markpenske

I found a dealer that has a new 2002 s2000 & a new 2003 s2000. I worked the numbers a bit with them & basically the price difference between the two is somewhere between $1,000 & $1500.
Is it worth the extra cash for the 2003?
The extra saving for the 2002 would help the budget.
I plan on keeping the car somewhere between 4-7 year, I'm not sure at this point. What is your opinion on resale value down the road?
Thanks

wickerbill

I would go with the 2003. Hard to say for sure since you haven't given the price of the 2002, but there's a chance you would be underwater in your financing pretty quick with the 2002 since it is an old model year and depreciated accordingly even though it's technically new. $1,000 isn't that much more on a car like this and if you lost your job or something and had to get rid of it a year from now, will probably get you at least that much back in higher resale value.

OhioRacer

I would definitely go with the 2003. The first year of depreciation is HUGE. Get the new car. Find the extra $1,000 somewhere else in the family budget. Like not buying useless jewelry for the wife.

pfb

Real numbers would help.

Lots of places are letting '03's go for less than $30K. The dealers true cost on both model years is virtually the same, so if you hit them at the end of the month, you really should be able to buy either for the same price if they are motiviated.

FCGuy

I would tend to guess that if you sold in 1-3 years, you'd take a bigger hit than $1-1.5K with the '02 vs '03. But in 7 years, I suspect the opposite. And when you factor in time-value of money (ie $1500 now is worth a lot more than $1500 in 7 years), the '02 looks better. But I agree with pfb above, if you get as good a deal as possible on an '03 (invoice or even less!), I'm not sure they could/would beat it by that much with an '02!

Are there even any hints that perhaps little things were changed from '02 to '03 (besides return of Silverstone and some new interior colors)? Maybe subtle engineering refinements are worth something too?

markpenske

Thanks for the feedback.
What exactly is invoice? I've seen 2 different things: invoice & invoice plus holdback.

FCGuy

Invoice, or what is normally called invoice is $29,325 + $460 destination = $29,785. Sometime after selling the car, the dealer is rebated the "holdback" which for Honda is 3% of MSRP or $978. So, the dealer actually pays $29,325+460-978 = $28,807. Or so the theory goes. There's a lot more to it that I don't know about. For instance, there can be unannounced dealer incentives, dealer awards for sales, etc.

But that at least explains how Grand Honda in Chi could advertise $28995 for a new '03 (including destn charge). Don't know if they still offer it at that or if they try to tack on a lot of dealer packs. Has anyone purchased from Grand Honda at that price?

But there have been a few who have said they purchased at <$30K for new '03's. Some at or below the $29,785 "invoice". Note that was before the onset of spring (yeah, I know it didn't feel like that today in Western NY).

Good luck!