To Hold and Drive Forever
The S2000 is known by many to be as close as it gets to pure motoring pleasure with no compromises like back seats or luggage space concerns. So what happens when changes in your life potentially necessitate a change of car to match the needs of the moment? Going through a similar circumstance, the concerns I face would be those related to planning out a suitable family car that could hold the dogs (all four of them!), have a boot (trunk) that could swallow the entire grocery shopping list and possibly store a pram (baby stroller).
In Singapore where I live, cars cost quite a bit. When I bought an S2000, it cost just over 100,000 USD and, if S2000s were still in production, they would now be on sale for more than 150,000 USD so obviously a significant portion of my paycheck goes to monthly payments and upkeep of my car. All these bills have to be managed while also paying mortgage on a 700,000 USD apartment which is the norm for middle market apartments here.
The clanging of wedding bells in my near future brought to my attention the various concerns of married life including the financial and practical transportation aspects that were required. This meant that I might have to dump the S2000 for a practical sedan or SUV to ensure I could both make the payments on all the bills plus manage the transportation of the in-laws and my wife-to-be’s four dogs. Other practical considerations that came to mind were to get a car that my wife-to-be could drive even when she is pregnant and be able to have a boot to store a pram as and when kids arrive.
Admittedly, I was pretty concerned that I would need to sacrifice for practical considerations the car I had come to enjoy so much. Being rather practical, I was prepared for the seemingly inevitable since I knew that the priorities of family life would definitely have to supersede my personal enjoyment. In fact, many S2000 and other sports car owners I know have had to do the same. Examples of sporty cars that they moved to for practical reasons include cars like the Subaru Legacy Wagon, the Mitsubishi Evolution and the Honda Accord Euro R. There were even some who decided that they would prefer continental sedans such as the Mercedes Benz C or E Class and the Audi A4/A5 series cars.
Sitting down for a frank discussion with my wife-to-be, I was surprised to find out that she had no intention to suggest that we sell my S2000 as she knew that it was pretty much my sole passion and hobby in what little time I had away from work. We decided together that we should keep the S2000 and get another car to tackle the daily duties and that would address all our concerns of practicality. I consider myself very lucky to have met a partner who is truly understanding in matters such as these. We had a good laugh after she recounted how nervous I looked when we began discussion regarding the car, as she knew how important the S2000 was (and still is) to me.
And so you may ask, what was the car we got to do the family run duties? None other than the Civic Type R Euro version as my wife-to-be loves driving too!
Images courtesy of c32b and Honda