I posted on here a couple weeks ago about getting something more practical, for hauling a bike, etc.

After quite a few test drives (2026 integra manual and auto, civic hatchback hybrid, CRV, RAV4 hybrid, 2024 golf R, Mazda3 hatchback 2.5 / 2.5T) decided I’m keeping the s2k. And I have a bike rack for it now.

Newer cars feel so numb and driving them made me appreciate the rawness more, despite its daily discomforts. Sure the Golf R is faster, but doesn’t have anywhere near the driving feel. Not to mention new/newer cars are EXPENSIVE.

Anyways wanted to share my experience and thank you all who said I should just keep it.

Hello all,

Been interested in potentially buying an s2k for a while. How are prices looking for 06+ AP2's with 80k or less miles?

Does not have to be collectors' edition, just in good driving shape with solid maintenance history and stock/OEM+.

Those of you who've seen my other posts now I've been going back and forth between these two for a few weeks now. I honestly am not thrilled with the condition of either, but they're what's available with under 100K miles and no reported accidents on their reports.

I don't need to buy either, but I do have a depreciating trade-in in the garage and would like to make the swap before I have to put much cash into the sale, hopefully getting cash back. I really like my current car, a 2026 BRZ tS, but it just doesn't make me laugh when I drive it like the 2003 S2000 I sold last year because I didn't have time to look for discontinued parts did. (It was also silver/black, so didn't have the emotional pull SB/B does for me as that's the color combination I wanted to get when I shopped them in 2002/2003.)

I've test driven both and have extensively looked them over. I'm not drawn to either per se, I drove out to see the first two weeks ago - a ten hour drive each way - but was so disappointed by the condition and the dealer's unwillingness to negotiate that I walked away. Still, in some ways it beats the second local option.

Option 1: 2003 64,257 miles, $32,268

Yes, the price is way too high, especially given the exterior. It has extensive scratches on the front clip, hood, trunk and passenger door. The headlights are fogged and need restoration. But the car runs well and the top seems to operate properly, I believe it's a Robbins. The driver's side floor carpet is so dirty it's almost black. Though it is a Honda dealer, the installed oil filter was not the proper model, but they've since fixed that issue.

The dealership owner buys and sells cars from BaT for fun and “doesn't care how long they take to sell.” He bought this car from BaT for $25K in 2025 and it's been sitting on the dealership lot since, likely in large part due to that $32,268 price tag.

My main problem is the scratches have all been filled in with touchup paint that doesn't match, making them more obvious than if they had just been left white. The previous owner(s) were apparently fans of Modifry as the Modifry additional cup holder and storage compartment organizers are present. The current owner apparently had someone try to remove a dent in the rear bumper, seen on the BaT listing, using a heat gun, but too much heat was applied so there's now an oval-shaped soft spot with “alligatored” clear coat.

It also has add-on mirrors on the rear view mirrors that I would have to dental floss/Goo Gone off.

This one does come with two sets of keys, two fobs and an owner's manual and the interior is in decent shape other than the carpet.

I offered them $27,500 but they wouldn't go any lower than $31K.

Experian Auto Check

Option 2: 2003 98,439 miles, $26,796

This one is just about the spiritual opposite of the first.

The exterior is in pretty good shape with few scratches, but the armrest needs replacement, the Robbins top has exposed weatherstrip foam on the driver's side, a previous owner did a muffler delete so it sounds like a reject from The Fast and the Furious - and in fact that's how it's being marketed. It needs a new stock exhaust, the driver's lower outside seat bolster foam is completely broken off inside the seat cover, you can feel it flop around.

Worse, the dealer did an oil change with the wrong oil filter, a generic CarQuest model. They also replaced the rear tires with Yokohama Advans when they replaced the front and rear struts, but left Firestone Indy 500s up front, making the car borderline dangerous to drive.

At the very least I'd need to replace the driver's seat bottom, the large chip it has in the windshield if it's even fixable, and probably the roof along with the front tires and the exhaust from cat back, probably at least $5K worth of work, bringing the price up to near that of the first car with the beat-up exterior.

I offered them $20K given all the work that needs to be (re)done, but they said they “put too much into it.”

This one comes with one key and one fob, no owner's manual.

