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Login to post Forums » Grassroots Motorsports » Honduh S2000 lack of service history, do I need to worry?

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Nov. 11, 2011 11:54 a.m. wearymicrobe HalfDork

ProDarwin wrote:

BoxheadTim wrote: I am basically concerned that it's been used on the track (why would you buy one otherwise?).

Because stuffing your $35K car into a tire wall would SUCK. Also, tripling the cost of your track day with insurance would suck as well.

Go buy now. Enjoy the no-soft top. It means it won't rip and you wont be out $1200 to replace it

That and it will be harder for someone to steal the seats, they WILL go after the wheels trust me on a CR.

I had a 00' and somewhere dead in the back of my head Honda changed the oil in mine at 10K as it had some funky additive that they like to let run around the motor for a while.
Nov. 11, 2011 3:02 p.m. stealthfighter1 Reader

i'm a honda tech, and most s2000 don't get driven very much. most people that buy them are either.... cheap or old , or both .

most honda services are 3 years or 36k , then every 30k . most s2000 are regularly mantained , and the ones that aren't will show severely more than a regular car more often than not.

overall it's still a honda, the oil change is the only thing i'd see it due for untill it hits the 3 year old mark . check the cabin filter though, it's in the cowl on the battery side, pull gently on the plastic cover and you'll see a small white oval , only the inside part is disposable, the frame you re-use.
Nov. 11, 2011 3:03 p.m. Ian F SuperDork

ProDarwin wrote: Enjoy the no-soft top. It means it won't rip and you wont be out $1200 to replace it

Ouch! That explains the one a few office buildings away from me here with duct tape covering the front half of the top...
Nov. 11, 2011 4:30 p.m. pres589 Dork

Robbins top, $705; http://www.kwiktops.com/index.php?app=ecom&ns=prodshow&ref=2540honda
Nov. 11, 2011 4:34 p.m. BoxheadTim SuperDork

OEM top is fabric, though. That's another $285 if you want OEM material.
Nov. 11, 2011 5:29 p.m. ProDarwin Dork
pres589 wrote:

Robbins top, $705; http://www.kwiktops.com/index.php?app=ecom&ns=prodshow&ref=2540honda
- install. I hear it is a PAIN and not something I would care to do myself for fear of berkeleying it up.
I just had mine patched, but can't currently lower it. I'm looking at my other options. This winter is going to be expensive between that and a mild STR build.
Nov. 12, 2011 9:43 a.m. BoxheadTim SuperDork

stealthfighter1 wrote:

i'm a honda tech, and most s2000 don't get driven very much. most people that buy them are either.... cheap or old , or both.

Looks like that mirrors my experience, so far I've found one car that was maintained the way you'd expect it from "one of us", but a lot of people seem to be more interested in polishing them than in changing the oil.

stealthfighter1 wrote:

overall it's still a honda, the oil change is the only thing i'd see it due for untill it hits the 3 year old mark . check the cabin filter though, it's in the cowl on the battery side, pull gently on the plastic cover and you'll see a small white oval , only the inside part is disposable, the frame you re-use.

Thanks for the info. Do I need a special tool to reset the oil life/service indicator on these?
Nov. 12, 2011 11:27 a.m. Don49 Reader

No special tool need. You use the odo reset button. If you google it, there are numerous posts on how to reset it.. I never remember it so I have to google when the light is on.
Nov. 12, 2011 2:17 p.m. DirtyBird222 SuperDork

Datsun1500 wrote:

DirtyBird222 wrote:

15% but what's 5%. I change mine when it says 50% lol.

When I had an Odyssey, I had Dealers here refuse to do it at 15.... who knows?

Wow, we would get in trouble if a car came in for a different service and had 15% oil life and the wrench glowing and not recommend to the customer an oil change. I'm pretty sure those dealers would get some crap from Honda if they were to find out aboot those shenanigans.

Anyways, I want an S2K for a track car. That's my plan once I finish all my USAF training.
Nov. 12, 2011 2:43 p.m. Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork

BoxheadTim wrote:

I'll have a good look at the tires when I go see the car, I know what track-type tire wear looks like but I am basically concerned that it's been used on the track (why would you buy one otherwise?).

Why would that concern you though really? I have put tens of thousands of miles on my street cars at racetracks. It doesn't hurt them more than a few salty winters as a city car would. If it has a factory warranty I'd just make sure it wasn't in a wreck and that everything mechanical is functional and sane.

Then I would take it to the track for a long weekend and find the weaknesses for the dealer to fix under warranty
Nov. 12, 2011 2:53 p.m. BoxheadTim SuperDork

No factory warranty left on the car.

The concern re the track use was simply "track use and no maintenance history". That would really concern me.

For some odd reason I think it'd see some track use if I bought it.
Nov. 13, 2011 11:55 p.m. BoxheadTim SuperDork

Well, went and had a look at it today.

Given the low mileage I wasn't super impressed with the condition of the paint, mainly in the front - untreated scratches down to the primer, lots of "detailing gone wrong" marks that made me wonder if the dealer hired Stevie Wonder to do the detail etc. Mechanically it seemed find and it might even have had an oil change as there's what looks like a non-OEM oil filter on it. The front end felt rather bouncy though, but I have a suspicion that it had something to do with the tire pressure warning light being on. All in all it's a neat car but I don't think it's worth the top money they're asking for it.

