You guys keep forgetting the most important thing - the practicality of the s2000. Most people don't DD the s2000 - it's their second car. When times get tough, 2nd cars are usually the first thing to go - they are semi-large investments that are easily liquidated. As others said, the market has become flooded with them and nobody wants to buy them (in a general consumer sense, not people on this board).

IMO, The perfect window right now its to buy lease return. You usually find them with lower mileage (people leasing them don't want to pay the mileage overage fee), dealerships don't really ask a whole lot for them because they don't own much on them (already been 1/2 paid off) , plus they want to get rid of them due to the fact that nobody is buying them.

 

If you're looking at them from an investment standpoint (a mistake) sure. However, the Z3's and Boxsters from the same era as the first S's were definitely not as good overall forcing BMW and Porsche to improve their offerings.

Personally, I don't care what the resale value is. It's how much fun the car is to drive that matters to me.

 

[quote name='takeshi' date='Dec 27 2008, 07:24 PM'] Personally, I don't care what the resale value is.

 

You still don't see decent mileage, bone stock, clean titled S2000s go for much below $12K.

I also agree you overpaid quite a bit. I would suggest you keep it and just enjoy it

 

It's not just you, and it's not just the s2000. A few months ago when gas was $5/gallon I had people offering me $10k for my 2004 Toyota Matrix. I wouldn't sell it because it got great mileage. Now I've bought my S2k and can't give the Matrix away at $7k.

 

If the economy bounces back in a year or two and people are getting jobs and working again, you'll be able to ask a bit more.

I'm sure that in 1999 you could get an FD or Supra for a pretty "reasonable" price relative to now (or more accurately, 2005-2007), since they were just used cars. Fast forward a few years when they're no longer in production and people want them because they're good looking, modifiable Japanese RWD sports cars... and they fetch a premium.

For those of us who are lucky enough to own well-kept, low-mileage S2k's with clean titles, we'll be able to get a decent kickback from them. S2000's aren't like Preludes or Civics - I doubt that it'll get to the point where you'll be able to snag one with a clean title and fair mileage for $5k.

I don't really care either way... I got this car with the intention of owning it indefinitely!

 

I think it's pretty obvious why your resale value is bad and why resale values are tanking in general:

1) You overpaid quite a bit for your car from the dealer.
2) The economy is tanking, my car has lost probably $3k in value over the past 5 months.
3) The ENTIRE automobile industry is failing (GM needing the government grant, dealerships offering ridiculous deals on new cars, dealerships going out of business).
4) For reference, I was looking into getting a Nissan 350z because those suckers are selling for under $15k (and these are not the base model and have around 40k miles). If you go check out their forums, they are having a much harder time selling their cars than us over here.
5) Its winter, worst time to sell a convertible sports car.

Sorry to rain down on you so hard but these are realities and we all have to face it. You should try holding off for a bit to sell your car if possible as right now is possibly one of the worst times to sell a Honda S2000 mostly second car weekend driven convertible sports car.

 

The price drops are really unbelievable. I totally regret leasing my S back in March, based on $34K.
Now, the same car is selling for $27K here in NJ, and probably lower every day. I get the whole idea of trying to clear out inventory, but when dealerships are dropping prices by 7 grand...wow.

Has anyone ever been able to renegotiate a lease?

I should have bought a used S. I have definitely lived and learned.

 

Well, like others have mentioned....you got screwed by paying $18k for an '02 with 70k miles.

But its definitely a terrible time for selling a convertible sports car, I had my '05 w/ 32k miles appraised when I went to test drive an STI last month...the dealer came back with $12k....I laughed and immediately walked out. It was insulting, but at the same time it made me realize how much a convertible drops in the winter and how bad the economy is. Good thing I really didn't plan on trading the S....