I'm not sure if this is the best place to write but here goes.... I have a 2001 Honda Prelude (sequential slushshift) that I am looking to trade up to the S2000. I've driven everything from base Miatas to a Boxster S and decided that the S2000 is the car for me, at a price I can afford!

I was wondering if people had tips on how to locate the new S2000 I want at the best price. (i.e. internet sites, etc.) How did you find yours, other than just going to the local Honda dealership? I don't want to get killed on markup, and this will not be a cheap car for me, so getting a good quote or deal will count for a lot. I feel great knowing that I've finally settled on a car (the only serious competition was from used Boxster Ss and Mustang GT convertibles but the S2000 was just plain more fun, plus it preserved all the stuff I love in the Prelude) but now that the hard part is done, I want to make sure I approach the last step (actually buying it) intelligently. With my Prelude I kind of just walked into the local dealership and bought it, and I'm sure I didn't get a good deal compared to most people. I'd like to try a little harder this time.

Let me know!

 

Since you said you were going to trade up, I would think that that is where your deal will be - trade in price. If your Prelude is in good condition and you don't owe anything on it, you should get a good trade-in price for it. It's hard to get aN S2000 under MSRP; however, others here have said they've done it. Also, check out all of the internet sites like carpoint to see what they have. Good luck on such a fine choice.

 

Dealership.

 

I called around to dealerships in the 3 state area around me. I ended up with the dealership I had been going to for the last 19 years for service. I was able to negotiate slightly under MSRP. Except for the winter specials in Chicago noted in the forum, most of the best deals recently noted are close to MSRP.

Good luck and get that S2000 ASAP. I saw ablack one out today and the guy driving it had a big smile on his face!!

 

Well, I'm happy to announce that after some chatting and deal-making, I have put down a deposit on a silver S2000, delivery date mid-June, at $500 below MSRP. WOO HOO!!!! I am blown away. I have two months to either clean up the Prelude for trade in, or try to sell it. I also have about $10k cash that I can put down, on top of the Prelude, so I'm hoping to walk out of the dealership with a S2000 mostly paid off. That's my goal.

A few dealerships were able to bring one sooner for around $1k over MSRP, but I don't mind waiting a bit since it'll give me a chance to work out my finances and fix the door dings on the Prelude.

So, barring disaster I guess I'll be joining the S2k club in a couple of months

Any advice on preparation for the car? Options? I like the look of the titanium shift knob quite a bit. My S2k will stay stock for a while, not big into aftermarket stuff. Has anyone bought the hardtop? It's something I might look into in September or October after the summer's over. (I live in Michigan, it's not 72 and sunny in January like it is for you folks in L.A.)

I'd also like to upgrade the stereo sometime.

Does anyone use this as a daily driver? That will be my S2000's role for the summer and probably part of the fall. I plan to look for a used beater in the late summer or early fall. I've driven the car a couple of times and feel that it's quite livable since I don't haul stuff around and can't fit more than two people in the Prelude anyway. I'd be very interested to hear from people who own only a S2000 on whether I should be able to enjoy it without much fuss as an only car for a while. My trip to work is 20 minutes of freeway driving on mostly unbumpy road...

Wow, so many questions I'm short on breath! I can't believe I just committed myself to buying a convertible car that costs this much! Woo hoo!

Since all of you presumably have been through this before, any other things I should be keeping in mind as I wait?

Oh yeah - any thoughts on trading in versus selling? Now I need to figure out how to get the best value for the Prelude, since I don't think I'm going to get a better deal than $500 under MSRP... if that's not good please let me know. The dealership was generous to me because that is where I bought my Prelude and my sister bought her Civic last spring....

 

Wow. A blast from the past for me.

I did put down that deposit from the previous post, only to have my beloved Prelude rear-ended and sent into a roll. I crawled out with only a few sore muscles, but the roof of the Prelude was a couple of inches lower than before, and every body panel was crumpled. Insurance said, "we have the tools; we have the technology; we can rebuild it, make it stronger, faster, newer." So it went to the body shop for three long months before coming out somewhat better than before. It was... the Forty Thousand Dollar Prelude. The shop couldn't get the Honda paint formulation to coat properly so after some discussion they decided to use the formulation spec they'd received for the then-brand-new '03 Mercedes SL500, and the result was the most beautiful silver Prelude ever.

The S2000 deposit was cancelled 'cuz the dealership wouldn't accept a damaged car (even if repaired) on trade-in. A year and a half later, the same dealership accepted exactly that car (freshly detailed) for what I'd have gotten for it if I'd sold it privately! And so here I am with the S2000 I always wanted.

Moral of the story: if at first you don't receive, wait a year then ask again.

 

congratulations!

It's weird that first they wouldn't take your trade-in but a year later they do. But I bet that's not the first time something like that has happened.

 

Story of presistence.