My $.02 :

When I bought my car, I made sure that the dealer knew I was looking at other cars and negotiating with everyone. I was lucky enough in January to have found 2 different Silver/Blacks. So, I played the dealers off of one another and it worked well. I ended up buying the car from Hopkins Sunnyvale and at the time I got a very good deal, but it was not MSRP [just over]. Basically, I wanted the car immediately and didn't want to deal with the logistics of shipping and/or flying and driving. So I decided that I would just find the best deal in the Bay.

I found that the folks at Stevens Creek to be a bit questionable. One of the cars that they had which was 'new' had apparently been damaged in shipment and the fleet manager told me that if I bought the car I wouldn't have been able to drive it away because they needed to take it over to their body shop to 'touch up the bumper'. Yeah right. That red flag was big enough to send me right back to Hopkins. Although I used the damage as an excuse to negotiate the price of the car down some more and I promptly took that price back to Hopkins...

All this being said, I'd bet a diligent person could find a car in the Bay for MSRP. Good luck!

-DD-

 

One last thought regarding test driving the car...

Hopkins and the other dealers that I dealt with in the Bay told me that I could drive the car once I had made a commitment to buy it. That is, once I started the paperwork I could take the car for a test drive and if I didn't like the car or if there was a problem, I could stop the process and back out. This worked for both parties as I got my drive [about 20 miles] and they keep their new cars off the road. When I did the test drive the car had 8 miles on it.

My sales guy was psyched because it was his first ride in an S2K.


-DD-

 

Thanks to advice on this board, I finally got my first test drive!

Around 8:30 last night, I went to Anderson Honda and despite the fact that they were closed and the fact that I told the salesperson I had no intention to buy that evening, he still took me out for a spin.

I've always liked my current ride, a 91 Prelude, but wow, is this car a world of difference.

After the drive last night, I'm seriously considering a 2001 now.

I was going to wait for the 2002 and see if the plastic window rumor becomes a reality; but now...

I dunno.

That said, my final decision will probably be based on whether some used M Roadsters or Boxsters I've been looking at pan out. I'm mainly looking at convertibles in the 30-45 range. However, I find it hard to believe these cars will top the drive I had last night. Watching the power band go up to 8 grand was a thrill!

 

I knew they'd let you wring one out! Now you'll have to wrangle with the Good Ole Boys at Allison BMW to drive an M Roadster.

I wanted a 330ci instead of the S2000. But in over five years of occasional visits, they never gave me the time of day. Want to drive one? Sure, if you put down a deposit and sign up to buy one.

Maybe they don't like people under 60. I sent in my newly retired father and they fawned all over him. Hello! Over here! I'm the one with the IPO shares and the disposable income, not him!!! That was disgusting enough to discourage me from buying.

I hope you have better luck.

 

Not the Bay Area but in Sacramento, I got mine for MSRP. I bought mine about a month ago from Mel Rapton Honda in Sacramento. They sell at MSRP but force options if the car has been sitting. I got mine right off the truck and they couldn't force options. My friend just bought one tonight at Carmichael Honda for MSRP. CrownMotors in Redding also is selling at MSRP. My suggestion is to contact more than one sales person cause you'll here a different story between each of them.

 

Thanks for this wonderful info. The wife and I were just at Anderson in Palo Alto and had a 2 second test drive....sucked then another sales man took me back out and I took her on the Highway.... and .... ohhhh yeah. That's what I'm talkin about. They were 5k above msrp but with the other dealers selling at MSRP there's got to be some leverage there. And if they don't want the sale I'll drive to a different state if I have to. The Bay area jacked up price is rediculous.

Have an Audi TT Roadster now, but filing suit against Audi under the Cali Lemon Law. If we can get Audi to do a buy back the S2000 is a no brainer for us.

Thanks again for the info.

 

2 second test drive... told ya! You have to get a salesman who is not a jackass otherwise they will just take you the one mile to Harbor Road and make you turn around and come back.

Don't bite on the markup! I got milked for $2k over.

 

Yeah pretty shady test drive (from Jose) at first but the other guy (Chris) made up for it. It's funny the guy at the Auto Mall didn't want to give us a test drive unless we were going to buy it that day. At least Anderson said, Sure come on down and we'll take her for a spin. With all the post on this thread I can't see paying anything but MSRP. If Anderson doesn't like that, then there are plenty of dealers who would want my money, I sure.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Coors
[B]

Yeah pretty shady test drive (from Jose) at first but the other guy (Chris) made up for it. It's funny the guy at the Auto Mall didn't want to give us a test drive

 

Nice to see I wasn't his first victum. Glad they have other sales people there to take care of business.

funny thing I came into work this afternoon and a friend of mine was there the day before and he walked out of Anderson with a Black 2001 S2000. The guy he was with let hime drive for about 45min-1hour.

guess you have to know how to pick your salesman