, kept fond memories of it, and felt a personal connection to the car. Then 20 years down the road you were making a half a million dollars a year. One shows up and you have the means and space to keep it as a collectible. It's part of your personal history and you want to keep it around (see: parking it next to his dad's red S800). At that point 50k is a steal. Sometimes it's nice just to have something to remind you of things that made you happy in life. I barely drive one of my cars and keep it around because of what it means to me as an artifact, not a car. Much like you might have a souvenir from your first trip abroad where you had a ton of fun and great experiences.

The beauty of this is that this car will hold its value and appreciate. People who are nostalgic about old cars get older while the cars "stay the same age." The difference between young and old people is older people have a lot more disposable income.

GuthNW

Will people still find cars like the S2000 desirable in the future when nobody any longer understands how to drive a car with a manual transmission?

Hertz Donut

I think as long as there's still oil coming out of the ground there'll always be enthusiasts who'll want to keep the skill alive, much as people do with things like traction engines and vintage cars that don't use the same pedal layout as modern cars. Part of the reason I went for an S2000 rather than an R32 GTR or the like was that it's a fairly simple vehicle all things considered, and there's less to go wrong. As time goes on and ICE vehicles fade away, skills will be lost and simpler vehicles have a better chance of survival. I don't know what it's like elsewhere but in New Zealand it's already getting harder to find someone who can properly tune a more elaborate carb setup.

Of course that's all "far into the future" thinking, but it'd be nice to pass something on to my children that they'll be able to work on themselves without having to track down some mythical 104 year old Japanese guy who lives somewhere in the Kitakami Mountains. I do, however foresee a future in which the only thing left on earth is cockroaches driving Miatas.