Pre-purchase walkaround
2005 Honda S2000 (AP2)
17,000 miles · asking $25,000
Five-year cost to own, maintenance and fuel
~$20,200
A high-strung, rev-happy roadster that rewards a driver who respects it and punishes neglect and clumsy inputs. Money goes to soft-top wear, clutch and synchro abuse, and correcting sloppy alignment or crash-repaired chassis, not big mechanical failures if it was maintained.
The roadmap
17k → 77k mi · 12k a yearYear 1The ordinary rhythm: scheduled work and fuel.~$3,447
Year 2The quiet year.~$3,493
Yrs 3-5Tires and the ordinary rhythm. · Brakes and consumables.~$13,236
Five years, all in~$20,200
typical parts + government labor rates (national labor rates) · an estimate, not a quote
What to look for on this one
Every used example of this chassis has the same questions. The bands show when each tends to surface; the gold line is this car at 17,000 miles.
Clutch and 2nd-gear synchro wear$1,100-$2,180 if not done
0typical window 60k-120k · this car: 17k, ahead of it150k mi
The tight-ratio gearbox and 8000rpm engine invite hard driving, and abused cars chew synchros. Second gear is the usual first to go. Notchy or grinding shift into 2nd, clutch slip under hard acceleration.
Crash damage and chassis straightnesspriced only if found
Condition-driven, not mileage-driven, so it is not in the totals and inspection is the only answer. Uneven panel gaps, mismatched paint, poor tracking, prior structural repair.
windows from 15 owner complaints on file with NHTSA and community service data · · profile researched with cited sources, review pending
0 recalls + 19 service bulletins →
Service bulletins by area
EQUIPMENT (6) · ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING (4) · POWER TRAIN (4) · AIR BAGS (2)
Hand this to your inspector
A $300 inspection against this list is the best money in the whole deal.
01Cold-start and let it idle: watch for hanging or surging idle and any relay/no-start hesitation before a test drive
02Row through all gears slowly, especially 1-2 and 2-3, feeling for grind or synchro balk when cold
03Inspect the soft top: press the rear plastic window for cracking, check seams and corners for tears and water stains inside
04Get the car on a lift and inspect the unibody rails, floor pans, and rear subframe mounts for straightness, wrinkles, and repaint
Walking into a negotiation?
This roadmap as a PDF, priced for your zip code, with the inspection checklist, a fair price for this example, and the negotiation sheet. Saved to your garage the moment you pay.
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typical parts + government labor rates · an estimate, not a quotecheck another car →