today i looked at a 2002 s2000. the design of this one seems different than one that i looked at last week. they are both 2002 but somehow the one from last week has a different front design. the front has a sharp break (like a V shape front). the one i looked at today is a straight horizontal design. when i was looking at the one from last week, i'm said to myself... do i have to bend the license plate in order to put it on? but with the one i looked at today, i don't have to bend the license plate. so my questions are...

1. are all 2002 the same or is there a cut off date where the design changed?
2. if there is, which is the earlier model and which is the later one?
3. also, do all 2002 have the transmission problem fixed?

any prompt response are appreciated since i'll be purchasing one of these tomorrow (6/27/2003) and need to make the right choice.

thanks

 

There is an optional front lip.

 

First of all, why consider putting a plate on the front? Our state requires them, but the police don't bother you if you don't give them a reason. I've had mine for 25 months and no problemo. Secondly, one of those Ss probably has some sort of front lip spoiler or something since ther has been no design change to the front end since production began.

 

thanks for the response. i think i'll purchase the spa yellow pearl s2000. however though, it's strange how the guy gets a hold of this car. i'm not quite sure if this vehicle has been abused before he got it or not. anyways, to make a story short. he got this vehicle from a dealer auction. at that time, it was only 3600 miles. now it's about 6000 miles. this car looks cool since it has the under front spoiler, the rear spoiler, grill inserts and an air intake. not sure who makes the air intake though. the muffler doesn't seemed to be the original either. looks like it's been replace by an aftermarket product. it sounds more like a free flow muffler. now to make things more interesting. this guy said he's some sort of designer (designing cross bars for mazda miata) and he has dealer privilege so he can attend these kinds of auctions and purchase car at wholesale price. maybe that's believable... but the purchasing process for this vehicle is odd. i'm about 1 hour away from him. the bank i plan to get the loan from is local. the story is, he wants me to email him personal information so he can write up a proof of sale and fax it to the bank. once that's done, we'll go to the bank and they cut us a check in the dealer's name. after all this, we'll take the check and pick up the vehicle. i'm still not sure. what if he's not really gonna fax the information to the bank. maybe just use our personal information for something else. i mean, u can't get any more personal than our SSN and/or Driver's License.

sorry for the long post. just thought it sound kinda odd.

 

He should not need your SSN for a proof of sale document. I don't think he even needs your address, only your DL.

The whole thing is really weird. Did he buy the car from the dealer or not? How did he manage to put 2400 miles on the car if he hadn't bought it?

It is belieable that he may have some sort of dealer privilege assuming his company buys lots of cars for testing purposes (trying out different designs at the same time). But then again they may as well get a dealer license and save even more....

 

he got the car from a dealer auction. though he's driving it. so it is odd. i mean i have seen alot of dealers drving cars off the lot even driving them home. but looks like this s2000 was bought and never set foot at the dealer. to me it seems like he won the car at the auction and use it as his daily driving car. the car even has the dealer license plate on it. it even has the little sticker on the window. all of this is just weird. is this some sort of business that we (the general population) just doesn't know about. like start your own dealer, buy some vehicles.... drive them for a while and sell them whenever you like. who knows maybe he doesn't even have a dealer (physical dealer location). maybe it's just a business name he started so he can get some dealer privilege to attend auctions and buy cars at wholesale price.

just don't know. we'll probably go directly to the bank tomorrow and have the bank do the paperworks. we'll probably not going to send any information until we talk to the loan officers.

 

From everything you have said, I'd be very leary about this guy AND the car. The car seems to have modifications that may mean the car has been hot rodded. Believe me, you wouldn't want that. If I were you, I'd take more time on this and make sure I got the right car and not a bunch of problems.

 

All you need for a dealers license is an office, a lot and a place to post your hours. There is a dealers fee as well, but it really isn't hard to start a "dealership" I looked into it last year to start my bike business and mostly for the exact privelage you are talking about. A dealers license does allow you to go to these auctions and it isn't that unbelievable that he would have one. All in all it really doesn't sound that wierd to me. I would feel pretty good about it especially since he wants you to go to the bank with him. If there is anything wierd, the bank people will most likely alert you. I would talk to the bank ahead of time to see what information he really does need and don't give out any more then that.

 

If it was me, the thing that I'd be most worried about is that there have been 2 previous owners, not just one = twice as likely it was abused at some point.

 

i ran a carfax on this vehicle. everything checks out fine. nothing wrong with it. this vehicle has 3 owners -- well... 4 including me. first one goes to someone who lease the vehicle instead of buying it. he was the one who modded the vehicle. i'm sure he pushed the vehicle to it's limit however, it still runs very smooth. the tires are still very nice. doesn't show much wears on the tires. then again, i'm not sure if they were the original tires anyway. it saids potenza p02 on it. are the original tires? if not, it's probably been really abused in order for it to have new tires with just 7K miles. my guess is that he probably wasn't able to pay for the vehicle or he's lease was over and had to return it to the dealer from where he leased from. most likely is that he wasn't able to pay for the vehicle since the carfax show's only 1 year of ownership for this guy. in anycase, the dealer now has the vehicle (making them the 2nd owner). they auction it and the guy who sold me the vehicle was the one who bought from the auction. guess he's the 3rd owner. so i'm the 4th one since i bought it from him. all of this took place pretty fast. the only thing i'm not sure is how long the 2nd owner has it. but the 3rd owner got it from the auction on 6/19 and i bought it from him on 6/27. this guy must've used it often or at least drove it somewhere far because the mileage reported at the auction was 5807 and when i bought it from him, it was 6700. in 8 days, he had put 900 miles on the vehicle. anyways, the vehicle still runs very good. it had the cheaper air intake mod (dragonr), front under spoiler, rear spoiler (all oem). all in all, it's still very nice. at least i don't have to repair or replace anything --- that's the good part.