SOLD 2004 Honda S2000, Grand Prix White on Tan, 53k miles

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

BretLuter wrote:

Still looking for wheels?

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/pts/3324697185.html

I'm guessing you've probably already seen them if you're still looking, but.....

Saw those, thanks. I'm in the clear as far as needing loaner wheels ... I ended up finding a great person to get the wheels straightened in the driveway here for pretty cheap. One wheel had a previously repaired crack, so I'm gonna shop for a replacement just in case, but everything is good now. Gonna stick with the wheels on the car, which I just learned are true BBS 2-piece called "Sport Design" wheels and were a $2790 option (!!).

PS - Want to say props to Discount tire. While muscling the rear 285-30-18 Michelins off, one bead tore/separated. They not only replaced the tire for free, which they had in stock, but they didn't charge me for the 5 wheels I had dismounted and reinstalled. He said "hey we broke your stuff, least we can do is not charge you"

BriceJohnson · **Joined:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:33 am **Posts:** 2230

There is really no reason to ever go anywhere else for tires. They are awesome.

Dustin Fredrickson · **Posted:** Mon Oct 08, 2012 11:19 pm

I have to say I agree with this. It's especially nice since my DT is Jeb's store and I can usually distract him for a few minutes to BS about cars, but even when I lived in Morrisville the DT (same Mike goes to) was great. I try to send anybody who asks about tires to DT (and Jeb specifically, if I can). In fact, I think I had this conversation at least twice within the last week...

Good Job Jeb! :thumbsup:

JamesMilko · **Posted:** Mon Oct 08, 2012 11:53 pm

Do any of them have alignment racks?

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

MikeWhitney wrote:

Couple of things I have noticed driving an arrest-me-red-originally-$80k-sports car:

I need to correct this. It's an arrest-me-red-originally-$90k-sports car

Seriously? I mean it's a great car, but who in their right mind spends that kind of money on a car? I know, I know, a rich prick (which I am sure I look like now). Kendra and I decided that whenever someone comments about how nice it is, my reply will be "well I was going to buy a new Camry, but they are too expensive".

Sadly I didn't get a window sticker with the car, but this appears to be the option list and MSRP as best I can tell:

67900 Base MSRP
1490 Savanna Beige
2790 18" wheels BBS Sport Design
1239 Stability control
3240 Advanced Technic Litronic, Bose, CD Changer, washers
2100 Comfort package Dual power seats, driver seat memory
3250 Full leather
175 Wheel caps
1750 Flared rocker panels
2400 Sport exhaust
395 Supple leather
415 Heated seats
340 Rear wiper
115 Floor mats
1520 3-Spoke Str Whl-Dark Wood/Leather
875 Dk Maple Burr/Al Shift Knob/Brake Handle

89994 Total

"$2400 for a sport exhaust? Sure, that sounds like a good deal"

Thank god for rich people buying cars like these so normal plebs like myself get to enjoy them after 10 years.

Jason Tower · **Joined:** Wed Jun 11, 2008 3:31 pm **Posts:** 1173

so in p-car land you have to pay extra for leather, then pay even more for it to be supple? thank goodness for rich people indeed.

Steven Carter · **Posted:** Tue Oct 09, 2012 8:38 am

MikeWhitney wrote:

Couple of things I have noticed driving an arrest-me-red-originally-$80k-sports car:

1520 3-Spoke Str Whl-Dark Wood/Leather
875 Dk Maple Burr/Al Shift Knob/Brake Handle

$2400 in wood. {facepalm}

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Tue Oct 09, 2012 8:45 am

Jason Tower wrote:

so in p-car land you have to pay extra for leather, then pay even more for it to be supple? thank goodness for rich people indeed.

They will option you to death. Base 68K to 90K in options alone! Cha-ching!

Richard

Chuck Branscomb · **Posted:** Tue Oct 09, 2012 8:50 am

On the flip side, if you get the chance take the Porsche factory tour in Stuttgart. Really impressive on many fronts to an old engineer, from on one end to how intelligently automated the parts warehouse to assembly areas is, while at the same time you come to sections like dashboard manufacturing where artisans are doing it all by hand. Watching these guys with heat guns and special tools expertly laying the leather down was very interesting. They were incredibly skilled. At the same time I was watching that it occurred to me how much higher the costs of assembly are for something like a Porsche dashboard than the typical mass market produced car. What a contrast. Hopefully for guys like these, Porsche can find a way into the future to preserve their job/work.

