ij0rgei

my story goes like this... i had originally wanted an STi for the longest time. probably since back in 2003 before it had even came over yet. i had been working and waiting but nothing ever came. always had problems in purchasing it, like losing my job a week before i was going to get it. you know, crappy situations like that. so my parents had agreed to help me buy a car, and they started at 15k. i cant get an STi with 15k. so i looked around for some RX7s and most of them were around that price range. so i was about to have settle on that, but then i saw a picture of a yellow s2000, and it made me think again. thats where it all started. i slowly talked my parents up from 15k to 19k. then 19k to 25k. then i said screw it, lets go with a new one. it basically sold itself when i told them it came with a warranty. my mom likes that stuff. we talked to scott, and he set me up. im actually happy with the purchase of the s2000. i recently drove my friends STi, and i dont think it would have been as much fun.

SpeedxRacer

It was simple for me... I walked in sat in the drivers seat and said this fits me like a glove so I bought it.

tcjensen

Before I knew anything about cars, I passed up the dodge stealth twin-turbo all-wheel drive manual for the front-wheel drive na automatic because it was "closer." Then, as the car fell apart, I learned about cars very quickly and decided I would do it right the next time. I went to chevy/subaru to trade in the stealth for a wrx. When they quoted me 17% interest, I left in a chevy blazer, and spent a year building my credit and trying to decide between the 350z, wrx, and s2k. As soon as I got a better interest rate, I drove the sti and was blown away by the acceleration, but couldn't figure out why it wanted to go straight off the road while stepping on it after making a u-turn. I then drove the 350z, and felt "disconnected" from the car and the road. It was like driving fast in my blazer. Then, I put the top down on an s2000, revved it to 8,000 and dumped the clutch on a empty road behind bankston. After rocketing down the straight, I tossed it around the first corner and was sold. I couldn't afford that '02, but came back later and bought an '01. Then a black dodge ram put me in a ditch, and paid off the car and the negative equity from my blazer. So I bought an '04. Love it.

Big Bird

well my first car was a sweet 97 jetta vr6 that i bought for 1800, a few months later i sold for 5000 to get a 92 hatch,"bad move on my part." dont want to even start thinking how much money was lost in that deal!!blew the engine and then all went to hell after that, was out of car for a few months..snaged my cuz's 03 audi tt, was goig to take over payments, got all excited then the little bitch took it back and moved in with me so i started looking for cars around the same price..ran across a silver 02 s2k for like 18,000 got happy got my mom convinced to go look at it since the old guy said they had it in stock."bankston of lewisville" well old guy at bankston lied like they do all so often just to get you to the lot.the only one they had was a 03 yellow for 23,900, i thought it was way to much. my mom asked if i had ever drove one i said no, she said well go drive one and let me now how it is, i pull back to the lot she asked how it was i said amazing."do you wanna try and get it,"hell ya. It was looking like i wasn't going to get it when scott came by grabed the papers from my salesperson and made the deal work!! good guy thanks again! now i love the car but having problems with honda and my 5th gear snchro,saying it might not be under warrenty b/c of abuse, total bs since that s2000 dosnt have enough balls to bust 5th gears synchro by abuse, i can see maybe 2nd or 3rd,but 5th! so now iam waiting to see what they say and currently driving a 91 si hatch big diff between this and the s2k.

QUIKAG

From Big Bird:
My personal classic quotation of the week.

kntrider

Had a 1995 240SX SE for 6 years trouble free, graduated UTD in 2003 and parents wanted to reward me with a car.

Have always love the 3rd gen rx-7, but i knew it would be troublesome and when a car starts giving problems, i lose the love for the car, so had to get the rx-7 out of my head.

Always loved the s2k since I saw it in 1999, read all the articles about it since it came out and saved the magazines. A new one was out of my range so I tried not to think about it too much and the used ones were really holding their values only going 5k below new.

with a budget of 20-25k, i knew i wanted the car to be an open top car and 6MT.

Looked into a '97 C5, heard that was a bad year being the first year, lots of electrical problems and other issues, had to cross it out because a newer one was well above budget, plus father not a big fan of v8 cars, talked me out out getting a z28 years ago and got a 240 instead, which i'm glad he did. So vette was out

'97 boxster, always have been a porsche fan, when i was 8 i saw a red 911 that got me into cars, so thought wow me in a porsche, looks, status symbol, worried about sky high maintenance problems when they occur. went for a test drive in a black on black one at carmax.
SOOOOOO DISAPPOINTED! cheap plastic interior, performance not much better than my 240, the only thing i liked was the noise it made wot. crossed boxster out.

