Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Long Term Test: 2007 Honda S2000 Post #9 (Happy Anniversary!)

Current Miles: 93,800

Happy 10th Anniversary to my beloved S2000! I know I joke about this a lot, but this is the longest, most stable, and least expensive relationship I have ever been in. A little bit of background on my S2000:

The Honda S2000 had always been a dream car of mine. I didn't really think about the prospect of owning one until my senior year of college, during which I was actually more focused on saving money to buy a new eighth generation Honda Civic Si. After graduating and starting work in 2008, I saved every penny I could to put a down payment on a Civic Si. I finally reached my goal around the beginning of 2010, when I started actively looking at getting a new 2010 Civic Si Sedan. After looking for a while though, I started to notice the price on used Honda S2000s. For the same amount of money each month, I could get myself into my dream car. My thought process was basically, "I'm in my early twenties, I live on my own, I'm not going to be starting a family with my girlfriend any time soon, and this is a dream car...why the hell not?" After a bit of searching, I found the beautiful Laguna Blue Pearl 2007 Honda S2000 you see here at Santa Monica Honda, being sold as a certified pre-owned vehicle. When I arrived, Santa Monica Honda also had a Berlina Black 2007 S2000 in their showroom, but I immediately drawn to the blue. And so, in May of 2010, I went home with my S2000 with 38,900 miles on the clock. Funny how I still ended up with a Civic Si years later anyway.

Since owning the S2000, I've driven it nearly 55,000 miles, gone through two job changes, moved three times, and went through a long and failed relationship. Yet, despite all of this, the S2000 has always been there for me. Sure, I've had a few minor issues with it along the way. The clutch master cylinder has given out twice since owning it (first time my local Honda dealer replaced it, the second time East Brother and I did the work ourselves). The soft top tore on both the passenger and driver side at the joints (which was thankfully replaced for a mere $100 thanks to an existing service bulletin regarding the top). I had to replace the original wheels with a set of Enkei RPF1 after an idiot decided he needed gas and nearly t-boned me, causing me to dodge and bounce off a curb. About six months ago, my alternator began suffering from the common issue of a bad rectifier in the alternator (causing my dash to flicker uncontrollably), so I purchased a refurbished alternator and replaced it myself. I have also unfortunately been involved in three minor accidents, two of which involved me getting rear ended and one of which a careless senior couple side swiped my car in a parking lot. Still, despite all of this, the car is still there and in great running shape. 

A couple of minor changes have also occurred since my last update. I purchased two interior items from a small company specializing in S2000 interior accessories called Modifry. One was a built in phone mount and the other was a built in cup holder (because, let's face it, you can't really call the space behind the gear lever "cup holders"). These items integrate very well into the S2000 and almost look straight out of the factory. The cup holder is nice as I'm now actually able to have somewhere to put a drink when I take the S2000 out and not have to worry about it getting in the way of my arm when I go to change gears. The phone mount is especially nice since I use Android Auto a lot and having my phone at an angle where it's in my peripheral vision is very handy.   


Since obtaining my 2020 Civic Si, the S2000 has gone back to weekend only duties. I decided that since the S2000 is becoming more rare and the price of the car is still slowly climbing back up, I might as well keep the mileage as low as I can. With what has been going on in the world as of late, keeping the miles low has definitely become a non-issue. I have, unfortunately, not driven the S2000 in about two months now. I definitely miss driving it, but the only reason I leave my house now is to get supplies, and the Si is frankly much more practical for that job. But, once we are allowed to leave our houses and go enjoy life again, the first thing I will do is drop the top on the S2000 and take it out for a nice, long drive.

Future plans for the S2000? I've been saying this for a while now, but the only immediate plans I
have for the S2000 are to get a CT Engineering cold air intake and a GReddy Supreme SP exhaust for the car. After getting the FlashPro for the Civic, I've decided that I might get another one for the S2000 as well. I have no immediate plans to lower the car (I scrape enough driveways at stock height) or do anything quite so drastic with it. If money were no object (which it is, unfortunately. I'm trying to save to buy a house in Los Angeles County...if you live here, you know what I'm talking about), I would definitely turn the S2000 into a track ready project car. CT Engineering supercharger, coilovers, Brembo big brake kit, a Seibon carbon fiber hard top, and the list goes on.

For now, I'm more than content with how the S2000 is, and I hope to enjoy it for another 10 years.

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