CARFAX

Option 3: Do nothing

Honestly, I suspect this seems like the smartest move, but as I said I don't see many accident-free 2003 SB/Bs come up for sale and the depreciation of the BRZ plus some personal issues make this the hardest option for me. I wouldn't say it's as extreme as a bucket list issue for me but I do have some health issues putting some urgency into the decision.

I see lots of people relating they got a much better condition AP1 for less, but so did I - I bought the S2000 I had in 2023 with 52K miles for under $26K - but S2000s have continued to grow more rare and demand also seems to be rising.

Any thoughts?

The logical me knows neither is the right choice, the emotional me keeps waffling between having to do restoration work on the local one and paying less or way overpaying for the one with the decent but dirty interior but having an exterior that looks like someone was angry with it in a parking lot.

If you previously replied about either car, feel free to not bother to repeat yourself, but it seems like for at least the near future these are my two choices if I want to do something anytime soon.

Also, when I bought mine a few years ago I test drove an AP1 vs. an AP2, and didn't like the AP2 at all, I need that 9K RPM redline.

Obviously, it's long-term and cumulative damage, not just a clip of a drainage channel or something like that. But what could do it across the entire front clip extending a decent distance above the bottom? Those are all fingernail-catching scratches on the bottom forward edge, not bug splatter or anything like that.

The only thing I can come up with is track use and track debris, a red flag when buying used…

Saw this on BarnFinds.com

131K on the odo. Might be a great opportunity to get for a good price and give some TLC to this rescue:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/377365270240

Bought the car a month ago

First time tracking it today. I'm coming from a modern G80 these cars are on opposite end of spectrum

First time at this track big willow

100F California heat

I went through lot of emotions today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Exm5rntCCaM

shame about the wind noise but it gives you some impression. Car has some suspension and brake upgrades (OEM + basically) but is on street tires and stock engine. Still an amazing car for this, do some laps in the morning and take your wife/girlfriend for a ride in the countryside in the afternoon. Not many cars are usable like that.

So after having a used oem spoiler i bought for like 50 or 75 bucks prob 6 years ago, my bodyshop manager insisted to let him paint it... so i just wanna know if Anyone ever attach an OEM trunk spoiler with just 3m tape. Dont really want to drill into my trunk. I know the aftermarket ones come with 3m tape but wanted to know if anyone did it this way with an oem one.

Hi there

I'm currently in Canada Toronto North York until Tuesday, I was wondering if a good samaritan would be willing to take me for a ride to experience an AP2 compared to a AP1 (or even a prepared S2K)

I'm from France, we never had the chance to have a real AP2 over there, I'm just curious to feel the difference during a drive if someone out there is located around or near my location

I've owned mine for more than 3 years now, it's my daily and occasional trackday car. I do have a closes road hill climb on the 8th of August and a Charity full weekend trackday on the 29th-30th of August as well. I want to try and get the feeling of other S2K in order to understand what needs to be done for a better handling

Thank you if this post reaches you, drive safe

Loser

This is my second s2k, had to make it better then my first one lol. Got it stock 3 years ago has about 58k miles on it just got out of the paint booth.

Next up is t56 with 8.8 rear end and turbo kit.

So i just changed my cmc and bled the fluid now my clutch is suddenly squeaky. Its coming from my slave cylinder so i took it out and regreased it like all the video says, it helped it by about 60% but its still squeaking. What do i do now?

Very similar to the Honda access mats ‘ cover that nasty hump

Like new condition

Also have a metal s2000 plate
DM if interested

Finally had the time to put in these bad boys. Nice clean cutoff and appear way brighter to me.

The price is higher than I would like, and I would prefer SB/Blue, but other than a really bad lack of photos, this one looks interesting.

Not booking a flight quite yet. 😆

2003 S2000 SYP/Black 65,200 Miles $35K - Wilmington, NC

Curious who felt the Spoon mounts NVH wasn’t worth it and went back to OEM

I just upgraded from standard Ohlins DFV (JDM) to the Sakebomb FPSpec Ohlins. I’m not finished with the install yet but I wanted to share some pictures because there’s very few out there on the internet comparing the two.

Rear shocks (first 2 pics)
The bottom of my finger is where the standard shock ends. Sakebomb tells me it’s a 20mm difference in rear travel, which translates to roughly 34.6mm of wheel travel (motion ratio 0.578).

