lane_viper

Want to add too that the C5's don't require premium gas. I run it in mine, but it doesn't require it.

JacquesHaugh

Consider buying mid-winter as the prices will be lower and sellers are negotiable. Pay attention to ownership history and maintenance records. Winter = buyer's market. Spring = seller's market. GL

GuthNW

Good points.

xxyion

Hey OP not sure if you've managed to make your decision but I hope my two cents will help. Within the past two years I've daily'ed a BRZ (2016) and now I'm dallying my 2005 S2k.

As far as a daily is considered the BRZ is the most practical. With the fold down seats you can actually fit 4 wheels with tires on them In the back and still keep the front seat open for someone to sit in. They are super fun cars that like to get a bit sideways.

The S2k honestly I havnt had an issue with it being my daily. I have a hardtop for winter when its colder and I dont carry much so I havnt had an issue with space.

As for your budget is concerned, the main thing is your location. I'm in CA where you pay the CA premium for sports cars and I managed to find my AP2 with OEM Hardtop under 60k miles for 20k. Now granted thats a steal. But even looking on CarGurus right now theres a few AP2 with a little over 100k miles selling for around 15k. You'll definetly be able to get what you want even with your budget. Also reliability wont be an issue. I highly recommend the S2k over the BRZ in terms of reliability. Its Honda, its one of Hondas best engines ever. It will last you to 300k miles easy with maintenance. The FA20 in the BRZ is a fragile little thing. I have many friends who have blown their engines and they are stock everything. The FA20 just cant seem to handle what people what to throw at it like the S2k can.

Miata is a fun car. My roommate has the new ND and that is her Daily. (our apartment is filled with roadster enthusiasts). its great for her and she loves it. Good reliable car with a ton of pep.

Hope some of my information helps. As someone who has basically daily all the cars you have mentioned, my definitive choice is still the S2k. Its just so much better in every way in my opinion.

Jub

How is a hard top miata much more practical than an s2000? I just don't understand the logic here and how the garage/no garage argument fits into a buying a miata or s2000 if they are the same price point. I'm sure you hear less noise in the miata and it has less a chance of getting broken into/stolen. Then again, you're talking to a guy in college who probably has insurance. I'm not sure road noise is a big factor here and insurance should cover being broken into/stolen. I also think an s2000 will probably depreciate a lot less than a 15k miata.

Advising to buy an older miata with a hardtop for 5-8k is a different story entirely. I am just trying to understand the rationale behind buying a 15k miata compared to an s2000 at a similar price point. It confuses me. For the record, I'm a guy in his 20s who bought an s2000 before having a garage.

F1TwoThousand

S2000 is an interesting car in that it tends to be one of the cheapest garage queen cars you can buy. An S2000 easily can rack up 200K miles without issues it's basically an over engineered 90's civic if you look at it from a reliability stand point. You can buy a $15K S2K garage queen with say 75K miles, drive it another 75K miles and guess what? You would sell it easy with 150K miles at $10K the same day you'd list it. That's $5K for 75K hassle free miles in an extremely rewarding/unique vehicle. This is what makes buying an S2K such a great financial decision. As long as it's kept in decent condition it's very very hard for an S2K to drop under $10K as long as it's not salvage title.

Chuck S

Without wading thru this whole thread again I recall the OP has no garage to secure the vehicle and wants to put a hard top on the car so he can drive it year-round -- essentially turning it into a coupe which is much more practical for an only car than a roadster as well as providing security since roadsters can't be locked.

As noted I'm a slow learner regarding driving a roadster every day in other than darn perfect weather, I remember the snow blowing into my MGB even though the roof and windows were up! Yeah, a hard top fixed that.

-- Chuck

Jub

So this was kinda my point exactly in questioning buying a 15k hard top miata. Aside from the fact that a soft top is the least of my issues with it being a year round only car, I just think the s2k is better financially. I considered all options when buying mine and almost bought a CPO BRZ in 2015. Buying a $20k+ depreciating new vehicle that I was going to keep outside wasn't a better decision then buying a garage queen 2003 s2000 with 86k miles for 13.7k. I hated not having a garage for it but I was going to buy a car anyways. I thought I'd lose less money on an s2000 which I considered to be a nicer car and less of a liability from a financial standpoint than the BRZ. Either way, that 15k miata will be an 8k miata in a few years just like that 22k BRZ would currently be a 15k BRZ.

S2000s are special and all but they aren't classic ferraris. I wish I had a garage for mine full-time but I do have one loaned to me this winter season. I take care of my car and don't drive it in salt and rarely in rain. It's no collector piece but I don't anticipate any rusty bolts or massive blemishes from it sitting outside. I'll have my garage eventually and get to enjoy learning to autocross and eventually track my s2000 in the mean time.There's something to be said for being able to enjoy this while I'm young and not burdened by a ton of responsibilities. A smarter version of me would have put less skin in the game and bought a cheaper NA/NB miata for sub-7k but I wanted a stronger platform to start from. As an overall net expenditure, I was hoping/thinking the S2k wouldn't be that much of a difference over a miata. Hindsight, I do think a miata would have been significantly cheaper to me over my 3+ years in an s2k. Bigger tires, more power, more expensive/rare parts add up. On a positive note, I now have the AP2 I really wanted and don't have the itch (realistically) for any other car at this time. I just have the itch for a garage, bolt-ons, and seat time.

GuthNW

If I was into stealing cars I know that I'd choose the S2000 over a Miata or a BRZ (and it's other variants) for many of the same reasons noted above as to why a S2000 is more desirable than those other cars. That's why my biggest question when I see threads like these is "Do you have a garage to store the car in?". I believe the OP indicated that he does indeed have a garage, so all is good there. When I was in my 20's, I went out and bought my dream car. It was a 1967 Camaro convertible that was all original and in really nice shape with only 55K miles on it at the time. Some people told me I was crazy to own that car without a garage to keep it in. Even though I went to the effort to install a kill switch in the car, sure enough after about four years some asshole eventually made off with the car one night. Ever since that experience, I'll personally never own another car that I really care about (especially not another convertible) without a garage to store it in. The only smart thing that I did back then was to establish a proper insurance policy that paid me what the car was actually worth at the time it was stolen. Having my insurer come back and pay me only a fraction of what the car was worth after it had just been stolen from me would have really sucked.

xxyion

I think it also depends on area. I dont have a garage and I daily my S2000. It sucks, but I'm not going to wait till I'm 60 where I can finally afford a house with a garage. My area is pretty decent though and I'm not the only one parking their S2000 outside daily. So again it depends on the area.