octechgeek

So I've been on the market for an s2k for the pass month. I want to keep my budget under $20k. I've looked at over 5 from private party to independent dealerships and so far I've been very disappointed with what I've seen. Every Mofo out there tells me their car is prestine in perfect condition and when I check the car out, it's either jacked up in some way or another. One dude's car looks like he pieced it together from 5 different other s2k and some where off in paint color on various panels yet they still tell me the car has never been hit or damage, but no worries...because there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

So what do you guys think about this deal.
I found a 2001 s2k with 48k miles on it and the asking price is $17k. The car is in spaking clean condition, the dude had all records of maintenance done and every single paperwork involved with the car even the window sticker when he first bought it. All vins stickers are in place, no dings on doors, paint is flawless, and even the lights where clear without fogging or discoloring. The rear plastic was also clear. As far as I know, the car is a nice deal at the asking price, I'm a very fair guy and will pay for the peace of mind therefore I will not bargain or lowball the seller. My question to you experts out there is...what shoud I look for mechanically to assure the car is tune and as good as the seller is telling me? So what do you guys think of the overall deal. I think if i see one more F****** up s2k, i will just give up and looking into just buy new.

thanks in advance...

Mystiqueskillz

Your safest bet is to buy a brand new S2000. Brand new ones are going for 28k-29k before TTL.

tekstar

i know how you are feeling, i just purchased my s2000 not too long ago.

first of all, make sure all the tsb's have been taken care off; the one you will notice is the clutch buzz, driver side window auto-down doesn't function, etc.

also, there was a recall on the sparkplugs for that year, but it sounds like he would have had that taken care of.

ask him about the oil consumption, most early s2000's like to burn oil.

check his maintenance records to see if he was changing fluids at the proper time with proper fluids.

test drive the car and see that it shifts smoothly into all gears, no odd clunking noises, and revs easily to 9k.

good luck with your purchase sounds like a great deal.

C U AT 9K

Two years ago i bought my Spa 01 with 48k miles on it for under 18k (including registration and all), private party. From what I've been seeing, a lot of people are getting good deals on new ones. But if you can't stretch that far, just ask to take a look at the car, check the suspension, transmission/clutch, and so on. Sounds like a great deal to me though, especially since it's still with the original owner.

octechgeek

Guys,
Thank you for all the feedbacks and great advices. In regards to the car, I've check everything out inch by inch. Asked the owner about oil consumption and he said it doesn't burn any at all, he has all maintence records and it does look like he has taken it into the dealer for fluid changes when the time is up. The top comes down smoothly, clutch shifts from gear to gear without issues, tires are new and have just been replaced about 3 months ago, but there is one noise I didn't like hearing. On the rear passenger side, it sounds like one of the springs or shocks is lose. I've heard noises like this before on my integra and civics in the pass and all we did was readjust the coils of the springs to line up properly, but does this sound like something I should be majorly concern about? Other than that, overall the car seems super clean. The owner seems very honest and I get a good feeling. I'm sure if i keep shopping i can find them for $1k cheaper, but all that time spent and wasted doing that will be cost per hour for me so I rather just spend the time working and making up that money instead.

I'm not really familiar with the s2k, but i was wondering when should some of the items below need to be replace?

- timing chain?
- oil?
- shocks?
- tires?

and whatever else you guys think I should look into when the time comes...

thanks again guys...

C U AT 9K

If the owner took the car in for the 45k mile checkup, I think the dealer usually goes over the timing belt, filters, oil, shocks/tie rods, etc etc. Oil I personally change every 3-4k miles because I like to drive hard, and also where I live the engine goes through a wide spectrum of seasonal changes (it runs in 15 degree weather and 95 degree weather!), so I prefer to be on the safe side. Tires are pretty self-explanatory, you just need to pay more attention to them unlike most other cars because it can get fishy in the tail end when your tread gets low. Is the car lowered on springs? If so, take a double look at the shocks since I believe adding lowering springs and keeping the stock shocks puts extra stress on the shocks (maybe that's the noise you hear?). If you're extra cautious about used cars, perhaps your best bet would be taking it to a good Honda dealer and have them go through the car.

octechgeek

Guys, I took the plunge, the car is in my garage and I'm loving it. Such a fun car...I'm gonna be taking it to a honda mechanic soon to basically do all fluids and give me a run down on what needs to be replace or fixed.

Thanks again for all the advice.