The killer however is that there appears to be an issue with the dealer accepting financing/payment from an out of state credit union, supposedly because of the inability to do a direct title/guarantee of title exchange against the bankers draft. At least that's how it was explained to me. Strangely enough the dealership would only be too happy to arrange financing for the car. Yeah right, I might have a funny accent but I didn't fall out of a tree yesterday.

I'll have a word with my loan officer at my local CU tomorrow to see if they were trying to give me a load of BS or if there is actually an issue with financing the purchase of an out of state vehicle. The latter would be really annoying given that there's a pretty limited choice of vehicles up here, whereas the market down in Sacramento and the Bay Area just offers a much wider choice.

Either way it looks like a rather wasted Sunday at the moment.
Nov. 14, 2011 7:52 a.m. njansenv HalfDork

Sorry to hear that it was a wasted effort. To me, a 9000 mile car should look brand new. I'm not even sure it should need a real "detailing" yet!
Nov. 14, 2011 8:18 a.m. Osterkraut SuperDork

DirtyBird222 wrote: That's my plan once I finish all my USAF training.

Whatcha going in for?
Nov. 14, 2011 8:32 a.m. alex SuperDork

BoxheadTim wrote: Strangely enough the dealership would only be too happy to arrange financing for the car. Yeah right, I might have a funny accent but I didn't fall out of a tree yesterday.

Yeah, that sounds like a line of bullE36 M3 to me, too.

Top money for a less-than-top-condition car, and a squirrely salesdouche? Pass. There are more S2Ks out there.
Nov. 14, 2011 9:22 a.m. BoxheadTim SuperDork

In reply to alex:

Yes - but. It's an S2000CR, they only made 699 of them. For a regular S2k I probably wouldn't have spent eight hours on the road in the first place.

OTOH it's not like my life wouldn't be complete without one.
Nov. 14, 2011 9:27 a.m. rotard Reader

There's a dealer here wanting $23k for a yellow S2000 CR. It has 73k miles on it or something like that. I looked at it, and it's nice, but definitely not $23k worth of nice. At least not to me.Linky
Nov. 14, 2011 9:29 a.m. BoxheadTim SuperDork

njansenv wrote:

Sorry to hear that it was a wasted effort. To me, a 9000 mile car should look brand new. I'm not even sure it should need a real "detailing" yet!

According to the buyers guide in a certain magazine the paint scratches fairly easy and is pretty thin. That said, there's still a local car here that's got about three times the miles and that's in better condition with the exception of a mark on the front bumper where the owner had a bit of an argument with another object. To be perfect that car would need the bumper cover replaced and repainted (and it's my wife's least favorite color to put it mildly - she hates yellow cars), but in order to make the CR look as good as it deserves I would seriously consider repainting the whole front end.
Nov. 14, 2011 9:34 a.m. BoxheadTim SuperDork

rotard wrote:

There's a dealer here wanting $23k for a yellow S2000 CR. It has 73k miles on it or something like that. I looked at it, and it's nice, but definitely not $23k worth of nice. At least not to me.Linky

Well, it's cheaper than the one I looked at . Oddly enough so far I've had the same feeling about the one I looked at yesterday - neat but not worth the money they're asking for it.
Nov. 14, 2011 9:45 a.m. Datsun1500 SuperDork

alex wrote:

BoxheadTim wrote: Strangely enough the dealership would only be too happy to arrange financing for the car. Yeah right, I might have a funny accent but I didn't fall out of a tree yesterday.

Yeah, that sounds like a line of bullE36 M3 to me, too.

Fairly common on out of State stuff, at least here. With the amount of fraud with bank checks and stuff, why give the guy ownership to the car assuming it's good. Much easier to get him a loan and let him pay it off with the financing he has in place. It makes sure the Dealer gets paid for the car.

If you had a car for sale and someone shows up with an out of State check and wants the title, would you give it to him?
Nov. 14, 2011 9:56 a.m. BoxheadTim SuperDork

TBH I would think it's going to make much of a difference over an in-state check, would it? If I don't see the buyer draw the check at their bank, it might be iffy.

The way the explanation sounded to me was that the dealer would normally deal with the CU directly (which makes sense) but doesn't want to/can't do it with an out-of-state CU due to the added complications.

I'd understand if they're saying the me turning up with a draft from a CU unknown to them would be an issue, but that wouldn't be the case if they dealt with the CU directly, would it?
Nov. 14, 2011 10:11 a.m. BoxheadTim SuperDork

Well, I just got word back from the loan officer at my CU. She was too polite to call male bovine excrement on this, but basically stated that (a) they do this all the time (due to the limited market up here) and (b) they only need a handful of documents that the dealer needs to provide and should be able to provide.
Nov. 14, 2011 10:44 a.m. DWNSHFT Reader

I just bought a car from a major dealer in another state. They accepted my personal, out-of-state check after running a background check on me (not a credit check). I was surprised to say the least. Check amount was >not< challenge-legal, too. Title was mailed to me later, probably when the check cleared.

David
Nov. 14, 2011 10:46 a.m. pigeon Dork

Last couple cars I bought were with loan checks from an out-of-state credit union, and were accepted by the dealers without issue. Twice I was buying in a third state too. Moral of the story is that F&I is where the dealer makes a lot of money, but if the sales guy / sales manager wants the sale he'll be able to push it through.
Nov. 14, 2011 12:13 p.m. BoxheadTim SuperDork

I know that the F&I is a profit center for the dealer, but TBH have over $28k walk out the door (assuming I'd pay asking price, which of course I wouldn't) because you're being daft about the financing doesn't sound like a good business strategy to me.

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