Long story short, ive owned a ap1 previously and had sold it. I didnt keep it long enough to even know if there were any problems with the car whether major or minor. I kept the car for maybe not even 6k miles..and sold it because i was in a financial crisis.

Anyways, my question to you guys (both ap1 and ap2 owners); What are the problems that i should know of? Anything engine wise? A friend of mine told me the earlier models mainly 00 and 01 have some sort of engine leak? I forget what he actually said, but remember him saying something about a leak of some sort. I found it highly unbelievable, but then again-expect the unexpected. I know the differences between the years. 02 and 03 stwok has glass rear windows, v2 tail lights, etc. 04 has the 2.2 litre engine, lowered revs, revised tranny, LED tails, and signals, etc. My main worry is that i might buy a used early model s2k and find out problems with it...as far as an UN-modded s2k straight from factory- What problems should i come across in owning either an ap2 or ap1?...and which is the better one to own as far as reliability? any input would be great...

thanks in advance,

sonz

 

Also, i have done research, but have read very little about either of the two models problems. Theres little problems like "the key still thinks its in the ignition when i pull it out..." and such that ive read...nothing major to the point where i want to stay away from buying another one...i just wanna know mechanically, what should i look out for in owning it?

 

i traded my 03 in for an 06. the 03 was a great car, had it for a year, but i wanted something fresh, and i'm a sucker for the ap2. the only things off the top of my head are the differential. the 04+ diffs have stronger end caps. as per the engine, my old ap1 burnt a crap load of oil even only at 30k miles. its a common thing for the ap1's, but not a bad thing. the ap2 has seemed to eliminate the oil eating due to the way the engine is honed from the factory.

 

if you want an:
ap1 get an 02-03
ap2 get an 04-05

this is merely my opinion

 

the 06 an 07 have the new DBW(drive by wire) and VSA, i own the 07 and it think these 2 are most important improvement, also there is DRL(day time running light). Get an Ap2 if u drive the S as DD, get Ap1 if u want something more raw i guess.

 

if money isn't problem, I would say, just get NEW S2000
and be happy
unless you going to mod it

 

No major issues...after all it's a Honda.

 

I have a MY00, which I bought for a few major reasons. First of all, every year after that they softened the suspension. In 02, they added the glass window and the weight went up. In 04, they dropped the redline to 8k which I don't like, and added traction control and all that crap that I don't want or need. Weight went up again. In 06, they added DBW, which makes adding ITBs, turbo setup, etc a PITA. If you like taking your car to the track and really driving it, I would recommend a one-owner, low mileage MY00. It took me awhile to find one, but in December I bought mine with less than 25k miles on it. It had one owner, an older lady who most likely has no clue what VTEC feels like. It was literally like a new motor. If I had to do it over again, I would do the same thing. Nothing compares to the driving experience of a raw MY00, especially with Advan A048's on it.

 

good one at that

 

I concur. I even have one for sale.