which would you buy?: '02 m3 or '03 s2000

which would you buy?: '02 m3 or '03 s2000


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One more for the S2k, that's pretty close to going price around here (on craigslist, at least), and the M3 has too much of a deferred maintenance risk to it that I'd be more than a little wary.
 
There is absolutely no comparison between the C5 and C6.
There is when you consider the massive price difference.


Anyways, $15k for an AP1 is too much, imo. A few years ago my friend got a *mint* 2000 S2000 with 46k or so for $10k and change. My roommate bought his *mint* AP2 for under $20k a couple of years ago. Meanwhile, another friend found a C5 Corvette for $10k and change (granted, this one wasn't mint and had 120k on it) and clean C5s often go for right around your price point, $15k.

An S2000 has a great chassis... the front suspension just needs to be stiffened. IIRC a front sway bar costs something like $600 :blink:

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Anyways, between those two, I'd go for the S2000. Here's a few that are cheaper:
$11k, 83k miles
$12k, 79k miles
 
Thing is though, the base C6 is equal, performance-wise, to the Z06 - you might as well wait a bit longer and buy one of those, as it might make a better daily driver.

Yeah, if the S2000 ticks all the right boxes for you, I say go for it. I would consider saving up money for a track day/driving school though before I ever tried driving more than 6/10's.
i agree, it would be better to wait on a c6. driving school is something i'd love to do once i find the time to do it, and i'd eventually like to get myself into scca. fortunately, i've gotten all of my dumb and young driving out of my system years ago. in that video, was it an example of liftoff oversteer?

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There is when you consider the massive price difference.


Anyways, $15k for an AP1 is too much, imo. A few years ago my friend got a *mint* 2000 S2000 with 46k or so for $10k and change. My roommate bought his *mint* AP2 for under $20k a couple of years ago. Meanwhile, another friend found a C5 Corvette for $10k and change (granted, this one wasn't mint and had 120k on it) and clean C5s often go for right around your price point, $15k.

An S2000 has a great chassis... the front suspension just needs to be stiffened. IIRC a front sway bar costs something like $600 :blink:

8834_735313219342_3842655_n.jpg


Anyways, between those two, I'd go for the S2000. Here's a few that are cheaper:
$11k, 83k miles
$12k, 79k miles
consider that i'm in california where convertibles are in higher demand, and you're in new england. also, with those two examples, they're asking for only $2,000 less for a older vehicles with more mileage. i'm not trying to be argumentative, but if you also throw in cost of transporting a vehicle across the country ($1000?), it's really not a better deal.
 
i agree, it would be better to wait on a c6. driving school is something i'd love to do once i find the time to do it, and i'd eventually like to get myself into scca. fortunately, i've gotten all of my dumb and young driving out of my system years ago. in that video, was it an example of liftoff oversteer?

I believe so. I just know that everything I've ever read about the AP1 said that it is prone to sudden oversteer and can be quite tricky to correct. That's one of the things that makes it so much fun to drive (Not the oversteer, just the very sharp handling and reflexes.), so when Honda tried to reduce the reduce the oversteer it dulled the responses a bit.

I doubt you would ever have to worry about it on the road, though. I think most spins happen at higher speeds on the track or when people are deliberately trying to kick the tail out.

And you're right about vehicle shipping - you'd be looking at close to $2000 to ship from NC to CA. And you'd have to make sure any car you bought in NC was CA smog legal, otherwise you wouldn't be able to register it in CA.
 
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I saw an S2000 spin right in front of me on the street a few years ago in the rain. The driver wasn't even doing anything silly, haha.

But yeah, I'd definitely get one of those! It's a great platform.
 
haha! i see we have some vette fans in here! that's great! :cool: i've only owned american cars, and i'm really interested in a legit sports-type car. not saying the 'vette isn't a legit car (i'd be the first to champion it), but it's in a different category when compared to the m3 or s2000. the vette is a muscle car first that has good handling. these two were designed with a proper track in mind. down the road, i'll no doubt own a 'vette. that $16k z06 is intriguing though, would be even more if it were white, red, or black.

i don't want to stir a ruckus, but waaay down the line once i have beaucoup money and the s2000 is beat up a bit, i may drop an ls_ motor in it. i believe the ls1 is only ~100 lbs heavier, so it wouldn't be a crazy idea. it'd be one way to get torque.:blink:
 
