I was parusing ebaymotors looking at S2000 prices and comparing them to KBB.com, just to get a feel for what's going on in the market. The numbers were pretty different, up and down on both sites.

So then I ran a bunch of numbers on KBB to see how things progressed.

Some numbers

2004 S2000 Stock NEW
$31,795

2004 S2000 Stock with 20,000 miles in excellent condition
$25,795 $6,000
2004 S2000 Stock with 20,000 miles in good condition
$24,180 $7,615
2004 S2000 Stock with 40,000 miles in excellent condition
$22,295 $9,500
2004 S2000 Stock with 40,000 miles in good condition
$20,680 $11,115

Then I did value retention by age. I kept milage, condition, and equipment all the same at 20,000 miles and excellent condition. Base options.

2004
$25,795 $6,000
2003
$25,105 $6,690
2002
$23,585 $8,210
2001
$21,430 $10,365
2000
$19,130 $12,665

At a glance that's a confusing lot of numbers, but it's interesting. There's actually a pretty big initial loss in value (standard for all cars I suppose), but the 2003 and 2004 aren't that much different. Then it picks back up again and there's plenty of money going away as time passes.

I would say that this is somewhat inaccurate, as you would be hard pressed to find a 2004 that already has 20,000 miles on it, and a 2000, 2001, or possibly even 2002 with only 20,000 miles. I would assume that an average of 12,000 per year might be more accurate, but I'm tired of messing with KBB for right now, so if someone is interested they can run those numbers themself (:

 

The s2k2 that I am looking at only has 8k miles...

 

Interesting that the price for the MY00 goes back up

 

I don't think I follow you there. The 2001 came up as 21.4, and the 2000 was only 19.1.


There also doesn't appear to be evidence that the glass or plastic back window make much of a difference. I believe that's the only major difference going from 2001 to 2002.

 

I wouldn't be so sure about not finding low milage older cars. I think a lot of owners use the S as a weekend car. Even those of us who use it as their primary car may do much less than 12K per year. My 01 has just over 19K. At the OC dinner meet a few weeks ago I talked to another 01 owner with only 16K on his car.

 

I agree, there are lots of S's that have under 20k on them. My MY00 only has 12k.

 

still, it seems the S has pretty good retention in value.

losing only 39% in 4-5 years (we are in the 05 cycle now right?) is very good. Many domestics are at 50%+ lost value in just 3.

 

yes look at the m3's cost aroun 50-60k now for an 01 it's about 35k-37k maybe lower. only about the 4th year running. lost more then 25k now