S2000 best car for $$$ ?

[Broke_as_****]

Originally Posted by Kurtdg19

Prove me wrong people.

"Best Overall" is an opinion. You can't prove an opinion. You seem to like the S2000 so it may be the car for you. I dislike various things about it and bought something else. If you were trying to compare it in a particular endevor (1/4 mile, top speed, cornering etc etc) then you could prove it better or worse than a given car. Try narrowing your question.

[King Of Crunk]

definitely the vette...even if you don't like the tranny, you'll get used to it after a while...and just like these guys are saying...the vette would make the others look like a toy, in a straight line and on the track...if you want an import i would go with a newer MR2 turbo or maybe 240sx...both cars have great balance...but still don't hold a candle to the vette but you would have lots of money left over to at least get close to the vette...

[Thepeug]

I'm obsessed with the S2000. Most fun car I've ever driven. Granted, I've never driven an Elise, a Vette, or a Miata, but screaming along at 9k while climbing through one of the most amazing gearboxes on earth is too much fun. Plus, the fit and finish is incredible (particularly the interior). Go for the F20C if you get one.

Word of warning: as much as I love the car, it's not great as an only car or a daily driver. Very little storage space and Civic-esque power below 6000 rpm's can wear on even a seasoned enthusiast. As a weekend hot-lapper, however, I'd choose nothing else.

[drunken monkey]

$20,000/£15,000 is also tvr griffith territory.

[kman10587]

drunken monkey: I'm not sure if you realize this, but the oldest Lotus that we have in the U.S. is the 2004 Elise, and we never got any TVRs.

[Jimster]

Originally Posted by Kurtdg19

Great replies...
Some of the cars mentioned were definitely on my watch. Some thoughts though...

E36 M3: Great car... beautiful car, but outdated... period.
350z: outta my price range, but great car and the VQ is commendable.
Miata: AWESOME suggestion and glad people mentioned it, but the exterior design leaves something to be desired? Like the BMW, it's just plain outdated. (new model might be something to look at in future)
Elise: just plain can't find them, and new american model is around $40k.
C5 vette: Let me tell ya, I LOVE the vette. Performance per dollar can't be beat, but the interior and transmission would make me throw up. I don't like vomit on leather.
Boxster: About the closest car mentioned that has the overall package. A porsche with some miles on the odo scares me. Repairs, I'm guessing, would be through the roof. Reliability is questionable. Transmission wouldnt be AS good, and from what I hear the interior wouldn't be either.
SRT-4: Handling, nah. FWD, nah. Interior, nah. 4-door, nah.
Cobalt SS: (See SRT-4)
New Mustang: little pricey, gorgeous retro styling IMO, but interior still doesn't do it for me. Main thing is this: Everyone and their brother will have one. Rarity is a factor. I wonder how much a lease on a GT would be though....

Prove me wrong people.

Boxster reliability is just as good as anything Japanese, most problems are usually very niggly and don't cost a lot to fix. If something mechanical does go kaput though, however rare that may be, then you will be faced with a horrendous repair bill.

Of course I don't buy cars for affordability of parts, so I suppose something like a Corvette would make more sense.

[alphalanos]

For me since i like small cars i would probably choose a miata. i also like the corvette and , not suprisingly i am i fan of the S2000. the other cars mentioned dont really interest me. i almost bought a miata but my current car was a better buy. i would love to get a miata and spend about 10k on it. that would be a nice car.

on a side note, i saw a guy driving a miata, new style. he took this 90* turn at like 45-50. his car must have had a nice suspension setup. i tried that and all i had was understeer and slide lol. i really need new shocks.

[Kurtdg19]

There are countless threads about a particular aspect of a car (1/4 mile, top speed, handling). I am asking for input on all angles of a car in the most critical sense. Narrowing the question would nullify the thread completely. I imagine that people buy a car for one, or maybe a few, particular reasons. For example, I wouldn't imagine weight or rarity are factors for your usual mustang buyer. I want the BEST OVERALL car for the money I'm spending.

Like I said, the vette is GREAT. Talk about raising the bar on performance, it's unbelievable. I could never row through the gears (even with 350hp) and enjoy myself fully. The throws would be too long and imprecise, and looking at the GM parts bin interior would be all but too painful. Now, do I really think the quality is that horrible? No, but comparing it to cars that, for the same price, have much better fit and finish ...I could not justify. Keep it coming.

