Printable View
About 20 years.
I had to raise 3 kids to where I could kick them out of home;
Stop supporting their paddock full of show jumpers;
Sell the horse truck used to carry said horses;
And sell heaps of horse gear to raise the money;
Then drive up & look at my 2001, but only 27500Km beauty;
Drive to the bank to get the money;
Catch 2 trains & a taxi to get my car.
4 weeks and didn't find a perfect one.
i was lucky, i was always going to buy my best friend's one, but decided i'd have a look around and see if i could get one cheaper as his cost a fortune...it was immaculate to say the least.
anyway while i was looking i called up over 12 people, saw 5, got 1 mechanically tested, and not one of them was worth it. i was annoyed the one i had tested was not 100% because from my tests of it i thought it was.
that said, i was trying to buy cheap, as i already had an expensive one lined up, so i wasn't exactly looking at ones advertised for any more than low 20s.
you think buying an s2000 is hard? try buying a dc2r. i don't know what the market is like now, but 2 years ago heres how it went:
1 isn't a type r
1 is a write off
1 doesn't have recaros any more
1 doesn't have log books
1 has crazy sounds coming from somewhere that the seller claims he can't hear (no joke)
1 is missing parts you'd probably want a type r to have
none of them are white (except the written off one)
and then, after searching one pops up you're happy with, you verbally agree to buy it on the day you saw it come up, it sold 45 mins later with a "sorry i can't believe i had that much interest i should have asked for more". i've looked at a lot of cars, different makes and models, and have never seen one sell in 45 mins.
the only part about buying a dc2r that was easier was i could tell from advertisements and pictures what sort of condition the car was in, whereas s2000's i had to physically see.
Sounds like my experience buying a Silvia. A few dodgy S13s, including an undisclosed repairable write-off. Eventually had a handshake agreement on an S14, but the next day, he sold it out from under me. What a dog. I resolved to wait a few years until I was in the market for a more plentiful S15. Some cars are just so much trouble that you get over them.Quote:
Originally Posted by pure_na
Same position here. . . theres nothing on carsales right now. . . either its overpriced or write off. . .Quote:
Originally Posted by pure_na
im still waiting patiently, been living without a car for one month now might as well keep at it
Soo what was wrong with yours? i dont expect a 10year old to be in perfect condition anymore lol i just want one decently priced and not a write off and slowly restore it
I got my S2000 about 6 weeks ago and I just checked carsales and most of the ones online have been up there for months and months. I was pretty close to giving up my search and buying one that was just okay but nothing special. Luckily one popped up just before I made a purchase and it turned out to be much better and cheaper, so I bought it 2 days after it had been online. Most of the ones I see online now don't really stand out, it's a tough market to buy and sell an S2000.
yeah i've been in the market for a while.. the good ones that are priced well will sell in literally 2 days after the first inspection... so unfortunately one i was going to go look at got sold about an hour before i came to see it =.=...
it is a very tough market and it can come down to a matter of minutes as to who calls first for example.
was the question directed at me? if so:Quote:
Originally Posted by manonastick
i don't think i explained my sitatuation properly. I bought my best mates car. it was flawless. there was nothing wrong with it. i'm not exagerating. needed a new battery as it never got driven plus some other small maintenance items after i started driving it. *before* i bought his, i tried to see if i could get one cheaper. that's what i meant by 4 weeks and i didn't find a perfect one. while i was still getting the money together to buy his i looked at others and they were mostly shit.
if i was looking at one today, first thing i'd do is set up a budget. next, you go to see s2000s with your budget at the forefront of your mind. if my budget is 20, and i go to see one where the ONLY thing wrong with it is the roof being ****ed, then i would offer 18 as i could get a new, better roof for less than 2k.
GET THE CAR TESTED BY SOMEONE WHO KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE LOOKING AT! can't stress that enough.
generally the s2000s have diff issues. it is something i am not able to diagnose and that was the issue with the one i had mechanically checked. that's what's annoying about buying one, the diff felt fine to me, the mechanic said it was pretty close to exploding.
other than that it's mostly just crash issues. how picky are you when it comes to the car being hit? as every single one i looked at had been hit. (mine hasn't :P).
also, don't worry about higher ks if it has full books. if you're paying 20k, the 140k model has probably been taken car of better than the 100k model, considering they are the same price. if you're paying more, then you look at the ks to make sure you are not overpaying.
EDIT: I would say unless you are paying 16 or less, if the diff is ****ed then forget about the car. this is not a cheap thing to fix. to get it new from honda is like 8k or something, which nobody would do, but to get a replacement/fixed is still going to cost you in the thousands.
EDIT 2: Looking at what you said about slowly restoring it...i would say this is not a car you want to do that with. parts are *expensive*. everything is ****ing expensive for this car. everything has to come from japan (or america if you want it cheaper). dealerships do not stock anything for it. you probably don't want to restore one, as by the time you are done you could have bought a much better one for what you have spent. that's just my opinion, from when i was justifying the ridiculous amount bought mine for :P.
would you guys be wary of purchasing a JDM imported s2k? is there any way an inspector would know if the clock has been wound back?
pretty sure i know the one you're talking about, and pretty sure the guy personal imported it in for himself.
ask him for documents relating to the milage when it left japan (basically all the documents from japan). If he says he doesn't have any documents, he's probs lying and the clock has been wound back. there's no "sorry i lost them last week omg can you believe it yo?." If he says he doesn't have any documents that can verify milage from japan, the clock has been wound back, period. If he does have documents, then it's a starting point for you to decide whether the milage since then is legit or not (and i'd say it is if he is willing to show you the milage it came over with).
apparently he rego'd this imported s2k with the details and vin number of his old s2k, which he wrecked at the track.
his old s2k was an 01 model, but this has an 03 build date - so the rego papers will say its an 01.
he even said the vin has been swapped etc, which sounds so extremely dodgy from what I know of vicroads (but im in NSW so that knowledge is so very limited).
and he said yeah i have the papers but i can't give them to you etc --> which as you said, probably means the clock has been wound back
Even if there are papers from Japan, they don't mean much. I've been shown these very legitimate looking papers for low-mileage cars, and they're too good to be true.
feel sorry for anybody who buys this car. it is not, nor will it ever be, legal.Quote:
Originally Posted by black8thgen
on the other hand, at least he's honest. tried buying a dc5r once. was advertised as a championship white JDM dc5r, personal import. got him from 32k to 24k. new something was up. did a vin check myself. everything checked out. asked some people i know to check it out. the history of the vin was:
it was originally a BLACK, AUDM, BASE MODEL dc5.
this wasn't a vin swap, it was still the same car, just modded with jdm parts.
couldn't stop laughing, rang the guy and told him to go f*ck himself.