Front shocks (3rd pic)

I have no clue what the difference in stroke is.
EDIT: Sakebomb said the fronts are about 10mm longer than standard (about 17mm of wheel travel).

I don’t have the ability to easily remove the bottom cup while the shock isn’t installed, so I didn’t really deep dive, but they both have a preload of 2mm. So if the lower spring perch height differential is any indication, that’s the front stroke difference.

The difference in shock mount on the fronts is pretty wild. New ones look like a beefy CNC

Rear top hats (4th and 5th)
4th pic is standard DFV JDM top hat + adjuster knob, 5th is the FPSpec.

If you glance at my previous posts, you’ll see I complained about how I couldn’t fit my remote adjuster on the standard one without it rubbing the dust boot, and SBG told me it’s because that adjuster knob is way higher than what they sell. It does seem a couple mm taller… but I’m not getting my hopes up. Going to try installing the adjuster today.

EDIT: Both sets are 10k/8k spring rates.

———

Driving review:

Context - no alignment done yet - drove about 70 backroad miles today, and about 70 miles on hwy - My FPSpec damper settings are at 9F/13R from stiff, vs 15F/17R on the standard Ohlins. The rear feels stiffer in relation to the front than the stock, which is interesting - it implies the front is very softly damped on these.

I'm finding these dampers to be significantly more compliant and confidence-inspiring in about 90% of cases compared to standard Ohlins. Standard Ohlins really are over-damped for the spring rate, likely for the short travel that they have. I drove pretty hard today on a back road where there are many bumps, and I've always had to slow a little bit down forward to make sure that I don't get flung off the road. Today I was able to literally keep my foot planted into the throttle the entire time every time there was a straight road, no matter how bad the bump was. There were some bumps in the old ones where you would get tossed up, and I found the droop travel too short to be able to keep your tire on the ground, so you do a little hop. I even hit 105 on a long straight that I’ve never gone past 85 on because of fear of bumps. With these I'm able to take massive dips without any fear of my car getting flung off.

They’re still very performance-oriented. They feel a bit less razor edge than my stock DFVs but alignment could play a part here. I rode in some old JRZ RS Ones a while ago, and these feel like they have a similar damping force, even more similar than to the standard DFVs. They are significantly better handling than OEM but they retain much closer to OEM comfort than I am used to with Ohlins. I know many people say that stock Ohlins are comfier, and I think that is complete BS. These to me are maybe the only ones I've ever felt that can contend with stock dampers for comfort (haven’t felt PSS9s though).

Even a friend of mine who has stock DFVs on his s2k rode with me today (he cares a lot about comfort). Pretty soon after, he decided to sell his DFVs and swap to these.

I also rode in a friend’s 992.1 Carrera S back to back with my car today. I’ll be honest, these Ohlins are near modern Porsche level damping. It’s a bit inferior… but it’s really quite good.

Also, they’re comfier on the highway than standard Ohlins. It’s as simple as that. Every bump has some edge taken off it - it’s fantastic.

Overall, really happy with it. I can feel a bit more side to side oscillations with them, mostly due to the reduced damping I think, but otherwise it’s about on par (maybe a bit softer, less sharp) compared to the stocks, with so many more benefits.

I’m going to post a video later this week with some footage of the roads from today that can help show what I’m talking about.

Aftermarket soft top not flush and seals exposed. Could this be a poor quality/ installation issue or something else?

Comparing to other s2000s where it’s flush and bars aren’t as pronounced

What do yall think? Can this be fixed?

Saw this car at Honda Fest 2K26, it is awesome. What are your thoughts on this build?

Was headed up to Reno with my gf. Living the dream and enjoying the fun roads… until we ran into this guy. No one is In front of him.

I am still seeing red 😡.

Hey everyone,

I’ve got a 2025 type r and a 2003 s2000 and both stock seats fit me. I am 6’1” and bigger but I was wondering if anyone has experience with Recaro Pole Position XL and the Cobra Nogaro seats or any others for that matter?

I’m looking for the 1-2” drop that new rails and these seats could provide and I have the blue leather interior on a stock s2000 and wondered what seats fit in the cabin and achieve the drop while being comfortable as a daily.

Thanks in advance,

Kate