Hi Everyone,

I am new to s2000's but I really want one and have done for a long time now. My neighbour has had one since 02 and I admire it all the time. I have just sold my Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205 that I owned for 5 years and enjoyed every moment but it was time for me to move on.

Before everyone starts I know in the UK we don't have an AP2 and it only refers to US 2.2 version but I didn't know how to describe the UK facelifted version.

Dilemma, I have a company Car and want something for fun, the odd track days and road trips. I don't know whether to go for a 02/03 s2k (best I can get for £5k) or go all out and get a 04/05 (best I can get for £7-7.5k). If I get an 02/03 s2k then I will have money to modify it for track days, maybe get a little more power out of it but I do really like the facelifted look and know that they have made some changes to make it less snappy. I am not saying that the earlier ones are not beautiful cars they are what I always wanted but the changes that were made ie; LED rear lights, 17" wheels and the centre console are very nice upgrades. I have read that they changed the rear diff, syncromesh, anti-roll bars and few other things. Btw I really love Moon Rock

I will be looking to keep the car for a very long time and see where the road takes me. Say if I keep the car for 5 years I have a feeling that then more people will want the facelifted version and it would be easier to sell. I am really itching to buy one ASAP and have seen a few decent 02/03 versions and a couple of 04/05 version but don't know what to do.

To give you an idea I was look at something like this(Now Sold):

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classifi...1500?logcode=p

Or

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifie...2-2004/3036851

Future plans: Coilovers, lighten the car best I can, lighter wheels, squeeze some extra power out best I can and have it sent up for a fast road car and track car too.

PLEASE HELP me with this decision!!!

Thanks in advance

 

If your interest is in trackday-ing and you think you're going to make some fairly fundamental modifications to the car, then I'd say don't worry about whether its a facelift or not; the looks aren't important in terms of your own enjoyment of the car on track, and if you're tinkering with the engine and suspension anyway, you need not worry about how the pre- and post-facelift handling was. Best advice is within the limits of your budget buy the one that seems to be in best condition and been looked after best, and worry about the details of its exact spec least.

 

Both are nice looking examples. A GT is a plus as you'll get the hard top and brackets already on the car which would cost you about £750+ second hand if you wanted it at a later date.

The first is Sharif's car from here I think, his advert is still in the FS section which would confirm it. The second looks like a very clean example from the pictures (I didn't read the ad).

I did something similar to you so can understand your dilemma. I bought a facelift on an 04 plate which I owned for a few years, then sold it in a moment of madness and bought something sensible but got bored of it within 4 months and then bought a pre-facelift after that. The second one got written off and I'm now in my 3rd car which is also pre-facelift.

All of them seem to hold their price well at the moment and as I'm sure you'll know there aren't many around at all that are actually for sale.

I loved my first one, it was Moonrock with full black interior, front lip, side strakes, high level rear spoiler but I paid quite a lot for it at the time (£15k) so didn't want to go crazy modifying it...although it did end up with coilovers, rack spacers and rear toe arms, intake and I also painted the rocker cover.

When buying my second one I wanted something I could modify and there was an immaculate MY00 that came up on the forum that already had coilovers, rack spacers, toe arms, 17" alloys from an 06 model and it was also polybushed.

The latter of those mods (or free geo bolts at least) is a must if you want to fit coilovers and track the car as your geo makes a huge difference, as I'm sure you'll know from your Celica. On the S2000 you can adjust front and rear toe and camber as well as the castor at the front. With most S2000's the bushes do seize and having done 2 & 1/2 cars now its a complete pig of a job to cut the bushes out. Pay a garage to do it and you'll be looking at about £1200-1400 for a full set of bushes replaced, if you do it yourself then you can do it for about £700, that is if you already have a heavy duty reciprocating saw and lots of patience (I used a Snap-On one).

When looking, ask for recent evidence of the geo being done for peace of mind.

After buying my second one I made a few changes to it, cosmetically as well as a few extra parts such as exhaust, different intake etc. but about a month after having the car completely finished and exactly as I wanted someone pulled out into me on a dual carriage way writing it off.

Onto my 3rd one...I also bought a pre-facelift again but an MY02 this time as well as buying the written off one back from the insurance. I swapped all my modified parts onto the new one as well as a shed load of other stuff. However, my choice in buying the 3rd one was more financially driven than anything else as I wanted the money to make my newest one like the one that had just been written off.

About a year on as much as I love my S2000 in lots of ways I do still wish I had a facelift (almost bought my old one back a few months ago!) for the reasons you have pointed out - bumpers, lights front and rear, centre console. This is purely cosmetic though for me as mechanically, although my engine may use a little more oil than a newer car I know that mechanically it is sound.

The main advantage of having a facelift 2004+ car are the revisions to the engine, which uses less oil as a result and the chassis is stiffer than the earlier cars too. However, the 2004/2005 models have the softest suspension of all the model years so you would most likely end up putting earlier anti-roll bars on it anyway.

If you want to modify it straight away and thats your key priority in order for it to be track ready then go for a pre-facelift. Otherwise if you're willing to be patient and modify it bit by bit then I'd go for a facelift.

Either way though I think that they are pretty timeless in design and even a pre-facelift with a set of 17" alloys doesn't look dated on the roads when you compare them to more modern cars today. If you want to see a few pictures of my pre-facelift with 17" OEM wheels then let me know and I'll post some up to give you an idea. The wheels are what make the biggest difference in my opinion!

HTH

 

 

Refer to cars by the model year, MY99, 02, 04, 06 or 08. All of those have different wheels and suspension setups.
The biggest problem you are likely to have is rust, so in general, get the newest one you can afford.

The MY04 onwards with the 17" wheels are a bit quicker round a track.

Talking of track work, you don't really need to anything other than get some longer lasting brake pads/discs/fluid.

Mods won't get you much power unless you spend huge amounts of money on forced induction.

if you want to faster on track, spend the money learning how to drive it faster and on track days.

 

I think rust will depend on how the car has been looked after - check the rear arches though as thats where they go first in a bad way, starting from where the rear bumper meets and then works its way throughout the arch lip mainly due to the stupid rubber thing they put over. Also the seam between the rear 1/4 and the door sill - they start to tin worm there.

I've seen cars many years newer in worse condition than either of my older cars were even before I had any bodywork done.

pads, disks, fluid, I totally agree

 

Mine's been well looked after(-ish!) and it's rusted in an arch and at the seam you mention

 

Wow thanks a lot for all the information. Floppy from what you have said I really would like a facelifted version and I plan to play around with it for many years to come so I might go all out and get a newest and best I can for my money. You have got me a little worried about the bushes seizing. Is there any way of checking? Or just check for documented history?

If you can please post pics, I can look at them all day long

 

Were you on CCUK mate?

 

Sorry ben don't know what CCUK is