If everything was done professionally and he has paperwork to back it up, I'd consider a slight premium. But this one has black wheels. So subtract 30% of kbb private party and go from there.
I would probably only buy a heavily modified car from someone I know personally very well.
And only certain cars.. on an S2000.. I'd prefer to start with a clean sheet. So then I wouldn't pay much more for a modified one of these than stock.
It's all about the market. You'll hear "NO IT MAKES THE CAR WORSE" from purists and curmudgeonly car owners who don't trust anything that isn't stock/only buy new from the dealer.
But people who are into the mod scene, seek cars that give them an edge up on the other models, and can appreciate the time and money that go into proper mods. As always, records and receipts help, but anyone who tells you a modded car is always worth less than stock is just being too stubborn to accept a built car for what it's worth.
And people will disagree with me, but in the end it boils down to personal taste and opinion. This is mine, you have yours.
Stock is king, especially when bought from a used car dealer. Enthusiast owned light modifications (high end suspension, a bolt on here and there) is also A-OK and will often get as much as stock (if not more) when sold on the forums. Forced induction tends to destroy resale value, for good reason. F20C/F22C's are pretty bulletproof but an FI car needs to be taken care of re: maintenance and the tune, both of which are hard to validate.
Also any accident will drop the value like an anchor. That car had an impact with "an embankment"
The buy it now is $25k, so the reserve I imagine is going to be pretty close to that. I would never pay 25k for that one. For 25k it would need 10-20k miles and be immaculate with paperwork and all original parts.
For $25k you should be able to find a clean, low mileage, late model year example. Obviously it depends on what you are planning on doing with the car. Daily driver, garage queen, track car?
Decide what colors you are willing to go for, and what interior combination you want. That will narrow your choices down considerably, and then be patient, very patient. There are not many s2000s in each color combination, so don't expect to be able to just find one, you'll have to put in a lot of time if you are wanting something specific.
Search local and semi local craigslist postings; look for ones with more than 2 sentence descriptions and then make sure the owners are willing to spend time talking to you about the car. Browse s2000 forums for the classifieds and information on pre-purchase inspections.
Again, I don't know what your plans are with the car, but they are very special machines, so take your time and if something doesn't feel right with one, move along.
Modded = beat to ****
Stock = driven by 87 year old grandmother
Miss Daisy might not do all her own work and rub her car with a diaper, but she also wasn't a flatbrim bro who hoped boosted VTAK would make women jump into the car naked at 50mph. The ONLY time a modded car reliably sells for more is when it is old and has words like Yenko or Callaway floating around...
The problem in general with modifications is that the buyer should remain skeptical of the quality of the parts as well as the quality of the work performed. Certain tuners such as Yenko, Ruf, Comptech, Tom's, BRE, Hennessey Performance, and others gained a reputation because of long term durability of their modifications. They built components which were tougher than what the manufacturer offered and multiple customers for many years could attest to the quality. The names went from obscurity to popularity after the cars won races or were reviewed by magazines in a highly positive light. The price of the modifications accurately reflected the quality of the parts. The car owners requesting these modifications knew they were getting the best that money could buy with cost not being an object. We've come to trust these tuner names and we know the modifications were done right.
When it comes to a relatively unknown tuner - especially with engine, brake, and suspension modifications - we just don't know what we're getting in the long term. It's a risk especially when we know that substandard parts can fail at the worst time and cause catastrophic results. Bad parts in the braking system can kill you. Bad parts in the engine can cost you thousands of dollars. Bad parts in the suspension can cause failure at the worst possible time and lead to loss of control of the vehicle. People with deep pockets will avoid these low quality mods however enthusiasts on a budget will be more likely to take the gamble.
With this particular Honda several things jump out at me as well as others who have posted in this thread:
- we're not familiar with the long term quality of the mods. Strike 1.
- we don't get a comfortable feeling about how lightly of aggressively the car was driven. Strike 2.
- we don't know who did the work on this car and whether these mods were installed properly. Strike 3.
So in this case I would say that modifications don't make this car automatically worth more money unless we get a lot more clarity on the three points illustrated above. If we find out the parts were installed by Honda Performance Development for Ryan Hunter-Reay and all maintenance performed by Andretti Autosport then I'd happily pay the premium. Otherwise the mods done don't really add to the value of this car and it's better to take a risk on a stock car which has meticulous maintenance.
But then I would also insist upon a compression and leak down test and a thorough inspection of wiring and plumbing. I do not mind buying mods a %50 of the original cost but they better be amazingly and cleanly done.
I'm actually in the market for an AP2. I had an AP1 years back and regret selling it. With that being said, I browse CL / Autotrader / S2Ki, etc daily looking for a decent car. I've noticed a lot of the supercharged ones are selling for around the same price as stockish ones, but some are asking rediculous amounts. In some cases, especially the more documented builds, I'd be willing to pay the premium for a supercharged one.
The first one I bought was lightly modded. It had springs, AP2 bumper w oem lip, AP2 V1 wheels, test pipe, intake, and that was it. That's about the extent of modifications I'd allow for my next one (next one will be AP2). I'm still hoping an Apex Blue CR will pop up for sale locally.
My Evo is just too practical for me :laugh:. I need something slightly less practical and more of a weekend car.
I'd much rather an S2000 close to stock as possible. Maybe if it had a well-known, good brand of suspension on it or a cat-back exhaust. Other than that- stock as possible, please.
I'm usually on the side of "not stock. worth less". Being an adult who was coming into my auto fanfare during the F&F years I always envied and loathed the kids with RSX-S or 99 Si's, but hated that they would drop them, add different wheels, body kits, etc. To me those were iconic cars that would have done much better staying stock. Even today I see some rolling around here and there but they look butchered and have their faux highlighter colored tow hooks and what not.
Personally I'd much rather seen a clean stock example than something that a person has added their "taste" to. It was always the reason why I kept a lot of my stock components to return a car to such a state before selling.
While it looks like everyone here wants to make this very clear cut, it's not.
It all boils down to what you value and what you're willing to pay for. If a car has a set of high end wheels that you really like and you can buy them with the car for 20% of the retail price, wouldn't you say it's worth it?
If the car has a backyard turbo kit, it's probably going to be a liability so it's worth less.
Look at Wranglers, those things sell for a whole lot more with a basic lift, some lights and bigger tires vs. a stock example.
Lights, tires and wheels are one thing. A good set of tires (especially large dirt tires) could be a good selling point. Lights and wheels you can see immediately, so no surprises.
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