Almost 20-year-old Honda S2000 sells for more than new price
There was a lot of hype surrounding the Honda Integra Type-R when a 1997 example with 2,000 km on the clock sold for a whopping US$63,800 (Dhs 234,000) at auction. Just before that, a similar car with a mileage of almost 100,000 km sold for US$40,750 (Dhs 150,000). And those weren’t even Honda’s most special models, so it was only a matter of time before the S2000 got some attention. A first-year “AP1” model with less than 1,600 km was just sold for US$48,000 (Dhs 176,400) in the United States.
The car in question is a red 1999 stored in a dealership’s collection for the first 13 years of its life. The dealership was sold off, and the car was bought by someone in 2013, who put the aforementioned mileage on it before putting it up for sale now. The car is in like-new shape, which is why the price is so high. A new one cost Dhs 130,000 in Dubai a decade ago.
Just over 110,000 S2000 models were built between 1999 and 2009. It’s not a small number, but with their increasing rarity in stock or unmolested form, the little high-revving roadster has always held its value well ever since it went out of production, with no modern rivals even coming close to its fun factor. We still keep one around for our personal pleasure.
These prices also show a growing love for 1990s Japanese sports cars, most of which were discontinued by the early 2000s to make way for less-exciting replacements, as kids who were interested in them back then now have the money to buy them.
Comments
Alex
“…with no modern rivals even coming close to its fun factor….”
Have you compared to MX-5 Miata yet ?
Leborde
I am one of those kids 🙂
Meanwhile, one would argue than the MX-5 maybe has the same amount of fun, not due to its engines power but mainly due to its very low weight.
Urvaksh Sheriar
I don’t see anything extremely great in this, but Mash, if you sell this baby after another 10 – 15 years, or so, you could get quite some money. 😉 🙂
Leborde
Come to the UAQ Drive & meet tomorrow Friday 9th of Nov, and we will test drive my S2000 🙂
FYI, did a boys day out with a friend and his M3 V8, from Dubai to UAQ via Nazwa then to Fujairah, mainly through small road (no radars). He simply couldn’t follow the curves and roundabouts exits.
He argued that it’s because he missed shifting gears (hard to believe with an SMG2 or 3 auto gearbox), so he told me that he put the wrong setting in the gearbox change speed…
However, I have to acknowledge that as soon as we were on plain straight line open highway, he’s blowing me away; seemed like he was taking off, so much speed and shooooooo, kiss bye bye to the S2000.
Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury
Considering there’s not much skill involved in flooring it with TC on, I think you’re good.
Leborde
Of course skills are required, because TC doesn’t mean that you can floor it stupidly and go play against the laws of physics. TC is more of a safety in case of small mistakes, not a blank cheque to do shits and stupid things.
And it’s not about accelerating only, it’s about breaking and finding the break point, shifting gears, double clutching, hill-toeing, finding your curve and your apex, etc… but you know what I’m talking about.
Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury
Did any of you guys drive an MX-5 for any length of time? Mazda here don’t give test drives. My theory is there’s a limit to how light you can make a car before it starts to blow away every time a Patrol passes it. That, and the whole fun of the S2000 is that it can rev to 9000 rpm. You have to experience it to see how it’s unique.
Leborde
Speaking of which, a Yaris can already be a very fun car to drive, and you can beat a lot of other cars in the curves of the interchanges.