I am very close to buying a 2001 s2000 w/ 7,000 miles for $22,500. I am getting a 6 year loan on it (need to spread it that much to cover payments).

I know that I'm not going to be wanting this car in 3 years. A 2 seat convertible is by no means practical...but its a fun car and I'd love it for 3 years.

So here's my question. In 3 years, what do you think my trade in will be if its up to 40k miles? What if I resell?

I tried bluebook but its not too acurate because I can't age the s2000 any more than a 2000.

Thanks!

 

The 3 year residual on a new one from honda was 60%. It's hard to say what your car will be worth in 3 years. The market for them at that time will really dictate that. I mean you have the ITR that held its value incredibly well, then there are other cars that aren't worth chit right off the lot.

 

if a NEW one is worth 60% after 3 years, I would say a 3 year old one would easily be 75% of the current price after 3 years, maybe more. depreciation slows as a % of value every year. if you trade it in, think 50%; they will screw you over. You will have about 40-45% of the car paid off after 3 years on a 6 year loan.

I would heavily discourage a 6 year loan. the 5 year loan is the most I'd consider as the payments are not much more and you avoid an extra $4500 in payments. If you've got to stretch it to 6 years, you may want to rethink on whether you can afford the car, or consider a '00 model with more miles. If you can't afford the $400/mo, I doubt you'd be able to afford insurance (with a decent company that will cover you in an accident), maintenance, tires, repairs, etc.

 

You're gonna take a hit on the resale no matter what... s2000's don't hold their value well, and I always see a ton for sale for extended periods of time. Since your car is already priced decently, I don't see it dropping too much further.

 

Cars are not an investment, you can never predict the market in 3 years and you will always lose money unless its an Enzo.

 

Why is it that the S2000 doesn't hold their value?

 

It's relative. Compared to other vehicles, they do hold their value well, but what car doesn't depreciate rapidly in todays market? We bought our S2000 at $28,000 (talked down from $32,000-ish I think; it's my father's car so I don't remember accurately.) Kelly listed the car for $23,000 just the other day. We live on an island so our miles are really low, though.

 

Given that Honda keeps making/upgrading S2000, I would say a '01 S2000 will lose value quite a bit. I mean, why would someone pay good money for a '01, when there will be "newer" '04+ available 3 years from now. Unless they are desperate for 9k+ redline... but, that's not a big factor for most buyers (excluding a few enthusiasts).

 

As long as import tuning stays 'in' then there should be no problem selling it when the time comes. Right now they are a bit expensive for an every day kid but by the time you're ready to sell I'm sure some kid turning 18 will be ready for it.

That's pretty damn cheap for an 01 with that mileage. I am also in the market for an S2000 and most that I see are 00's with ~30k miles selling for 19-22 large.

 

Thats why you will until nov-dec if you can. There is always a glut around that time. People arent looking for convertibles, plus the newer model came out in october.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Bill Lumberg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Why is it that the S2000 doesn't hold their value? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Honda sold a TON of them to sissy *** jerks in their midlife crisis that realized 8 months later that the S2000 wasn't the MB SLK they should have gotten. So there's a FLOOD of low mileage dealer maintained early S2000's up for sale. Now that the '04's have gotten the 2.2L and cosmetic upgrades it's only going to make the '00-'03's depreciate more. Which is why I'm waiting another year before I let a freind take over the payments on the Si and snap one up with around 30K miles for about 18K.

 

well, right now the S is too expensive to those who want one, even used ones.

when they get older, the market of available buyers will increase, thus slowing the depreciation. I don't think the 04's new features will make the earlier models depreciate much. age is the biggest factor. still, i think the S will depreciate slower than most other cars. I predict a 01 will go for about 14K 3 yrs from now. given that price, demand will be much higher than it is now (more people can afford it).

 

S2000's blue-book for pretty cheap right now (18-19k) for a 00-01 with 30k but nobody is selling them for that cheap. I've been looking for one for about a month now and the only ones I've seen go for 18-19k are ones that are in crappy shape or 50k miles+.

 

exactly!

the S2000, type R, and even the GSR (late years) are high demand, low volume cars. people (street racer types) want them, but there are not many to go around. kbb or whoever may say something about a trade in/private party price, but if there is only 1 for sale in the area, it commands a higher price. Here in FL, there are not a lot for sale. many that are are marked up high. my 01 was listed at $26K, and I got it to 21.9 (it had the full Honda body kit, CD changer, and boot, so it was a good price to me). even that was close to the "dealer retail" kbb/edmunds value. others listed in the area are well over that, too.

 

http://autotrader.com/findacar...&y=11

I got 8 pages starting at 22K or less.

 

if s2ks were limited production and badged with production #'s like the itr's they would hold their resale just as well, but they are not. just stating the obvious ill be in the market for a s2k very soon.