Thought it would be good to do a bit of a review of the S2000 seeing as I have had it just over a year now, and with them becoming more and more affordable in recent times pass on a bit of knowledge about them for those of you considering one.
I bought my S2000 back in November 2007 from Pennine Honda up near Manchester for £11,200. It was a MY00 in Silver(stone) with black leather and 54k on the clock. It looked like a good example for the money, so I gave it a go ! Since this time I've covered about 12,000 miles.
Insurance was through Bell, and was just shy of £2000. I guess this was to be expected being 23 living in Watford's version of the Bronx, but luckily this has come down significantly. This years renewal was through Chris Knott, and a mere £829.
3 weeks after buying the car the rear screen decided to snap on me when I put the roof down. I ended up getting this replaced with a brand new mohair roof with heated glass rear screen conversion by CarHoodsDirect near Kingston Upon Thames. This replaced the previous honda vinyl roof and plastic screen combo. This has been a great investment, and but is still waiting for me to fit the wiring for the heated screen!
General running costs for the car are good all things considered, but its at the point now where the car is going to start costing a fair whack of money to keep in tip top shape. Next years service is a big one, and I want to get other bits done also. The clutch whilst it isn't slipping too much has the 'buzz' that early cars get. This is caused by a worn release bearing, and a revised design is used on newer cars. Ensure when you get the clutch replaced you get this done too. This buzz happens when you come off the gas and coast down through the revs, or is a loud rattle at the top end of the rev range. My local Honda garage have offered to do this for £850, but I think I will end up going uprated ready for power upgrades.
Tyres. As with all cars tyres can be quite important ! I had P6000's on the car when I bought it and to put it bluntly they were truely awful. The rears got replaced within 3 months with Bridgestone Potenza RE050a's (IMO the best option on 16's) and then when these wore down to 3mm in September this year i got replacements for the fronts at the same time. This came to just over £350 with event tyres using s2kuk discount.
One thing you will get with s2000's is seized bushes. Honda made the tolerances so small that water can et in, but not back out. This results in you having to cut off suspension bolts and use a 10 tonne press to get the old bushes out. Honda will cut the whole suspension arm off to do this, and don't sell the bushes separate to the arms, so your only real choice is to go polybushed for all bushes bar the caster bushes. For these Mugen and Spoon offer good upgraded parts.
I took the car to the person argued to be the best for this. Chris Franklin at Center mavity. I spent the best part of 12 hours at the workshop, and came out with a significantly lighter wallet, but a night and day transformation to the cars handling. I had seized front caster bushes, and seized rear toe and camber bushes. Chris didn't have the parts to do the rear camber bushes, but the front caster were replaced with Mugen items, and the rear toe with Polyflex items. There was enough play in the rear camber to get the car a fast road geo setup, meaning that this wasn't a major problem.
Total cost here was just shy of £800 (this includes the initial inspection, cutting out both rear toe arms and replacing the bolts and bushes, cutting out both the front caster bolts and replacing the bolts and bushes, and then the final geo setup)
After having the work done the car felt totally different, and it became immediately apparent to me why so many of these cars end up in hedges. Before the work the car didn't feel safe or secure when pushing on through the twisty bits. After this work was done the car was a joy to drive, and on the way home I was flying round the roundabouts with more grip than I could believe was possible ! I strongly advise you if you have or want to get an s2000 to either go to Chris and get the work done, or insist on it being done prior to purchase. You wont regret it !
Sadly, the day after having this work done someone drove into the back of the car when I was stopped waiting to pull onto a roundabout. Luckily it was slow speed so just resulted in a cracked bumper, but it caused enough damage for me to have to enlist the help of europa consultants. I ended up with a boxster for a week or so, and it made me realise just how good the s2000 was. At this point I should say I couldn't recommend europa consultants enough, and they have been most helpful in getting the car back on the road.
Overall costs for ownership have not been cheap, but I think worth every penny. Since I bought the car I've spent money on -
New mohair roof with glass rear screen
Honda wiring loom, relay and button to wire in the screen (still to be fitted)
New front tyres (RE050a's)
New rear tyres x2 sets (RE050a's)
Full Center mavity Geo
New Alpine ipod and cd headunit, speakers and 2004 doorcards (tweeter mount points)
New front and rear brake pads, front brake discs, 2 engine oil changes, gearbox and diff oil change, brake and clutch fluid change and its yearly service + mot.
