Hi folks.

I'm about to get me a 2003 S2000 with 3k miles up. I've had two extensive test drives and am HOOKED!

One thing I'm wondering is...... what is such a highly tuned engine like for reliability when several tens of thousands of miles are up? I've seen one or two bits and pieces on the web regarding transmission failures after 50K miles or sooner. I'd accordingly love some input in this regard. OK, so I know my car is gonna be relatively fresh, but I'm curious nevertheless. Any tranny horror stories out there?? (and I'm not talking 'Something about Miriam' and his/her ilk!!). How many of you out there have S2000s with LOTS of miles up with no problems so far??

Looking forward to hearing from you,

LH

 

There is the odd gearbox problem, which is fixed under warranty. AFAIK these problems normally appear fairly early in the gearboxes life.

I'm running 64k and everything seems to be ok at the moment on my car - touch wood The only recent failure I recall on here (UK) was from an engine running an aftermarket/Spoon ECU. There was debate about whether that caused any of the problems. Who knows

 

approaching my 54000 mile service with no transmission problems.
had a new engine and exhaust at 36000 because the spark plug recall hadn't been done properly. that shouldn't affect you though.

 

I bought my car in Oct 02 with 8300 on the clock, it now has 62,000 on the clock and I have had no issues

 

You can always extend the warranty........

Off topic, but I recently read that VW were having problems getting the new 1000BHP Bugatti engine through their rigorous testing procedures; every VW is left with the engine spinning at max revs for 3 weeks, if anything breaks - its back to the drawing board.
Imagine the noise of an 8 litre, 64 valve 1000BHP quad turbo running for 3 weeks !

 

don't forget honda have a lot of experience with the vtec engine with it dating back to the crx, so they know what they are doing with highly tuned car engines. They also have a bit of experience with even more highly tuned bike engines....

the s2000 is sold in the US and to do that you have to go through a number of trials, one of which is that the engine has to go through a simulated 120k mile test with the replacement of no parts other than service items. does that reassure you at all?

richard

 

Some of the early cars had known transmission problems, mine included (gearbox replaced under warranty). I've had no problems with the second one. Even including that early glitch, I'm sure the failure rates on the S2000 are way below average.

 

The S2000 has been Honda's top scorer in recent reliabilty studies as well

 

I had my gearbox replaced under warranty after 8k. The car is an ex-demo and so I expect it took a bit of abuse but the gearbox is the only component that I was worried about anyway - the engine has a reputation for being bullet-proof.

The new box is just settling down and is nigh on perfect, especially once the car is fully warmed up. I would echo the point above in saying get the extended warranty - not wanting to teach you to suck eggs but they can throw it in to the overall deal a lot more cheaply than if you were to buy it separately later -assuming you're buying from a dealer of course.

 

72k clocked over 4 years - VTec every day - just as it was made do - Honda make circa 15m Engines a year - that is why 'they do what they say on the can' - It will Rev its socks off day after day

All you guys who have had motorbikes know that when it comes to small, high revinfg engines - with reliability - then Honda scores in all departments

Isn't that we all bought the S2 in the first place !

Peter