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As per the S2000: in a nutshell its so snappy because it can lift a rear wheel (as seen in the above picture,) which causes the diff to go crazy. And yes, it can happen on the street - my roommate spun his AP2 right after getting it, and he wasn't really pushing it.

i must admit that i'm not completely unfamiliar with intentionally and unintentionally spinning cars on the street, but i'm not really going to push it at all until i become very familiar with the car. as i've said, and i'm sure some of you know, as amazing as the mountain passes and coastal highway are in california, they hardly leave any room to recover. i haven't check the track day schedules yet, but i'm sure laguna seca and maybe even infineon will be opening up in a couple of months. if not, there are plenty of auto-xing opportunities to safely practice on, and most likely embarass myself as i'm learning.:lol:
 
flew down to la last night and bought the s2000 for $15,198. it was mint! turned a 6 hr drive home into 4.75 hrs, getting to know my new love. pics to come.
 
thank you and thank you! quick update: as to be expected, i've been busy driving (1,200+ miles this past week). ran my rear tires bald already. great opportunity to get a pair of bfgoodrich sport comp2 245/50/16 yesterday. broke them in already, and spent this morning testing them out on the incomparable carmel valley rd. i've had the hardest time breaking them loose. amazing grip!

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You so bought the right car. Congrats.
 
Me = jealous. Congrats!
<3 the CBR2000
 
thanks to you both! i couldn't be happier with the car. i know the m3 would've been great too, but i feel like this is precisely the car i need right now. bfgoodrich sport comp2 have noticeable gains in accel and decel compared with the falken ziex ze912 the previous owner had on it. i stopped by laguna seca after driving the valley for some pics, and i finally was able to drift around on the entrance road to the raceway and a parking lot. i'll be getting a gopro camera and mount soon, hopefully, so i can share the epic drives around here with y'all.
:driving:

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Damn, looks like you found the only unmodded s2000 in the LA area! A friend of mine bought an Ap2 a couple years ago and we both gave up looking at them in the La metro area because all showed signs of having been owned by some retard at some point and put back to stock.

He set his car up to meet the street class rules in the S2k challenge and it drives great. My NA miata, with a crap load of mods, can just keep pace with it. Nice choice.
 
thank you. and yeah, i was really keen on finding an unmolested vehicle. and again yeah, not easy to do, especially in california. apparently, this was a one owner car and the previous owner was a middle aged woman who babied it. i do plan on modding it myself though. probably nothing extreme. i just want to add a little power, mostly torque and enough safety to be able to track it. i will be keeping all of the oem parts, because i expect s2k's to become quite valuable in 20 years or so (much like american muscle cars), and i'd like to be able to restore it back to stock and have the numbers matching.
 
thank you. and yeah, i was really keen on finding an unmolested vehicle. and again yeah, not easy to do, especially in california. apparently, this was a one owner car and the previous owner was a middle aged woman who babied it. i do plan on modding it myself though. probably nothing extreme. i just want to add a little power, mostly torque and enough safety to be able to track it. i will be keeping all of the oem parts, because i expect s2k's to become quite valuable in 20 years or so (much like american muscle cars), and i'd like to be able to restore it back to stock and have the numbers matching.

From what I've heard from my friend who tracks his regularly (and put it in a class that would require him to maintain very good street manners) a very good way to go is to grab:

Sway bars front and rear
s2000 CR dampers and springs
More tire on wider wheels.

He did the "more tire on stock wheels" and sway bars. It drove very well on the street and was able to be thrashed on and out run my miata (which is far less comfortable and more modified) on Streets.
Both cars ran a 1:33 flat on street tires on Counter clockwise.
 
could a moderator please move this thread to "post your car" section, please. and if possible, change the title to "superchevy's honda s2k". thank you!

is "counter" a track in cali??? where is it? can i have a my own "test day" on it, ie. without having to register with a club event? i have the next week off from work, so i'd like to track my car if the fees aren't too much.

update: seafoamed the s2k tuesday night. didn't smoke as much as i expected. perceivable results are a more responsive throttle :) and smoother idling. fuel efficiency should also improve. i think i'll upgrade the spark plugs to iridium and change the oil this weekend. exhaust sounds better too - deeper and less raspy. also, i switched to synthetic oil today (royal purple 5w-30), leading to an even smoother and responsive throttle, and i will be installing ngk iridium plugs tomorrow.
 
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