It's finally happening for me - I'm going to rid myself of my Si, and become the proud owner of a Honda S2000 this July.

I'm already beyond sold on the merits of this little roadster, but I'm wondering what you guys think of buying an '03 in the face of the 2.2L '04 rumors.

The Stockton to Malone dealership has a Silverstone/Black coming in with my name on it, but I was wondering how you guys think I should handle the purchase of the car.

For starters, they have a $5000 markup on the car for "Market Adjustment" - which is total garbage, and I won't pay for it. I don't think getting them to drop the market adjustment will be difficult since I purchased 2 2002 Civics from them in a weeks time last September.

I know the invoice on the car is $29,325 - did the rest of you kids pay full MSRP for your car? How much room should I expect for bargaining? What did you pay for your S? Should I expect price slashing with the upcoming '04?

Please advise.

Thanks!

 

Congrats!
I'd still get the 2.0L S2000 with the 2.2 coming out. They are going to jack up the prices on that. When I bought my S in June 2001 from Stockton to Malone, they wanted $8000 over MSRP. The Spa Yellow's were 10K over. They'll get anything they can. The previous General Manager obviously doesn't work there anymore, but if he did he could get you MSRP, but no lower. He left in January, and at that point, they wouldn't step below MSRP on S2000's. I think when the '04 comes out, they'll drop the price to MSRP. Stockton to Malone are sticklers on price.

BTW, I like the color combo. Not a fan of the full red, so nice job going with the black interior.

 

Thanks for the info, S2K1 - BTW, how long are you going to be at Modern Garage today? I'd love to see your car.

 

I was just going to look at Sean's car and then leave, but I can wait there until you get there. There's plenty of fun at Modern, however I'll have to leave my Credit Card at home, cuz if I don't I'll end up buying something.

 

Not sure of my timeframe yet, so don't sweat it.

I'm against the wall on a deadline for this website I'm building - gotta finish it today so I can leave for Vegas tomorrow.

I'll PM you or something if I can make it - otherwise I'll just catch you some other time.

 

If you are not sure about buying a 2003 verses a 2004 S2200, I would definitely look at a used 2002. Assuming you can't get a 2003 at invoice and end up paying MRSP of $33,000, you can probably get a used 2002 for around $25-27K. Last Sunday's newspaper had at least 3 S2000's with under 8,000 miles on them. I would assume you could get them cheaper than what they have them listed for. You would still have a couple of years left on the warranty and have an extra $6-8K in your pocket. A lot this depends on finding a great used one though.

If you decide that you would rather have the 2004 S2200 when they come out, at least you won't have to take the depreciation from buying a new car.

Hope this helps.

 

tweder-
Foo Cat is on the money - with a MY02 you still get the MY03 features (glass rear window, silver molding around taillights, new shiftknob, etc) and a considerable cost savings. We bought our SYP MY02 in WA this Feb, and only paid $1k over INVOICE - she had 54 miles on her. I'm quite sure a local dealer could find you one in your color and do a swap to get it here to SLC for you. Our dealer in WA did a swap of an Odyssey and a Pilot for ours

Think about it: The extra cash could get you engine mods (an SC , CAI, X-brace, etc.), a hardtop (if you plan on it being a daily driver) or rim/tire upgrades, etc. Just our $.02.

The Mendii