So, you've saved up for a 2 seat RWD soft top sports car. You want something reliable with impecible road manners which will leave you breathless after every liaison...

Will you the 350Z?

Or do you favour the S2000?

Discuss.

Porsche Boxster need not apply.

I don't fit in an S2000 very well.

The Z is more roomy so that gets my money on that basis alone.

Oh , and the Z looks and sounds better as well.

What's the price difference between the two?

Toyota MR2 roadster :sofahide:

If my budget aloud it would be on the S2000

S2000 everytime

most awesome 4 cylinder N/A free revving nutter of an engine on the planet, rock solid build quality,fantastic risiduals, cheaper to run the Z, wins just about every satisfaction survey in the UK, 0-60 in 5.5 and a Honda!.

The nissan is fab, but it has lousy risiduals, has a drink problem due to 3.5V6 and is part French owned, which is never a good thing

Why not the Porker?

Gets my vote, sorry..

cos its a ladies porsche

Nissan 350Z GT New = circa

I'd buy the Honda - great engine in terms of technology, and, iirc, 13 years of VTEC systems, and not one has failed.... at least according to Clarkson.

Quick soft top, small, nimble, not to mention i know someone who has a 350Z and well........

cos its a ladies porsche

Have you ever driven one?

Or compared it with the other two?

for me the Honda is too frantic, the Z is lovely, but the Porker is unbreakable...

( I tend to break cars...)

Unfortunately the Porsche dips out due to initial cost, servicing expense, and there are just too many haters out there. (scratched bodywork and never getting out of a busy junction)

S2K for me. I think the Z looks a bit nicer, but for the engine, nimbleness, residuals and pure balls out fun - The Honda wins it for me. Its currently my no.1 roadster on the shopping list, followed by a Boxster S (Manny's is lush!) then I suspect the 350Z is number 3. Audi TT is number 257, with the MR2 in 256th place. :P @ walkie.

OK I've voted. given the choice, but I'd still have a Porker!

What about the Elise?

Have you ever driven one?

Or compared it with the other two?

for me the Honda is too frantic' date=' the Z is lovely, but the Porker is unbreakable...

( I tend to break cars...)[/quote']

Unbreakable maybe.....but very beatable by the two afformentioned cars

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2892646194990307368&q=S2000&pl=true

Unbreakable maybe.....but very beatable by the two afformentioned cars

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2892646194990307368&q=S2000&pl=true

In my own head, my fabia is unbeatable, but i haven't broken it yet....

I once broke a 240Z, and a , RR Silver Shadow, and a Porsche 928S4 come to think of it, oh and a brand new

@ Eddy : Elise strikes me as a weekend car rather than an all year round car plus it's expensive to run.

I've always found the S2K to be more asthetically pleasing than the 350Z, which has a big fat ***

Yeah, the Elise would be a trackday car for me.

Some sensible replies so far

Of course I am biased, and you won't win any prizes for guessing which I voted for!

When I decided to sell the Saab 9-3 last year and get something a little more sporty, ultimately I had this same decision to make: S2k or 350Z?

I tried out the MR2, 350Z, RX8, S2000, a few older porsche 911s (993, 964) as well as some 'muscle' cars, the Pontiac GTO (Monaro) and some early Corvette C5's.

The MR2 Spyder has no luggage space, so it was straight off the list almost before I started looking! I test drove a couple anyway, as you do It is probably the nicest handling car as well as being the cheapest (and most license friendly) choice. I test drove an S2000 and the MR2 back to back and while the Honda was of course much quicker with 100hp more, the MR2 really had it in the handling stakes!

I really would consider the MR2 as a 'second car' for sure. An MR2 Spyder with the 2ZZ Celica (190hp VVT) motor would be fantastic!

RX8 just didn't do it for me, it isn't a slow car but the power delivery is very linear and you don't feel like you are going anywhere fast, it is 'deceptive' in the rate at which it carries you up the road. I read that MPG is pretty poor which put me off a little also.

Porsches can be very expensive to fix (a friend just shelled out $1400 on a Boxster alternator replacement :eek: )! While I'd love a 911 and have always aspired to owning one, a 10-15 year old car as my only transport for work seemed like a risk. Additionally, Porsche 993s are still around the $30k mark as well, so it would have pushed me beyond my budget and into the world of finance.

I've already done the muscle car thing while I've been living here (2001 Trans Am WS6) and while they are fun they are a little soft in the handling department and rather 'agricultural' as a package. Cheap trim, cheap electrics, orange peel paint finish, but OTOH 325hp and 350lb/ft kind of makes up for it! As soon as the warranty on my Trans Am was up, I sold it to buy the Saab 9-3. It really was back to the dealership that often, albeit only for minor niggles like window motors, leaks, etc.

The Monaro is worlds ahead of the Trans Am though, so I very nearly went with that, but the one thing I wanted was a convertible roof. The Trans Am had a T-Top (like the Mk2 MR2) which was nice, but it was a PITA to take tops on and off all the time.

Anyway, getting back to the subject, it really came down to the 350Z Convertible or the S2000...

