1998 Chicago Auto Show. The S was being shown as a concept car. I stood and watched that thing go round and round for a LONG time. I expected that it would be about the same performance as a Miata, and I figured FWD. I talked to the rep there and he started telling me about it:

240 HP, RWD, 6-Speed, race inspired suspension...

My jaw hit the floor with his first comment and I was drooling by his last. When he said "About $30k." I almost fell over!

It took me 5 years to figure out how to get one, but I did!

 

I moved from Oklahoma to Rhode Island to Virginia in 2000 to 2001, and I don't recall ever seeing one in person until I went into the dealership wanting to buy a Honda back in May 2002. It was either a dirt cheap Civic or top of the line S2000. They couldn't find a 5 spd Civic DX coupe nor sedan, so I drove out in an S2000.

It'll be paid off next year, and I don't think I'll ever trade it in for anything. I'll just add it to my collection.

 

I was buying my 03 accord coupe and saw a 03 Suzuka in the showroom and thought to my self I will never be able to afford that car. Well I traded that accord last week and bought the new 04 Suzuka.

 

I knew about the car back in '95 or '96 when it was a concept, so when late '99 rolled around I was just waiting to see one in person. I kept going to the dealers hoping they had one but no luck, then one day it happened. I still remember the road I saw it on. I was going through a signal light and it was sitting in the intersection stopped at the red light.

I was lucky enough was going in the same direction and was now in front, driving my '95 Nissan 4x4 pickup. I pulled over onto the shoulder and let him pass so I could follow him and get a good look at it. We wondered along for a while in the 35-mph zone and eventually came up to a more major road that was 4 lanes.

The driver was an older guy and the top was up, but I could see his silver hair. He pulls out onto the major road into the right lane. I jump out of the intersection into the left and try to pass him to get a better look at the car. The older guy was kind of pokey so this was not hard to do, once I got up next to him he sort of glanced my way and saw that huge shitty grin on my face. He just smiled, gave me a thumbsup and nailed the throttle. I had the passenger window down by this point and the radio off. So there I was coasting trying to get my head out the passenger window so I could hear that exhaust note as he just blasted away. Ahhhh. It was a Formula Red.

Thanks for the thread, that was a good memory to bring back.

 

I first saw one on the road to work back in late '99 or early '00. I thought, "That's pretty cool". But I kind of classified it in my mind with other up scale roadsters of the day and really didn't think much about it again until August of this year when I hit an early mid-life crisis and started shopping roadsters.

After searching the web for info comparing the TT, Z4, Boxster, 350Z and the S2000 I narrowed the perspective field down to the 350Z or the S. I paid a visit to a local Nissan dealer (largest volume Nissan dealer in the world) and was told that I couldn't test the 350Z roadster but they'd let me take out a Coupe. Drove it. Liked it. But after hearing their pitch on a marked over MSRP price I decided to give the S2000 a go. Went to a dealer with only one in stock, a Spa Yellow on the show room floor. I loved the look and really wanted to test it and possibly buy it on the spot. They said they'd get it out of the showroom for me by the next afternoon.

I went back and there it sat, still in the showroom. I proptly left and went a few miles down the road to another dealer. They had 8 or 9 S2000s on the lot, 2 in Spa. They saw I was serious and got me a set of keys. After taking a spin, getting throughly hooked, talking it over with my wife and dickering with the dealers I drove away in my new Spa two days after first driving it.

After getting laid off from my job a month later I found the perfect excuse for a road trip. So packed a duffle back, a cooler and an atlas and headed out from Dallas to Las Vegas to L.A. and back. Nothing like taking a brand new S2K through the prairies and deserts, across the hoover dam, down the Vegas strip (day and night), through Death Valley, down Sunset Blvd/Hollywood Blvd, through the twisty coastal canyons of SoCal, up and down PCH, back through the desert at night with the top down @ 120mph and finish with the long day trip through Texas from El Paso to Dallas. Experiencing all the looks, stares and comments I had read about on this forum first hand was mind blower too.

Seeing as this is my first sports car, much less a roadster, I guess I'm spoiled. Now, I couldn't even imagine driving any of the commetitors I was considering. It would take a major jump in class of vehicle for me to even think of owning something else. But I'm not going to be conviencing my wife that we should spend $100k on a car any time soon so I guess I'll just have to "settle" for the S.

 

My first S2000 memory is from an autocross in March of 2000. A local hotshoe blew the engine in his FD RX7 and a Silverstone S2000 was his replacement. At first I thought the styling was a bit boring. Certainly neat and tidy, and I liked the way the front end angled back at the sides. But it didn't excite me that much from just looking at it. It was interesting enough to snap a couple pictures though.



From then on I always respected the car and its speed, but believed it to be a twitchy/difficult handler at the limits with nothing terribly special about it. Years later, in the summer of 2003 an owner of a 2002 S2000 insisted I take his car out on the track for a 15 minute lapping session. From what I'd heard about the handling I was a bit worried, but how could I refuse? I took him up on the offer and slid into the comfortable seat. I didn't have to adjust a thing. Everything was placed exactly where I would put it if I designed a car for myself. The seating position and relationship between feet, steering wheel, and shifter could not be better. That's all well and good, but how did I get along with the car once moving? For lack of a more creative way to phrase it, I was blown away. There was nothing even approaching twitchy handling - in fact quite the opposite, the car did everything just the way I wanted. The car owner was shocked that I was pushing the limits in an unfamiliar car so soon (and so was I). Its feedback and control were that good. The willingness of the transmission and brakes were noted as well. I fell in love with the S2000 that day. Want to read the original post I wrote that day? Click here.

All test drives should be that revealing.

 

First impression: nice.

 

North American Auto Show (Detroit) January 1999

The photos I took inspired my son to place an order before the dealer even knew about it - took delivery Sept 24 1999(I got mine later)

Fantastic!!!

F1DNA

Sebring/Black '02

 

I remember my first encounter was at the local Honda dealer. My parents were picking up their Honda Odyssey van, and I was walkin around in the showroom and all I did for the rest of the time there was run my fingers around the car, sit in it and just get a feel for it...fantasizing basically. To this day Ive never ridden in one or drove one. As close as I got was to start one and sit in it while it was running, that was an 03 GPW/Tan in VA Beach I forget the name of the dealer but its been mentioned on this site. It was on the main strip there. The one at my local dealer was a silverstone/black. 02'. Ever since then I have fallen in love, I will own one within the next year or so. need to rack in some of that $$$, Oh the memories.....