Only new on this so Hey! I've been looking for an S2000 now for 4 months and finding it near impossible to find a good one.
I live in Ireland and currently their are around 15 S2000's for sale mainly 00-01 with 100k mls/160k km on the clock for about $14k (€10k) but viewed 5 of them over the last while and everyone of them needs a soft top replacement.
Only reasonable value one is an 07 2.0i 30,000miles for about €22k ($31k).

What I wanted to ask as I've heard so many different stories is:
Generally what is the life expectancy of a soft top if garaged during winter but out during the summer? As back window goes yellow or cracks and rips appear in the roof.
Clutch life span on average? (I know its hard to determine depending on the owners driving).
Also is it true that the Honda GT hard top catches are more robust and last longer aswell as reduce wind noise when the soft top is up?
Last one on average with daily driving in mind what are the fuel figures for a 2.0iVtec that you guys get?

Would be very grateful for answers.
Thanks

 

Most people who replace the soft top update the rear window to glass. If you garage the car the top should last much longer but it all depends on how much you operate the top, how much time it spend in the sun, etc. If I had to guess i would say the average life span is 5-7 years, and that's going by how long mine lasted.

Clutch life span depends completely on driver and conditions. Obviously a car that is more highway driven would have less clutch wear than a car that is driven in a stop and go environment. I would say the clutch lasts about as well as any other car, it just depends.

There are different strikers that you would want on the 00-03 if you want to use a hardtop. I believe the ap2 already has them though but i could be wrong.

Once again, depends on how you drive. I beat mine up and get pretty poor gas mileage imo. I think around 19-24 mpg with mixed driving...usually about 220 miles out of a tank

 

^ thats still better than what im getting dots...i usually average 200 miles a tank...i think i need an 02-03 ECU maybe lean out the mixture a little and see if that helps

 

got 34MPG on an 01' all hwy before
got 31MPG on an 03'turbo'd all hwy too

but those are peaks, I would say that with conservative driving my mixed figures come in at 25MPG. Wasn't an issue in terms of fuel, time to see if this 00' will live up to the figures of the past S2k's i've owned.

 

Yeah I am usually between 200-220. I know some guys on here have claimed 280-300 though.

 

Thanks guys for the info, I am really looking to buy a GT to have the hard top but very few around and even importing from the UK with the current exchange rate and high taxes here I would be better buying the 07 offered from the garage then going back to an 05 UK car for the same money.

Yea the whole mpg heard too many sellers bringing up mad figures to make them sound great but then looking at reviews from mags and vids all say on average between 22-27mpg, I'm not too concerned at that. I did have a Mk5 R32 golf last year which would have been doing the same figures but besides the noise and cruising comfort was a let down in the driving pleasure department and huge annual road tax we have to pay here on larger engined cars.

Thanks again for the info.