I love the styling of the 350Z coupe, but not so much the convertible. Also, the 350Z convertible was only released a couple of years ago so finding any below $27k was a struggle; those I did see were priced low for a reason, beit previous accident damage or generally poor condition due to an unloving first owner :(

I really didn't find the Nissan much quicker than the Honda - yes it has more torque and a 30 or so HP advantage, but it is also a heavier car. In 'real world' motoring there isn't much difference between the two although the Honda felt more responsive and asks to be thrown around!

The S2000 I've always had a soft spot for, having owned a '90 CRX VTi and a 96' Civic VTi in the UK. As the S2000 is an older model, there was more choice on the market at around the $20-25k mark, although I wanted a 2002 or newer car due to the glass rear window and revised suspension on the 02-on cars. The Hondas seem wear a lot better than Nissans and as I said, a lot of the 350Z's I went to see in the circa $25k price range were dog-eared although they were 2004 model year vehicles.

I ended up with my particular car for $20k (which allowed me to put some of my budget into a savings a/c) from a private seller, Full Honda History, Tracker, and the car had 24k on it at the time. Has a 72month / 72 K warranty on it too but I didn't realise that until after I'd bought the car, while looking through the extensive file of invoices and paperwork that the first owner handed across with the vehicle. Brucie bonus!

The only bad things about the S2000 are that it is a bit cramped with the roof up, the seats aren't the widest and of course it's not got waves of torque which means you have to 'wind it up' and make lots of noise. This attracts attention which isn't always what you want

I am only 5'10" although quite broad across the shoulders. You'd probably find it too cramped if you are taller than 5'11" and also find the seats uncomfy if you have a waist size of more than about 36" - The seat bolsters are quite narrow (the Skoda Fabia vRS seats are about an inch or two wider between the side bolsters, as an example).

I thought the car had a bit of a lack of torque at first, but I came from a Saab turbo which had about 200lb/ft of torque in a wide band. I drove a rental Mondeo 1.8 in the UK a few weeks back though, and that made the S2000 feel like it had quite a bit of torque compared to the Ford! I realised that the Honda isn't actually that bad compared to some cars!

In terms of practicality the Honda's boot isn't too bad, when my wife and I do a shop we can fit 12 loo rolls, a weeks food and 50lb bag of dog food in the boot, believe it or not!

8 months on I am very happy with my choice and think I made the right decision. My mate (another Brit out here) has a Boxster S which he drives like a loon, and while I'll never get in front of him he doesn't pull away from me either Yes, the Boxster S is a much better car in many respects, but it's certainly not twice as good (he paid $38k for his 2002 model, although it has some lovely options like xenons, 18" rims, Porsche sports exhaust and Bose stereo to name a few from the list of upgrades) I think the new price of the Porsche is something like $30k more than the S2000 :eek:

Sorry for the short essay and going a little OT about the other cars, but I was 'on a roll'. I'll edit out the non-350 and S2000 stuff if needs be...

That's my '2 cents worth' on why I chose the S2K!

Can I have both please? The Honda because of the fantastic engineering and the Nissan for the looks.

Sorry Nissan, since Renault took over as majority share holder I think (know) build quality (once a strong point) has gone right out the window.

I also like the Porsche Boxter but running costs are an issue compared to the other two.

Blah blah blah blah blah

sorry mate. I actually found this to be a very informative post on the subject. I've been edging towards the S2000 for all the reason's you mentioned. the proof is in the test drive I suppose. I'll probably change me mind again after that....

sorry mate. I actually found this to be a very informative post on the subject. I've been edging towards the S2000 for all the reason's you mentioned. the proof is in the test drive I suppose. I'll probably change me mind again after that....

I'm usually pretty quiet' date=' sometimes I just go off on one though!

If you have any questions just PM me and I will be happy to answer them! But as you say, you need to test drive the car and see if it suits you!

Ohhhh...Suits you sir!

This vid is worth a watch on the subject of Nissan (300ZX) vs S2000, and the fun to be had with a RWD car You will need to register to download it, however:

[url']http://www.jabbasworld.net/dload.php?action=file&file_id=1462[/url]

One last thing - I usually get 280 miles from about 11 US gallons of petrol, with 80% of my driving below 6000rpm.

This works out to be 30 MPG in UK gallons. (US Gal = 3.78 litres, UK Gal = 4.54 litres)

good post texasjohn, makes a nice change on this forum

*ducks from regulars*

cos its a ladies porsche

They BOTH are ! Blonde wig needed to drive them.

@ Texas John. I have read and re-read your post and a test drive of the S2K is imminent as a result. Thankyou.

@ Texas John. I have read and re-read your post and a test drive of the S2K is imminent as a result. Thankyou.

Glad to have helped

By the way if you've watched this vid posted by Spot (BTW thanks for posting the link, Spot, a great vid!)...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2892646194990307368&q=S2000&pl=true

The S2000 does sound rather 'tinny'. Heres a tip...

Put a replacement filter in it' date=' it'll then sound like this

Click here to watch roof-up

Click here to watch roof-down