buying an S2000

Hey,

So the missus has decided she wants a GP white s2000, got approved for a loan the other day so it is now down to me to find the right one.

There are two candidates atm, one in sydney (where we live) and one down in victoria at a dealership.

I wanted to know if anyone on here knows these cars and even if they are still for sale (have put in an enquiry yesterday buit havent heard back).

Feel free to let me know what you think of these two

http://www.carsales.com.au/private/d...api=2&__N=1246 1247 1252 1282 4294766524 4294965322 4294964924 1216&silo=Stock&Range=Price:Min,Max~1&sort=default

http://www.carsales.com.au/dealer/de...api=2&__N=1246 1247 1252 1282 4294766524 4294965322 4294964924 1216&silo=Stock&Range=Price:Min,Max~1&sort=default

Both cars look to be pretty clean inside and out, and I have read quite a bit so pretty happy that I know what I am looking at and how a good s2000 drives. Also for the one in sydney I am thinking that I will take it to Hanny's to do an inspection.

I am a bit worried about the one in Victoria because I know flying down to Vic will basically mean I am buying it. Would still want to get it checked out and I think that they would probably be happy to move a bit on price as it is probably over priced being at a dealership. Anyone with experience buying interstate can you please let me know the sorts of things you asked/ did to make sure everything was okay.

cheers guys!

the one in NSW, ask about the front bar since there has been a dodgy respray of the front bar. this is pretty common i've found with second hand s2ks and the car is likely to have been in a front end hit. ask about accident history and check the bumper and bonnet/fender gaps and between headlights too. just see if theres any major irregularities. also check the radiator support mounts as these are sometimes lazily repaired i've found.

of course there is the possibility that he just had the front bar resprayed due to some scratches or something (it is a pretty old car u have to remember that) and the painter just went straight over the bottom vent covers, which looks terrible.

other than that, there is an extensive list of things to look out for on s2ki both mechanically and cosmetically. Here is the link - http://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/7758...-a-used-s2000/

take the time to read it all if you haven't yet. cos i did and its very helpful!

Yeah i thought there was something weird going on, but couldnt work out what it was, cheers. Yeah i have a membership on s2ki and have read all the articles about 50 times each!

I am liking the one in victoria more and more...

yeah it looks a good buy. im looking for an s2k as well and was tempted to go take a look at the one in vic but honestly cant be bothered to go all the way down lol.

maybe an option for u is ask someone on here who owns an s2k and lives around that dealership in vic, and who is willing, to do an inspection. and u could reimburse them or something.

but of course, first give them a call (when i put my inquiry in they called me back the next day but i was at work and had no chance to speak with them), and see what you can do in terms of price over the phone and just ask the basic questions (crash history, service history, previous owner, etc)

+1 the front bar on the NSW S2k looks abit off - Me personally exterior discrepancies really turns me off in regard to potential purchases especially since the car is hitting the $25k+ mark you really gotta fall in love with it or else you are going to be taking a gamble with it

If i were you i'd go look at the VIC one if i was sure i wanted only a GPW S2K as they are a rare find in good condition and this 1 looks quite immaculate from the pics but you'd obviously need to see it in person then make the call - IMO spend the $ to inspect the VIC one its an expensive car and your going to be living with it for some time so best to make sure you get the best your hard earned $ can buy? :)

Cheers for the replies people!

Yeah the vic one is the forerunner at the moment, does anyone know any good honda mechanics in vic i could get to take a look at the car?

I would probably try and find an independent inspection company. Similar to IVI in NSW. Don't bother with ones like NRMA inspection cos they miss a lot of problems.

So looks like the one in Victoria is the go. Spoke with the dealership over the phone this arvo; service history is good, only serviced at Honda and services every 5000kms. Asked a whole lot of questions and the answers were all good.
Did a revs check (or whatever it's called now) and it was clean, no money owing and no accidents and not stolen.

I have a person from state roads going over the car on Thursday for a 260 point check and road test.

If that all pans out I will fly down on Friday night and check it out myself on Saturday and if everything is legit and the price is agreed on I will drive her home on Sunday!

Kinda excited!

good that ur getting someone to check it, i wouldnt trust any of the words that dealer says, probably only 20% of what they tells u is true, best is to inspect it yourself with your mechanic/company at the same time, goodluck with that, gpw is hard to find these days

good news! 260 point check sounds decent too. only problem is its hard to verify the quality of their work since you're not there, they tend to be a bit lazy as there is no one standing over them checking what they do.

anyways good luck with it all! just out of curiosity, were you able to bargain down that price over the phone at all?

Car dealers are known to tell the truth only ~20% of the time when selling a car. I learnt this in uni in a comparison to my career. LOL
Just saying... So don't be fooled by a dealers words. They will do anything to try and sell. If it was me, I'd do the same if I was a dealer haha

yeah just as long as u do ur checks you should be good to go