Looking for cheap S2000.
Discussion
Hi,
I have a 2007 Accord sports tourer for family duties and may be looking at a cheap S2000 for weekend fun.
My budget would be set at £4000 and would like to gauge the reactions of those of you who run older/higher mileage/cheaper examples. Will I be disappointed after owning a nice torquey German classic or are these cars too much of a hoot not to consider?
If the consensus is that good cars do not come at this price then I may just throw the money into the mortgage and be boringly sensible!
Of course I am not limited just to the S2000 but £4000 really would be my max spend so any other suggestions would be welcome...............
Edits for amount of cash available changes!!
I have a 2007 Accord sports tourer for family duties and may be looking at a cheap S2000 for weekend fun.
My budget would be set at £4000 and would like to gauge the reactions of those of you who run older/higher mileage/cheaper examples. Will I be disappointed after owning a nice torquey German classic or are these cars too much of a hoot not to consider?
If the consensus is that good cars do not come at this price then I may just throw the money into the mortgage and be boringly sensible!
Of course I am not limited just to the S2000 but £4000 really would be my max spend so any other suggestions would be welcome...............
Edited by Steve Devaney on Sunday 1st July 11:13
Edits for amount of cash available changes!!
Edited by Steve Devaney on Sunday 1st July 11:14
£3500 will get you a bottom-end S2000, probably needing some work (yes, they're mechanically very robust if maintained properly, but they have their weak points*). I wouldn't get into S2000 ownership without a £5k budget, personally.
Edit: Can't see a £3,500 S2000 for sale...even a grand more will only get you a 100k+ car.
* Timing chain tensioners, coil packs, probably gearboxes on high-milers, check s2ki.co.uk for a more thorough assessment. Parts aren't especially cheap either - clutch replacement is a £1k+ bill.
Edit: Can't see a £3,500 S2000 for sale...even a grand more will only get you a 100k+ car.
* Timing chain tensioners, coil packs, probably gearboxes on high-milers, check s2ki.co.uk for a more thorough assessment. Parts aren't especially cheap either - clutch replacement is a £1k+ bill.
Edited by havoc on Tuesday 5th June 09:32
Steve Devaney said:
I know where you are coming from - always buy good cars so maybe a cheap S2000 is not a great idea at all.
I will sell the Porsche, do what I need to do with the money then take time to see what (if any) I decide to park in the garage.
£3.5K would get a good 944 & give a pot of say £500 over to run it for a while. It keeps you in the Porsche marque as well.I will sell the Porsche, do what I need to do with the money then take time to see what (if any) I decide to park in the garage.
Was about to say think about a DC2, but the roof on one of them stays firmly where it is...
For £3.5k and a soft-top, I'd be test-driving a Mk3 MR2 or a mint limited-edition Eunos (S-special has Bilsteins, R-Limited and the hens-teeth RS-limited have proper diffs and proper suspension...). Possibly an M100 Elan if I was feeling very brave...
For £3.5k and a soft-top, I'd be test-driving a Mk3 MR2 or a mint limited-edition Eunos (S-special has Bilsteins, R-Limited and the hens-teeth RS-limited have proper diffs and proper suspension...). Possibly an M100 Elan if I was feeling very brave...
S2000 for £3.5k will be a false economy. It WILL need some work doing and probably won't be cheap (for those who have "max" budgets of £3.5k for a sports car anyway!).
For example, if the caster bushes are seized (likely if no evidence of this in history and is an MOT failure) then the wishbones have to be cut out (the bolts are cut out, not the actual wishbone!
). This is quite a lot of labour. Honda do not sell replacement bushes so you need to factor in £400 each for both lower wishbones (so £800 just for the wishbones!) plus all the labour so that's £1200 for starters. You can save by getting replacement bushes from Mugen for example for about £100 but unless you are mechanically minded you will still need to pay someone to cut the old wishbones off. Oh, and you'll need the replacement bolts/sleeves that you've cut off which are not cheap either! Likely, it won't just be those bolts that need cutting off so need to budget in bolts for the other bushes. Then you need to add the cost of a geo (£100 absolute min) once all rectified.
Obviously this is a bit of a nightmare job, and I don't mean to scaremonger but you need eyes open, but even if it doesn't need doing now, it might fail next years MOT so do you have the contingency funds further down the line.
On the whole, however, they are very reliable and normal servicing is cheap for the type of car (last minor main dealer service for me was £100. About £350 for full major everything all in service + MOT). Some dealers charge more so shop around.
It's when things break (not that they often do but the common issues, such as seized bolt/bushes above) that they are not always cheap to fix.
I'd not be considering a £3k/£3.5k one with anyones bargepole! If you DO find one that has the bushes all done then they probably will NOT be asking £3k for it
For example, if the caster bushes are seized (likely if no evidence of this in history and is an MOT failure) then the wishbones have to be cut out (the bolts are cut out, not the actual wishbone!
). This is quite a lot of labour. Honda do not sell replacement bushes so you need to factor in £400 each for both lower wishbones (so £800 just for the wishbones!) plus all the labour so that's £1200 for starters. You can save by getting replacement bushes from Mugen for example for about £100 but unless you are mechanically minded you will still need to pay someone to cut the old wishbones off. Oh, and you'll need the replacement bolts/sleeves that you've cut off which are not cheap either! Likely, it won't just be those bolts that need cutting off so need to budget in bolts for the other bushes. Then you need to add the cost of a geo (£100 absolute min) once all rectified.Obviously this is a bit of a nightmare job, and I don't mean to scaremonger but you need eyes open, but even if it doesn't need doing now, it might fail next years MOT so do you have the contingency funds further down the line.