I've saved a small fortune having S2KUK membership (probably in the region of £1000) as I get 15% of parts and labour at my local Honda garage, saved a shedload on the new roof, and £600 on my insurance.
I've also learned lots from the forums over at s2ki.com and I would strongly recommend reading the FAQ on here if your thinking about getting an s2000.
I guess this leaves us with what plans does year 2 hold? Well, I think it's going to focus around doing more work to the car and getting in a load more track time.
Current plans are going to be -
-Finish the ICE install work
-Replace the clutch.. the buzz is driving me mad!
-Refurbish the alloys in Anthracite, leaving the centre caps silver, and getting some black wheel nuts.
-Refurbish/Replace both seats as the leather and bolsters have seen better days. At the same time ill probably take out the carpet and sort out the sound deadening as I want to make things a little quieter in there.
-Do more interior work. Im after the Muz full length mats, boot lid liner, leather centre console, 04 radio door and 04 gearknob.....I'll probably get a fair few other bits to really smarten things up, and I want to replace the few bits of interior trim which are scuffed and marked with new replacements.
-Suspension + Chassis mods will make up the majority of this years spending. Looking at coilovers (Probably the KWv3's) along with rear adjustable toe arms, front rack spacer, Cusco ARBs, strut bars and brace bars. At the same time ill get all the remaining bushes swapped out for powerflex purples as they will have seen their best, as well as getting those last two seized camber bushes cut out and replaced. This should make the handling absolutely superb
-Turbo/Supercharge. Depending on if I have any money left at the end of this... this is one of the final pieces of the puzzle to make the car complete and to do it right I don't mind waiting a while. I'm wanting to go for 400 at the wheels. Not sure why but it just seems like a nice figure to aim for. Would result in incredible performance, exactly what I'm after and should make the car absolutely incredible.
Aware this post jumps around a bit, but hopefully this should be interesting reading for anyone considering an s2000.
Picture of the car at goodwood at the soft-top weekend - http://s130.photobucket.com/albums/p276/endeeci/Goodwood/?action=view¤t=P1050443.jpg
I bought my S2000 back in November 2007 from Pennine Honda up near Manchester for £11,200. It was a MY00 in Silver(stone) with black leather and 54k on the clock. It looked like a good example for the money, so I gave it a go ! Since this time I've covered about 12,000 miles.
Insurance was through Bell, and was just shy of £2000. I guess this was to be expected being 23 living in Watford's version of the Bronx, but luckily this has come down significantly. This years renewal was through Chris Knott, and a mere £829.
3 weeks after buying the car the rear screen decided to snap on me when I put the roof down. I ended up getting this replaced with a brand new mohair roof with heated glass rear screen conversion by CarHoodsDirect near Kingston Upon Thames. This replaced the previous honda vinyl roof and plastic screen combo. This has been a great investment, and but is still waiting for me to fit the wiring for the heated screen!
General running costs for the car are good all things considered, but its at the point now where the car is going to start costing a fair whack of money to keep in tip top shape. Next years service is a big one, and I want to get other bits done also. The clutch whilst it isn't slipping too much has the 'buzz' that early cars get. This is caused by a worn release bearing, and a revised design is used on newer cars. Ensure when you get the clutch replaced you get this done too. This buzz happens when you come off the gas and coast down through the revs, or is a loud rattle at the top end of the rev range. My local Honda garage have offered to do this for £850, but I think I will end up going uprated ready for power upgrades.
Tyres. As with all cars tyres can be quite important ! I had P6000's on the car when I bought it and to put it bluntly they were truely awful. The rears got replaced within 3 months with Bridgestone Potenza RE050a's (IMO the best option on 16's) and then when these wore down to 3mm in September this year i got replacements for the fronts at the same time. This came to just over £350 with event tyres using s2kuk discount.
One thing you will get with s2000's is seized bushes. Honda made the tolerances so small that water can et in, but not back out. This results in you having to cut off suspension bolts and use a 10 tonne press to get the old bushes out. Honda will cut the whole suspension arm off to do this, and don't sell the bushes separate to the arms, so your only real choice is to go polybushed for all bushes bar the caster bushes. For these Mugen and Spoon offer good upgraded parts.
