Hey, I'm checking into a few different cars up for sale, even though it's a bit earlier in the year than I had planned on buying. Prices have seemed to drop a bit over the last few months and I'm starting to come across cars that seem to me to be good deals.

What do you think a 2000 S2k with 105,000 miles on it is worth? The car is coming from a dealer, if that makers a difference.

Figure it has normal coulpe dings/scratches but nothing major. No major mechanical problems either.

 

dood, 105? that's just a freakin high amount of miles. but i'd say around 12 g's, tops.

 

Yeah, I agree 105k is a TON of miles, but if it has had service, it should be fine. I'd like to find a bit lower mileage, but high mileage wouldn't bother me that much.

 

Kelley Blue Book lists the "dealer price" at just over $16k, while a private party sale suggests just over $13k.

Mine (on the other hand) is priceless!!!!!!

 

Yeah, I checked the book values. NADA seems to grossly overestimate the price on this car (15k for an 00 with 105k). Dealer is asking 13,500. KBB says trade in should be around 10-11k which sounds reasonable for the asking price.

If I get it to 11-12k I might spring for the car. The only thing that would concern me is the health of the tranny/diff. The rest I can replace or rebuild easily and cheaply enough...

 

This is the first year car, and it's very high milage. The upside of that is that it should hold it's resale value very well. I say that because this is probably the cheapest S2000 you can find to buy right now. And when you go to sell it, it will still probably be one of the cheapest on the market. So the universe of potential buyers who can afford it will be large. And it will be attractive to many of those potential buyers due to the low price.

Andrew

 

Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of getting in on the bottom rung, so to speak, since many times it is a much better idea to spend a bit more and get a whole lot more car for your money. But, it does sound like s2k's take the mileage well and, if maintained, should be solid for 150k+...since I can't seriously see putting more than 75k miles on the car while owning it, high mileage may not be a big dealbreaker.

I'm leaning toward waiting for a lower mileage car to come along this fall/winter and hopefully paying around what I would for this. I don't plan on putting the car on the road until the spring, so I have some time to wait.

 

That's a lot of miles for a performance car...

Just remember, even though some S2k's will probably crack 150k miles without anything "too" major, some will need a new engine at 100k. If you're buying a $12k car because it's all you can afford, LOOK ELSEWHERE! If you're buying a cheap weekend toy and don't want to spend a ton of money, this could be an okay option.

 

It will be my only car, but not a DD. I live and work at school, so not having transportation is fine (I sold my last car in like Feb and haven't had anything since). I certainly can spend more than 12, it's just a matter of how much I want to spend on a car. Max price range would be ~16k.

As for maintenance or major repairs, they aren't a huge concern to me. We've rebuilt a couple engines here at school, my dad has a killer garage that is only 2.5hrs away, all my friends know and work on cars...etc etc

So, if there ARE major problems (like an engine rebuild), it wouldn't be a big deal but obviously wouldn't be something I'm happy about. Money isn't a huge concern, it's not like if I buy a 12k car then I'll have no money to fix it. $3k in repairs could put a dent in my cashflow, but even that would be OK if necessary.

 

there was a MY00 with under 20k miles on craigs list FOREVER for $19.5 with a clean title/ OG owner. There is no way that 80k less miles would not be worth 6g's more. There are sloppy seconds, then there are scabs on the hooker...
IMHO