Another S2000 thread.. spec me a toy?

Regy53

Regy53

Regy53

Soldato
Joined
11 Jun 2011
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Northampton
Hi Guys,

I'm after your advice and experience.

I have a company car and any toys i have do very little miles. My cars have always been track based, so at the moment I have a 300bhp mg zs with a audi engine in, and the car is stripped to the last nut and bolt. Its blisteringly quick but hardly a weekend toy.

To be honest I think im having a mid life crisis at 26 as I am bored of highly tunes cars that break each time you go out. I kind of want somthing I can have good fun in on track but also on the road while retaining some sort of comfort.

Having always been around the mg rover seen I have always had FWD, I fancy a change and consider myself to be a competiant driver. I see that 2001/2 S2000 cars are now at a very reasonable cost and I just fancy a bit of rwd 9k revs. ok no torque but im sure there a hoot to drive, roof down etc.

I dont really have a budget but I looked at elises and they just seem a lot of cash for what they are, so I suppose I would like to keep around 6k and below.

what would you guys do? does anybody know the tax bracket of a 02 s2000? my MG is 143 per 6 months. I will miss the out and out speed and handling of my car I am sure but its so rare i take it out due to its setup.

Cheers
Ross
 
Hello Si,

Yeah I remember your 220gsi well :)

I was reading a few of your threads on rtech yesterday and see you were up on power but not sure where it ended.

Cheers
Ross
 
If it's purely a toy for road and track, then i'd get something which is designed to be just that; like an Elise or a caterfield, not something which is more compromised for day to day use like an s2000.
 
Regy53 said:
are the vx220 not nasp until a certain year? with 150bhp?
Click to expand...

This post means the VX220 is not for you.

S2000's are awesome, but the bottom end of the market is usually total nails unless you drop on. in 2008 the arse fell out of the bottom of the S2K market and nails appeared all over the place. Since then the standard of the cars has slipped a lot in the 'entry level' part of the s2k market.

IMO, 6k is the lowest you want to be paying unless you totally drop on. I've had long conversations with people who wanted to get one who wondered what my thoughts were after owning one that I did a fair bit of work to between 2007 and 2010, all of them came back and agreed that this is the lowest you want to spend, and the standard improves significantly above this price point.

I am slightly confused by you considering road tax cost on a weekend car that you'll spank 100 quid of fuel in during a track day though....
 
Conanius said:
This post means the VX220 is not for you.

S2000's are awesome, but the bottom end of the market is usually total nails unless you drop on. in 2008 the arse fell out of the bottom of the S2K market and nails appeared all over the place. Since then the standard of the cars has slipped a lot in the 'entry level' part of the s2k market.

IMO, 6k is the lowest you want to be paying unless you totally drop on. I've had long conversations with people who wanted to get one who wondered what my thoughts were after owning one that I did a fair bit of work to between 2007 and 2010, all of them came back and agreed that this is the lowest you want to spend, and the standard improves significantly above this price point.

I am slightly confused by you considering road tax cost on a weekend car that you'll spank 100 quid of fuel in during a track day though....
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply, I apriciate any experience as I have never dabbled in Honda's. I had a look on the net and saw that between 5-6k the cars look fairly tidy and then I can negotate a little.

The reason for my tax question is that while your correct I blow far to much money in fuel on my car I consider RFL to be a ongoing cost that breaks my heart when i do it as I do such little miles. What i mean with ongoing cost is tax, insurance and mot are the yearly costs which make me wonder if i should bother altogether.

Cheers
Ross
 
My mates just got a nice MCB GT version for £5k. Car is almost mint, high miles but all motorway. Interior looks half the age

VX220s are ok I guess. If you like driving a go kart on the road. Plus they tend to have more issues than Hondas
 
Simon said:
My mates just got a nice MCB GT version for £5k. Car is almost mint, high miles but all motorway. Interior looks half the age

VX220s are ok I guess. If you like driving a go kart on the road. Plus they tend to have more issues than Hondas
Click to expand...

I think you know thats the exception rather than the rule Simon :)
 
No it's not. The arse has dropped out of the market.

There arent really that many dogs about. Unless a dog is one without the 'crucial' suspension bushes people wax on about. They are Hondas which have been typically looked after by previous owners, often garaged most their life.

Boy racers haven't got hold if them and a 'dog' is a tatty roof or high miles, hardly the end of the world.

Unless of course you are still keeping track 2 years after selling yours ?
 
Ive since helped several people and heard feedback off them as well as looking through adverts when killing time on the train. The last person I helped was earlier this year, and he looked at circa 10 cars, only when he went over 6k did he r
Find a decent one.

I don't doubt cheap bargains exist, but DRZ on here was desperate to get one and eventually bailed and got the mx5 ... Tatty roofs, crumpled bolsters, siezed adjusters, rusty rear arches, **** tyres, missing sh, the list goes on. What was once an arguably niche car is affordable to Kevin and Barry and his mate dazza... The result is obvious.
 
I was looking for a while, and there weren't that many 'nails' about per se, just not many about without travelling up and down the country. Plus the ones that are decent, tend to go straight away. So the ones left there for weeks on Autotrader are the poorer examples.

£5k should get you a ~2000-2001 model with lowish mileage, or a 2002-2003 with ~100k on the clock.
 
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