In response to a question I received (privately) I paid $20,000 for my '06 S2000 in July 2014. The car pictured two posts earlier. 38,000 miles, excellent condition body and all VINs ("matching numbers"). Car had been dealer serviced (including the brake booster recall) and professionally detailed. Car was on the dealer's showroom floor. I possibly overpaid but after looking for several months I wasn't about to quibble over $1,000 and the horrible aftermarket wheels.

Fitted refinished OEM AP2V2 wheels within the next month. I forget the source. I Sold the black wheels and (also horrible) Dunlap Z-spec-something tires easily. You can usually ignore exhaust noise but never tire drone! Fitted wonderful Bridgestone RE-11A tires in OEM sizes. These are, sadly, no longer available and have nearly 12,000 street miles on them. Tread is still good but a replacement is probably due this summer.

A priority list will create a short list as you look at cars. The main function of the list is to exclude cars, not pick them. Perfectly nice 2005 and earlier cars were not even looked at as 2006+ was at the top portion of the list. Same for cars with 60,000 miles. Since the market for these cars is fixed I was prepared to change priorities if necessary and the aftermarket wheels violated a high priority for a "showroom" car. Once on the lift the wheels came off in less time than it took to type this so they didn't exclude the car. Wide wheels and flared fenders would have though.

My car source was AutoTrader.

-- Chuck

 

Thanks Chuck and everyone else for some great responses. I just checked craigslist and a 2006 identical to yours, also with 38k miles, was just listed for $20,500. I would be all over that one but I really want all black interior. I'm tempted, but I'm going to wait and get exactly what I want. I am now leaning towards the 2006 and later because of the traction control and the possibility of tuning should I later decide to.

 

I was watching over a year and a half for the right s2000 to come along. About 6 months ago I started watching more aggressively for the right one. I wanted 04-05, NO RUST, sub 100k, not slammed, no fender pulls etc, paint in decent shape, color, etc. I was ready to fly down to TN to buy an 09 NFR from a guy who wanted a Wrangler, but he was incredibly difficult to deal with, had temper issues, and I just walked away from it. Few months later I found the right one and flew to NC without a return ticket to buy it. The seller had record of all work that was done since he owned the car, Blackstone oil report, completely clean carfax, OVER 100 pictures online from every angle, compression test results, and a long description of his ownership experience. I talked to him on the phone and he was completely up front with me about anything wrong (cup holder and Cat was bad). I offered him a number and he countered with a little higher but he replaces the cat. I accepted and he ended up giving it to me for $100 cheaper since it cost him less for the cat than he thought. The guy took videos even though I said he didn't need to. He even held the car for 1 week until I could fly halfway across the country and then picked me up from the airport. During my inspection he even pointed out more things I should check for the next time I buy an s (if ever). 2 hours later I was driving back with my first s. Absolutely amazing seller. The seller makes all the difference. You're paying them, so don't settle for someone that won't answer your questions or seems flaky; it's just not worth it.

Edit: Also, during my search, I made a spreadsheet of every year, mileage, condition, and price of cars in the "What did you get your s2000 for" thread. Every single car in that thread for the past 2 years. Then I fit a trendline for each model year according to mileage and price. I then used that to decide what fair price was.

 

I'll never understand comments like "there's just not enough of them". Honda imported 60k+ in to the US. We aren't shopping for a 993 here. The S2000 is not an exotic.

Giggle all you want and make up any excuse to justify purchasing a car missing VIN stickers but there are far too many of these cars out there to settle for second best.

 

You're right. The S2000 may not be truly Rare but in my part of the country they're at least medium rare. You can probably find a car matching any priority list if you look long enough. Depends on how specific your dream car is. I didn't care about color but am happy with it. Years ago I ordered a CRX the first year it came out. Pretty sure it was a 6-month wait and I took the next car delivered regardless of color. Fun car if you drove it like it was fast -- it wasn't but

Color preference adds to the rarity. If ya want an '06 or later Silverstone car there were only 2300 of them imported (about 3.4% of the 67,000 imported). Want that with the all black interior the available number drops to 1100 cars or 1.6% of the original cars. And, no doubt a minuscule percent of the cars for sale. One shade of silver or another is the predominant S2000 color but the '06 Silverstone with black interior only shows 272 cars imported making it the rarest color that year (CRs were still a couple of years away).

The exact car may or may not be out there at any particular time and location. My search area was limited to Cleveland and Columbus. May have gone to Cincinnati or Pittsburgh. Maybe.

-- Chuck

 

You're either taking my statement out of context or I didn't make it clear. I meant that you can't always find the PERFECT car because there's just not enough PERFECT cars. What I mean by this is kind of what Chuck said. If your criteria is All VINs, under 40K, clean title, and a particular color, you might not be able to find it within a reasonable distance. I hope you do, but you might not be able to.

This car has been out of production now for 7 years and kids wrap them around trees every other week. I know there are still plenty of them. But, in my opinion, having all of the VINs should not be the very first main criteria. Maybe it was yours, and that's fine.

I'm not making any excuses for getting a car without all of the VINs. My car is perfect for me. I saw it was missing the door and bumper tag when I bought it and I didn't think twice about it. It drove as straight as my last S2000 and the papers were clean. And aside from the missing VIN, no signs of an actual accident.

The S2000 can certainly be rare in many parts of the country. When you start looking at all of your criteria..

 

I looked for many months and test drive two 00 MY and 1 03 MY before buying an 04. As stated above, I wanted all VIN in place knowing it holds a better story when I resell the car (if ever) and therefore I was not picky on color, I truly liked all of them. I ended up getting a Sebring silver with 53k and one owner, with the black and red interior. For me it became the perfect car the moment I walked up to it and knew it could be mine. These are fantastic cars, I now understand why they are so desirable...especially if you spend the money for a cold air intake! Car sounds amazing!

 

Thanks for all of the advice everyone. I just returned home to WV from Nebraska where I purchased a 2006 with red/black interior, all matching VINS and 39k miles after the 1000 mile drive home. It is totally stock except for the stereo which has a newer head unit, new component door speakers and an alpine amp which just saves me money since I was going to do that anyway. The only thing I am going to change is to add BYS lowering seat rails because I'm 6'2" and performance tires. It has Kumho all seasons on it and though they are in good shape, I want to the the most out of the already great handling of this awesome car. Any tire advice is welcome. It will be just a fair weather car but getting caught in rain is unavoidable in my region so wet traction is important.

 

Do the rear axle re-torque and check the valves.

Pilot Super Sport Summer.