I took the car to the person argued to be the best for this. Chris Franklin at Center mavity. I spent the best part of 12 hours at the workshop, and came out with a significantly lighter wallet, but a night and day transformation to the cars handling. I had seized front caster bushes, and seized rear toe and camber bushes. Chris didn't have the parts to do the rear camber bushes, but the front caster were replaced with Mugen items, and the rear toe with Polyflex items. There was enough play in the rear camber to get the car a fast road geo setup, meaning that this wasn't a major problem.
Total cost here was just shy of £800 (this includes the initial inspection, cutting out both rear toe arms and replacing the bolts and bushes, cutting out both the front caster bolts and replacing the bolts and bushes, and then the final geo setup)
After having the work done the car felt totally different, and it became immediately apparent to me why so many of these cars end up in hedges. Before the work the car didn't feel safe or secure when pushing on through the twisty bits. After this work was done the car was a joy to drive, and on the way home I was flying round the roundabouts with more grip than I could believe was possible ! I strongly advise you if you have or want to get an s2000 to either go to Chris and get the work done, or insist on it being done prior to purchase. You wont regret it !
Sadly, the day after having this work done someone drove into the back of the car when I was stopped waiting to pull onto a roundabout. Luckily it was slow speed so just resulted in a cracked bumper, but it caused enough damage for me to have to enlist the help of europa consultants. I ended up with a boxster for a week or so, and it made me realise just how good the s2000 was. At this point I should say I couldn't recommend europa consultants enough, and they have been most helpful in getting the car back on the road.
Overall costs for ownership have not been cheap, but I think worth every penny. Since I bought the car I've spent money on -
New mohair roof with glass rear screen
Honda wiring loom, relay and button to wire in the screen (still to be fitted)
New front tyres (RE050a's)
New rear tyres x2 sets (RE050a's)
Full Center mavity Geo
New Alpine ipod and cd headunit, speakers and 2004 doorcards (tweeter mount points)
New front and rear brake pads, front brake discs, 2 engine oil changes, gearbox and diff oil change, brake and clutch fluid change and its yearly service + mot.
I've saved a small fortune having S2KUK membership (probably in the region of £1000) as I get 15% of parts and labour at my local Honda garage, saved a shedload on the new roof, and £600 on my insurance.
I've also learned lots from the forums over at s2ki.com and I would strongly recommend reading the FAQ on here if your thinking about getting an s2000.
I guess this leaves us with what plans does year 2 hold? Well, I think it's going to focus around doing more work to the car and getting in a load more track time.
Current plans are going to be -
-Finish the ICE install work
-Replace the clutch.. the buzz is driving me mad!
-Refurbish the alloys in Anthracite, leaving the centre caps silver, and getting some black wheel nuts.
-Refurbish/Replace both seats as the leather and bolsters have seen better days. At the same time ill probably take out the carpet and sort out the sound deadening as I want to make things a little quieter in there.
-Do more interior work. Im after the Muz full length mats, boot lid liner, leather centre console, 04 radio door and 04 gearknob.....I'll probably get a fair few other bits to really smarten things up, and I want to replace the few bits of interior trim which are scuffed and marked with new replacements.
-Suspension + Chassis mods will make up the majority of this years spending. Looking at coilovers (Probably the KWv3's) along with rear adjustable toe arms, front rack spacer, Cusco ARBs, strut bars and brace bars. At the same time ill get all the remaining bushes swapped out for powerflex purples as they will have seen their best, as well as getting those last two seized camber bushes cut out and replaced. This should make the handling absolutely superb
-Turbo/Supercharge. Depending on if I have any money left at the end of this... this is one of the final pieces of the puzzle to make the car complete and to do it right I don't mind waiting a while. I'm wanting to go for 400 at the wheels. Not sure why but it just seems like a nice figure to aim for. Would result in incredible performance, exactly what I'm after and should make the car absolutely incredible.
Aware this post jumps around a bit, but hopefully this should be interesting reading for anyone considering an s2000.
Picture of the car at goodwood at the soft-top weekend - http://s130.photobucket.com/albums/p276/endeeci/Goodwood/?action=view¤t=P1050443.jpg
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