[Broke_as_****]

Well then, I'll take a Twin Turbo Z over a S2000 any day. Nice real leather interior, plenty rare enough, doesn't have the somewhat ricey aura a S2000 does (though that maybe just me). Designed specifically with driver in mind the car is an utter joy to drive. I can toss it around a corner harder than my 240, given a stock 300hp its ahead of where most cars end up after upgrading and the extremely mod friendly VG motor is $1500 worth of intake, cat-back and ECU from 400hp. 400rwhp is achievable with bolt on upgrades. The stock bottom end has proven itself up past any kind of power that you could ever need for a street car and going beyond that doesn't require too much extra to achieve. Given so many hard driven Zs still running hard even with six figure mileage and Nissan's build quality it performs admirably enough for a sports car as far as reliablity is concerned. I love that fact that it doesn't suffer from a lack of low end power like so many small engined or turbocharged cars do. I don't have to wait for the engine to get up to a certain rpm range and I don't have to rely on the turbos to make all the power.

Combine how great a car it is with the money you would save over buying a S2000 and that makes a it a clear cut winner for better overall in my mind.

[kman10587]

I view the 300ZX as the premier sports car of the 90's. Sure, the Supra accelerates harder, the RX-7 handles better, the 3000GT has all-wheel-drive, and the Corvette smokes all four of them, but there's just something about the 300ZX that puts it above the rest. Maybe it's the incredible styling, or the truly high-class interior, or the rock-solid build quality...but I think it's the fact that it combines all of those things so masterfully, so naturally, that it is the best.

I think Edmunds.com put it the best, in their overview in the 1996 300ZX: "It's not the fastest car in its class anymore, nor the most technologically advanced, nor the most refined, but like George Foreman, the 300ZX is still champ. It does everything a sports car should do, does it well, and it looks even better than it did when it was introduced. The 300ZX is a no-apologies kind of car." There's really no simpler way to put it than that. It may not always be possible to justify the car on paper, but if you're looking for a truly complete package, it's hard to go wrong with the 300ZX. It's certainly worth a look.

EDIT: God damnit, why am I sticking up for the 300ZX TT? It weighs 3400 frickin' pounds!

[drunken monkey]

Originally Posted by kman10587

drunken monkey: I'm not sure if you realize this, but the oldest Lotus that we have in the U.S. is the 2004 Elise, and we never got any TVRs.

i know.... just rubbing it in a little......

[Kurtdg19]

Apparently someone hasn't been reading through the thread.

BEST OVERALL SPORTS CAR FOR AROUND OR UNDER $20k. Not best sports car for $10k that you could upgrade. This is meant to compare cars that can be had for a price in stock trim. According to your logic, I could just save money by buying a civic and upgrading all components of the engine and suspension, and still save $5k. What does heavily modding a car do to reliability? Mileage?

The 300zx, while obtaining a timeless exterior design, is unfortunately moot in this thread. 300hp is great and all, but when it's pulling 3300-3400lbs along it doesn't seem so impressive. The interior was great for 1989, I'm sure, but it's 2005. Toyota corolla interior is better. Really. As far as that generation of cars is concerned I always thought the RX-7 was the clear-cut winner. It decent power, light weight, and an exterior/interior design that was ahead of its time. Unfortunately you were lucky to get 100,000 miles out of that wankel(sp?) rotary before you needed a rebuild.

With that said the 300zx is a great car, it really is, but it doesn't belong on this thread.

[kman10587]

The 300zx, while obtaining a timeless exterior design, is unfortunately moot in this thread. 300hp is great and all, but when it's pulling 3300-3400lbs along it doesn't seem so impressive. The interior was great for 1989, I'm sure, but it's 2005. Toyota corolla interior is better. Really. As far as that generation of cars is concerned I always thought the RX-7 was the clear-cut winner. It decent power, light weight, and an exterior/interior design that was ahead of its time. Unfortunately you were lucky to get 100,000 miles out of that wankel(sp?) rotary before you needed a rebuild.

It'll smoke an S2000 without even trying. Weight doesn't matter so much at higher speeds, where it mostly comes down to power, aerodynamics, and gearing. And I guess you haven't seen a nice 300ZX interior, because they are much better than any Toyota Corolla.

[BlackGT2000]

I don't get this. If you want an S2000 and don't want to hear about anything else that is better in most categories, than get the S2000. Performance wise, I think most of the cars people have mentioned would put a thorough beating on an S2000. Maybe you see something special about the interior that I don't that makes you forget the other shortcomings, but I don't. Get what will make you happy but with an S2000 you aren't any more exclusive than a vette, and less powerful than everything else mentioned. Also, I couldn't immagine rowing through all the gears on any of these cars honestly, because by the end of 3rd gear you would be well over 100 MPH in most of these cars, let alone being in 6th.

[gti1689]

well, the s2000 is a really well rounded car except for the engine. don't wanna rev the shit outta it all day. i read in a magazine article that they did a 0-60 only revving to 5000 or 6000 each gear and it took them 11 seconds.

buy a used 3KGT, supra, 300zx, or rx7. they might be a little older, but they are fast out of the box, and they are relatively painless to mod. $10,000 for one of the above mentioned cars, and $10,000 in mods sounds about as good as it can get.