Honda S2000 Advice
Discussion
Evening all.Am looking to buy a new to us toy for the wife,and so far everything keeps leaning towards an earlish Honda S2000.Basically I am looking for feedback on people's experiences, good or bad, and any known weaknesses or pitfalls to look out for.We will be looking at an earlyish car, with a budget of approx 13k.
Many thanks in advance!!
Many thanks in advance!!
www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showforum=25 is definitely the best source of info.
I owned mine for 3 years and 8 months. First thing you need to know about is updates. The original cars came out in 1999 without the wind deflector behind the seats. This was a £250 option and became standard in 2000 I think. There were no major updates until 2002 where a glass rear screen was installed, the suspension was made slightly softer to make the rear end less twitchy and cosmetic changes were made to the alloy wheels(polished), lights and interior (moved a switch and installed tweeters in the doors). The next set of updates came in 2005 and included new lights, bigger wheels and tyres, amended interior - out of your budget tho.
Depending on your wifes driving style, an S2000 may not be for her - you really need to rev it fully to extract the best performance - if she is used to that or is happy to do so, then fine, if not, buy a slightly less aggressive or less powerfull car like an early boxster or MX5. Note that S2000's are tail happy in the wet, but that is down to the driver and importantly the condition of the tyres.
Some other items to be aware of:
In 2002 the engine was modified to install a new bolt internally that improved oil flow to the underside of one of the cylinders. Make sure this has been done. At the same time, new spark plugs that didn't unwind themselves should also have been installed.
All the different version of the alloys corrode to a greater or lesser degree.
The hood can suffer holes at the stress points where it sits on the frame. This is more common in warm climates though(!)
The biggest concern is that the bolts that allow suspension re-alignment can seize. This is expensive to rectify as the bushes and bolts need replaced. Again see the above forum for details.
I loved mine, and with this glorious weather I really miss it. It was totally reliable while I owned it and cheap to run given the performance - have a look at my profile for a full breakdown.
PS: Silverstone IS the best colour...
I owned mine for 3 years and 8 months. First thing you need to know about is updates. The original cars came out in 1999 without the wind deflector behind the seats. This was a £250 option and became standard in 2000 I think. There were no major updates until 2002 where a glass rear screen was installed, the suspension was made slightly softer to make the rear end less twitchy and cosmetic changes were made to the alloy wheels(polished), lights and interior (moved a switch and installed tweeters in the doors). The next set of updates came in 2005 and included new lights, bigger wheels and tyres, amended interior - out of your budget tho.
Depending on your wifes driving style, an S2000 may not be for her - you really need to rev it fully to extract the best performance - if she is used to that or is happy to do so, then fine, if not, buy a slightly less aggressive or less powerfull car like an early boxster or MX5. Note that S2000's are tail happy in the wet, but that is down to the driver and importantly the condition of the tyres.
Some other items to be aware of:
In 2002 the engine was modified to install a new bolt internally that improved oil flow to the underside of one of the cylinders. Make sure this has been done. At the same time, new spark plugs that didn't unwind themselves should also have been installed.
All the different version of the alloys corrode to a greater or lesser degree.
The hood can suffer holes at the stress points where it sits on the frame. This is more common in warm climates though(!)
The biggest concern is that the bolts that allow suspension re-alignment can seize. This is expensive to rectify as the bushes and bolts need replaced. Again see the above forum for details.
I loved mine, and with this glorious weather I really miss it. It was totally reliable while I owned it and cheap to run given the performance - have a look at my profile for a full breakdown.
PS: Silverstone IS the best colour...
Edited by douglasr on Sunday 30th July 10:00
Its a blackun you want though 
douglasr said:
Depending on your wifes driving style, an S2000 may not be for her - you really need to rev it fully to extract the best performance - if she is used to that or is happy to do so, then fine, if not, buy a slightly less aggressive or less powerfull car like an early boxster or MX5.
Don't agree with that statement I'm afraid, I think you can enjoy the car however you drive. We have some friends who've had the car from new for 6 years. Up until I got mine 2.5 years ago they had never heard of Vtec and never took it over 5.5k revs
. Admitted I wouldn't want to buy their car as it will probably blow up as soon as the first person revs it 
, but they really enjoyed it (and weren't slow drivers).s2k_vixen said:
douglasr said:
Depending on your wifes driving style, an S2000 may not be for her - you really need to rev it fully to extract the best performance - if she is used to that or is happy to do so, then fine, if not, buy a slightly less aggressive or less powerfull car like an early boxster or MX5.
Don't agree with that statement I'm afraid, I think you can enjoy the car however you drive. We have some friends who've had the car from new for 6 years. Up until I got mine 2.5 years ago they had never heard of Vtec and never took it over 5.5k revs
. Admitted I wouldn't want to buy their car as it will probably blow up as soon as the first person revs it , but they really enjoyed it (and weren't slow drivers).I'd agree.
Mrs Havoc LOVES ours...and she's not a 'rev the nuts off it' type of girl (if you know what I mean!?!). Mainly for looks/image/quality/feel of driving it...the performance is just an added bonus there if she needs it, which 95% of the time she doesn't.
IMHO it feels a cut above the MX5/MR2/MGTF market, yet clearly cheaper to buy and run than Z4/Boxster/SLK. And a lot more user-friendly than the driver-focused Elise/VX. So it can appeal to both Mr Performance-Nut and Mrs Pose-in-the-nice-soft-top.
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