on to a beautiful '00 gpw w/ red s2k at lute riley.
with front lip and rear spioler, OMG what a sexy car!!
jumped in, took for a drive, redlined first and felt the vtec, omg!!!
this honda puts that porsche to shame in looks and performance!
i was hooked and had the goofiest smile on my face.
brought my mom the same day, guy was really cool and let me go on a test drive alone with my mom, had the top down, first time for her in a convertible, went straight across the street to park it next to the c5 to compare looks, chevy salesman came out and was like wow and was interested in the s2k and forgot to talk up the c5. so decision made, i have to have the s2k.
unfortunately the gpw was wayyy over my budget, but i decided it has to be an s2k, and has to have red seats. preferably 1. berlina 2. gpw 3. sebring.
few months later, found my berlina private party with only 12k miles!
we met up in the middle, had both my parents this time. when he pulled in, i was shocked. had the perfect drop, rear spoiler, side strakes, and a carbon fiber front lip, and grey H badges.
took a week to talk my parents into it that I have to have this one.
they said to wait and i went on vacation to london and checked everyday in autotrader to make sure he had it and look at pics until 1 day i didn't see it their anymore, i was devastated and emailed my dad and told him it has been sold and he said it's ok we'll find another one, i was upset because it was the perfect one, price and miles. so i told him a few days later i would like to stay longer in london and extend my ticket, he said it's fine but he has the s2k in the garage waiting for me!
oh man, i couldn't wait for the rest of my 4 days in london to be over so i could come back in drive it

has 16k miles on it now, i baby it, don't drive it to work because of crazy traffic and how people ride your bumper, don't ever want it to get in a wreck, plan on keeping it for a really long time as my weekend car as it is now.

wow, sorry for the long story

Big Bird

its a good quote use it!

GeneB

In 2002 it was time to turn in my '99 Z3 and I was looking for a replacement. Didn't really want another Z3 and the Z4 wouldn't be out for another 6 mos., so I took a SHORT test drive in the 2002 S2000- didn't care much for the acceleration or noise. My test drive was about like my first impression of the one I tried out in 2000. The car didn't impress me. But I checked in on the S2K forum and got more feedback from the owners why they liked their cars so much. So, based mostly on the owners' enthusiasm, I bought one. It wasn't 'til I had taken the LONG ride home that I relized what the car was all about and I'm glad I did. Usually I can tell in a few blocks if I'll like a new car I'm testing. The S2000 just took a little longer to reveal how special it really is. When it was time to let the 2002 go, I checked out a few cars again. But nothing drove as well as the 2006 so here I go again...

GeneB

rusteds2k

Just got my 02 Sebring Silver few days ago and def. love the car. I've had honda/acura since I knew how to drive. S2k is fun to drive, but it's lack in power. I guess since i've owned 3 turboed integras before this. Was planning on getting an Suv, but thought about and relized I only got a few years left til I have a kid. Then I'll never have a chance to get one.

Kaiser

September 2004:
I had been kinda daydreaming about getting a 350Z Roadster for a few months (as an active member in several Nissan offroad clubs I naturally looked to Nissan first). I made plans to go see my dad on my upcoming 30th birthday - and in the ensuing back-and-forth emails he asked me what I wanted for my birthday. He offered to make the down payment for me if I wanted to get a car... so I started looking seriously.

The night before my flight to Maryland, Chris shows up in his nice new NFR S2000 and we spent a couple hours cruising around in the cool darkness. He even let me drive it DAMNNNNN that car was cool. I had seen S2000's around and knew what they were - but I'd never been that close to one or even considered that a real person could afford one. I had mentally classed them with NSXs etc. If you'd asked me how much one cost I would have guessed 50-60k.

It became very clear after the first day of test driving that it was S2000 or bust for a fast stick shift convertible. The 350 Roadster couldn't be had for less than $39k. I drove a 350 hard top that I could have afforded - but I decided that the convertible thing was just too important to give up. I also drove a TT, but it was way too girly and gutless. I drove a brand-new (with paper still on it) '04 GPW and I was VERY tempted by it - but I really didn't want to spend the money on a new one. I think I looked at one more car but I can't remember what it was...

Anyway, that night we started looking around online for the best deal on a used s2k in the area... ended up finding one ('01 NFR) in Manassas, VA (Koons of Manassas ) that was perfect - and only had 8500 miles on it. I looked it over top to bottom and it didn't look like it had been detailed to look new and clean - it looked like it was just still new and clean from the factory... basically a 3 year old new car.

It was parked right next to a red '91 NSX with a similar sticker price... that was tempting - but I didn't want to pay almost 30k for a 13 year old car no matter how cool it was.... plus no convertible.

Ended up snagging it for $23k, tore up my return airline ticket, and dad and I drove it home to Texas at the end of the week, stopping briefly to see some family members along the way (he then flew back home to Annapolis).

At the time, I caught myself saying to several people "I may regret having bought another car at some point (i.e. from a financial standpoint), but I'll never regret buying THIS car". To this day, I can't think of a single other sportscar that I'd rather have. I used to be in awe of Vipers, and Corvettes and the like. Now when I see them I think "Wow - that's a nice car......... but I still like mine better".

Oh, a final note: It's cool what you can do when you've got good credit... I had a loan approval note from my local bank (Community Credit Union) and they let me drive away (and out of state) with little more than a promise to have a check sent to them when I got home. (I ended up getting a no-down loan and I invested the $3k from dad )