Hi,

I'm looking for a commuter car that's fun to drive and good with gas economy. I've been researching the S2000, Miata, and maybe the Mini, further down the list are the Civics and cars like that. I'm only looking for used cars. Any recommendations/ideas?

Thanks!

 

Best way to go about picking up a used S2000 would be checking cars.com; autotrader.com; local dealer tell them you are interested and they usualy have no problem calling if they get one in as they want to sell it :-)

 

Check the for sale area on this site and post a "want to buy or wtb" Most of the members here take care of their cars very well even though they may drive them hard.

Try and stay away from ones that were raced on the drag strips, these cars were not made to be launched hard all the time for a quarter mile run.

 

no offense, but the S2000 is not really an ideal commuter car. 20/26 MPG isn't too great, esp when it takes 91 oct gas
not too mention the insurance costs, shifting in bumper to bumper traffic, limited seating/trunk space, etc...

 

Commuter Car: only if you convince yourself that you are an S2000 and it doesn't matter

Fun to Drive: Check

Good with Gas Economy: there are better. My '99 4Runner V6 and '02 S2000 get the same amount of miles on a full tank (ok, the 4Runner has a bigger tank and I get maybe 20 more miles out of that tank) and that was a big surprise to me. My wife's '95 Miata gets in the high 200's on a full tank.

I work a 5a - 2p shift so most of my miles are freeway miles. If I worked a somewhat normal shift and wanted to have more of a commuter car to keep the miles down on the S2000, I'd be looking for an '00 Civic Si Coupe. But that's just me. I had an EX for about 4 months. Loved the economy, but hated the power output.

just my 2 cents...

-= joe =-

 

with most of the comments posted above. However, on the other hand the S2000 engine is considered a Ultra-clean engine from the emissions point of view so it does not polute as much as some of the other vehicles mentioned. Also, depending on the operating RPM at only 2.0 or 2.2 Litres depending on the year it does not cycle as much air to polute as a larger displacement engine. Especially, if it is a none Ultra-clean emissions engine.

With all that said: My S2000 is my daily driver in the HORRIBLE Washington, DC Metro area traffic which is considered amongst the worst in the country. When confronted with traffic I put it in first gear and leave a couple of car lenghts in front of me and just idle along in first gear. This is best shown by the fact that I have over 32,000 miles on the original S02's on the rear. They are really hard to wear out at between 3 - 10 MPH in traffic :-( Although, when I have the opportunity I do V-Tec to merge into traffic and have enjoyed some aggressive drives along the way such as with the Hockenheim Group at last year's FCT2003, as well as several other "spirited" drives within the past year.

I have to say that during the fun parts of my daily commute, there are mornings like this morning where knowing that driving my S to the office helped me want to get out of bed.

 

I've had my S2000 for 4 years and 104k miles later, I feel that it is a perfect commuter car. I travel across Houston everyday and just love the nimbleness and the fuel economy. I've averaged 24.5 MPG so far, and can not think of any other car I'd rather be in.

Take one out for test drive through some traffic you'd be experiencing in your normal travels.

Good luck and be sure and give the S2000 a shot.

 

MY01 has been my commuter car for over a year. I drive in Los Angeles 25 miles each way to work. Fortunately for me, I take Pacific Coast Highway and a mountain ride every day to and from work. This is the most fun I have ever had commuting to work.
: D
As long as you have a back-up car (my wife drives a Jeep) for times when you need to seat more people or hardware, then the S2K is the car to get.

I love my S2K

 

www.autotrader.com was my best friend for about 3 months until i found my baby

 

I wish autotrader had a feature to email you new listings when they are added if they meet certain criteria. Ebay has this feature and it's great.

Repeatedly search autotrader and seeing the same overpriced cars week after week gets tiring.