On the whole, however, they are very reliable and normal servicing is cheap for the type of car (last minor main dealer service for me was £100. About £350 for full major everything all in service + MOT). Some dealers charge more so shop around.
It's when things break (not that they often do but the common issues, such as seized bolt/bushes above) that they are not always cheap to fix.
I'd not be considering a £3k/£3.5k one with anyones bargepole!
If you DO find one that has the bushes all done then they probably will NOT be asking £3k for it Edited by Dracoro on Wednesday 6th June 09:51
Dracoro said:
S2000 for £3.5k will be a false economy. It WILL need some work doing and probably won't be cheap (for those who have "max" budgets of £3.5k for a sports car anyway!).
For example, if the caster bushes are seized (likely if no evidence of this in history and is an MOT failure) then the wishbones have to be cut out (the bolts are cut out, not the actual wishbone!). This is quite a lot of labour. Honda do not sell replacement bushes so you need to factor in £400 each for both lower wishbones (so £800 just for the wishbones!) plus all the labour so that's £1200 for starters. You can save by getting replacement bushes from Mugen for example for about £100 but unless you are mechanically minded you will still need to pay someone to cut the old wishbones off. Oh, and you'll need the replacement bolts/sleeves that you've cut off which are not cheap either! Likely, it won't just be those bolts that need cutting off so need to budget in bolts for the other bushes. Then you need to add the cost of a geo (£100 absolute min) once all rectified.
Obviously this is a bit of a nightmare job, and I don't mean to scaremonger but you need eyes open, but even if it doesn't need doing now, it might fail next years MOT so do you have the contingency funds further down the line.
On the whole, however, they are very reliable and normal servicing is cheap for the type of car (last minor main dealer service for me was £100. About £350 for full major everything all in service + MOT). Some dealers charge more so shop around.
It's when things break (not that they often do but the common issues, such as seized bolt/bushes above) that they are not always cheap to fix.
I'd not be considering a £3k/£3.5k one with anyones bargepole! If you DO find one that has the bushes all done then they probably will NOT be asking £3k for it
Fair comments and a point I will look out for if I do go down the S2000 route.For example, if the caster bushes are seized (likely if no evidence of this in history and is an MOT failure) then the wishbones have to be cut out (the bolts are cut out, not the actual wishbone!
). This is quite a lot of labour. Honda do not sell replacement bushes so you need to factor in £400 each for both lower wishbones (so £800 just for the wishbones!) plus all the labour so that's £1200 for starters. You can save by getting replacement bushes from Mugen for example for about £100 but unless you are mechanically minded you will still need to pay someone to cut the old wishbones off. Oh, and you'll need the replacement bolts/sleeves that you've cut off which are not cheap either! Likely, it won't just be those bolts that need cutting off so need to budget in bolts for the other bushes. Then you need to add the cost of a geo (£100 absolute min) once all rectified.Obviously this is a bit of a nightmare job, and I don't mean to scaremonger but you need eyes open, but even if it doesn't need doing now, it might fail next years MOT so do you have the contingency funds further down the line.
On the whole, however, they are very reliable and normal servicing is cheap for the type of car (last minor main dealer service for me was £100. About £350 for full major everything all in service + MOT). Some dealers charge more so shop around.
It's when things break (not that they often do but the common issues, such as seized bolt/bushes above) that they are not always cheap to fix.
I'd not be considering a £3k/£3.5k one with anyones bargepole!
If you DO find one that has the bushes all done then they probably will NOT be asking £3k for it Edited by Dracoro on Wednesday 6th June 09:51
With a budget of £3,500 for a RWD sports car/convertible a tidy MK1 MX-5 with possibly a BBR Turbo conversion would be a good purchase. Quicker than an S2000 (and a 968 for that matter) and arguably better handling with the right modifications.
Or you could stay with the Pork:
http://beta.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...
(No connection and possibly an expensive nightmare to run)
Or you could stay with the Pork:
http://beta.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...
(No connection and possibly an expensive nightmare to run)
gixxerboy said:
Can I suggest an MX5? It may not set the world on fire but their bullet proof and a proper hoot to drive.
Mk2's have a fair rust problem.Plus I think a turbo or turbo conversion on a decent car will probably top the OP's budget. I looked around at GBP2k Mk1's a few years ago as a stop-gap car and the state of them was horrifying...
Nice chassis though...albeit very soft in standard form.
gixxerboy said:
Can I suggest an MX5? It may not set the world on fire but their bullet proof and a proper hoot to drive. £3500 would get you a nice one which should hold its value well, and they're as cheap as chips to fix. I've had one for 5 years and it's never missed a beat.
Maybe an older Mk1 for around £1500 for super-cheap fun and I wouldn't have to worry where I parked it. Not quite as masculine as I like my sports car to be but could be considered.MiseryStreak said:
With a budget of £3,500 for a RWD sports car/convertible a tidy MK1 MX-5 with possibly a BBR Turbo conversion would be a good purchase. Quicker than an S2000 (and a 968 for that matter) and arguably better handling with the right modifications.
Or you could stay with the Pork:
http://beta.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...
(No connection and possibly an expensive nightmare to run)
Not really interested in Turbo conversion anything to be honest. Just a nice little summers day runabout like the S2000 or VX220 if I were looking to spend more money.Or you could stay with the Pork:
http://beta.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...
(No connection and possibly an expensive nightmare to run)
Steve Devaney said:
Not really interested in Turbo conversion anything to be honest. Just a nice little summers day runabout like the S2000 or VX220 if I were looking to spend more money.
My S2000 has just gone on Pistonheads, baby due anytime soon.I am still using it for work, just wish it would stop raining long enough to enjoy it.
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