Hi folks!

I'm a new S2KI user - been tuned in and lurking for a few days now, as I'm seriously considering (i.e. today ) entering the world of S2000 ownership. I gotta say, folks, you have a great community here - fun and informative - and that is one of the reasons I'm even more excited about the car.

I'm waffling a bit about whether to lease (less hassle switching cars in 3 years) or buy (free to do more mods, probably costs less long-run), but I'm pretty psyched about this car after having driven various S2K's a few times. Closest 2nd choice was the Z4, which beats the S2000's interior all to heck (better storage, *much* better stereo, etc), but looks really goofy (IMHO) and isn't quite as much raw fun to drive - plus it's more expensive. I just love the way the S2K *feels*, and I can always upgrade the stereo.

So there's a Berlina Black (my #1 color choice) at Bernardi Honda in Natick, which I could buy today, but I'm a little concerned that it's got about 90 miles on it. I know some of that is just delivery and such, but I bet that was only about 20-30 max, and the other 60 or so are probably from test drives. Should I be concerned about this (people taking her into VTEC, driving hard, etc) or do you think 90 is still acceptably low to go for it? I'm not reallllly in a rush, but I'm sure many of you know the feeling you get after deciding that this is the car for you - "I want it NOW!"... So do you think I should take this one or keep looking for one with less chance of having been mistreated during its infancy?

Thanks for any info/advice - I did do a search or two on the forums, but didn't find anything really relevant to this particular question, so apologies if it's been asked before.

--Glen
Arlington, MA

P.S. The nickname is "druthers" as in "if I had my druthers, I'd get me an S2000..."

 

hey welcome to s2ki and check out the New England section

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/forumdisplay.ph...hp?s=&forumid=9


I bought mine with a 100 miles on it from Cambridge Honda and she runs great (now i have 25K and no problems)

my guess is what type of deal is Bernardi Honda offering you? Boch has a number of brand new ones for 28K.. so if Bernardi will sell you the black one for say 27 and change i'd do it..

(and yes the stereo was the first upgrade i did too)

 

28K, really (is that advertised)? I haven't yet haggled all the way down to a solid price, but the Boch guy I talked to over the weekend seemed to imply around 30K, and I was gonna see about 29... wouldn't 28 be selling under invoice??

If I could get it for $27+ I'd definitely go for it; I'm a little concerned about others having driven "my baby", but saving some $$ would be great and I would certainly take her through the rest of the breakin period with kid-gloves. (I just don't have that good a conception of how much damage an over-harsh drive or two can do to a fresh engine...)

Thanks for the welcome and the advice!

--G

 

Hello Druthers

I live very close to Bernardi's and if you need help with them, just let me know.

But as for the 90 miles on the car you are looking at. That is a little high, but not out of the ordinary. If you want to know the whole history of that car. Let me know... and I can give a call to a few people I know at that dealership and ask them.

Bernardi's has a great Service Shop, but I have no personal experience from purchasing a car from them. But they do know me pretty well

Send me a PM if you would like me to help you out... or just reply back in this thread.

Best of luck!

 

here ya go Druthers

http://www.bochhonda.com/carsearch.asp?Veh...hicleType=S2000

should give you a good starting point ( I've never bought from Boch as i really like Tom from cambridge honda - also i know Glenn (G-s2k) has some discounts from Honda North (i'll let him elborate on that if they are still offering him a deal)

 

Turns out Bernardi has another black one in storage which has exactly 8 miles on it (ahhhh). So despite the potential haggle-advantage of the higher-mileage car, I think I'll opt to get the sparkly-new one.

So now it just comes down to pricing and signing. Thanks for the link, Bass - so they're showing "dealer cost" as $28.8, and I'm skeptical that they'd actually give it to you for that. I'm gonna go talk to Bernardi in a couple hours and see what I can do (if I can get $30K even, with maybe a lojack early-warning system tossed in, I'd likely be a happy camper).

Thanks for the help, guys, I'll let you know what happens!

--Glen

P.S. Another search turned up this thread : https://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?...?threadid=49998

P.P.S. Nice to meet another Glenn, even if you do have the extra "n" at the end there.

 

That's great... and good luck with the purchase!

When you do finally get your S... make sure you contact us back! We'll release the New England S2000 Owners welcoming party!

 

FWIW, anything much above 20 indicates it probably has been test driven by someone.

Of course, even a few miles means that break-in rules may have been broken.

As an example, while shopping at a recent dealer, a friend of mine had the salesperson take their spouse for a quick spin around the dealer parking lot as he didn't want to rack up miles on the car but the salesperson had to be in the car and his spouse didn't drive stick.

Suspicious, he told his spouse to watch the tach.

Not necessarily meaning to enter VTEC but apparently to show off the car's sporty nature, his spouse watched the salesman get the car above 5500 RPM in 1st. This on a car with a whole 13 miles on the odometer.

Now whether that will make a difference in the car's life span, no one can say, but it also shows that low mileage isn't necessarily an indicator of a car that hasn't been test driven, either...

 

you WANT the one with EIGHT miles on it, not NINETY. your average test drive involves multiple visits to VTEC land.

 

Hey folks, I'm buried in work this AM but a quick note - I did indeed get the one with 8mi on it (it'll have about 25ish by the time it's done moving from place to place), am happy with the deal (I bought - $30,300 plus $300 off of the lojack EWS - didn't get the EWS for free but I'm still happy), and I pick it up tomorrow afternoon!!

Of course, rain is in the forecast tomorrow afternoon...

I ended up getting the "tyre protection plan" which seemed like a good idea with these tires (~250 for 5 years of tire repair/replacement in case of damage), and the "Simoniz teflon treatment" for the paint and interior surfaces, which guarantees against fading, cracking, stains, etc.

I can't wait!!! Of course, now I need to stop thinking about this and dive back into work. Thanks again for the helpful comments, and I look forward to meeting you New Englanders sometime soon (would love to check out your stereo install before I do mine, Bass)!

--Glen