As to "rick pricks" buying all these things, I think you'll find that many of the 1st "owners" are simply warm bodies who can qualify for a discounted lease to move product. Two years of lease payments and they move on (with no regard to the level of funds they are flushing down the toilet). A large percentage of "owners" of Porsches (BMWs, Audis, etc) are not truly "rich" (where "rich" is defined by how many minutes/days/weeks/months/years you can survive at your current burn rate before running out of money, and if that answer is longer than your life expectancy times a multiple perhaps even, then you're probably writing checks for the new Porsche). Anyway, if that leasee loses their job, the leased Porsche would be gone the next week.

JamesShort · **Posted:** Tue Oct 09, 2012 8:55 am

Chuck Branscomb wrote:

On the flip side, if you get the chance take the Porsche factory tour in Stuttgart. Really impressive on many fronts to an old engineer, from on one end to how intelligently automated the parts warehouse to assembly areas is, while at the same time you come to sections like dashboard manufacturing where artisans are doing it all by hand. Watching these guys with heat guns and special tools expertly laying the leather down was very interesting. They were incredibly skilled. At the same time I was watching that it occurred to me how much higher the costs of assembly are for something like a Porsche dashboard than the typical mass market produced car. What a contrast. Hopefully for guys like these, Porsche can find a way into the future to preserve their job/work.

I saw a documentary on this. I was blown away by the large cow hides they'd bring in. They require that every last bit of leather in a given car comes from the same cow hide for consistency which is nuts.

Quote:

As to "rick pricks" buying all these things, I think you'll find that many of the 1st "owners" are simply warm bodies who can qualify for a discounted lease to move product. Two years of lease payments and they move on (with no regard to the level of funds they are flushing down the toilet). A large percentage of "owners" of Porsches (BMWs, Audis, etc) are not truly "rich" (where "rich" is defined by how many minutes/days/weeks/months/years you can survive at your current burn rate before running out of money, and if that answer is longer than your life expectancy times a multiple perhaps even, then you're probably writing checks for the new Porsche). Anyway, if that leasee loses their job, the leased Porsche would be gone the next week.

I agree. In my neighborhood there are lots of young doctors, nurses, IT folks who bring in decent bank and then first chance they get buy a BMW/Lexus/Audi etc (new or used) and then proceed to let them decay into rod knocking, brake squealing, oil starved, engine smoking, suspension rattling, bald tire sporting abominations of apathy. Many a times, my wife had to shoot me an evil eye indicating I should bite my tounge when neighbors were bitching about how much tires cost for their LS460 or how a transmission fluid change and spark plug job costs $500 yadda yadda. Anyway, this is a small, localized population of luxury car owners, but I would bet it is common in the crowd.

Chuck Branscomb · **Posted:** Tue Oct 09, 2012 9:02 am

JamesShort wrote:

I saw a documentary on this. I was blown away by the large cow hides they'd bring in. They require that every last bit of leather in a given car comes from the same cow hide for consistency which is nuts.

Yes, that part was a bit nuts, but the big table with the laser cutting was also amazing. The hides get inspected both digitally and then by eye (with a pointer device connected to the computer analyzing the hide) to mark areas that don't meet standards. Then the algorithm determines exactly how to cut the hide and maximize the use of material given all the various shapes that need to be cut.

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Tue Oct 09, 2012 9:18 am

JamesShort wrote:

In my neighborhood there are lots of young doctors, nurses, IT folks who bring in decent bank and then first chance they get buy a BMW/Lexus/Audi etc (new or used) and then proceed to let them decay into rod knocking, brake squealing, oil starved, engine smoking, suspension rattling, bald tire sporting abominations of apathy. Many a times, my wife had to shoot me an evil eye indicating I should bite my tounge when neighbors were bitching about how much tires cost for their LS460 or how a transmission fluid change and spark plug job costs $500 yadda yadda.

A good friend of mine once told me $50K cars are best owned by people who can really afford to buy $50K cars. The car doesn't care if you only paid half that when it breaks.

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

JamesShort wrote:

I agree. In my neighborhood there are lots of young doctors, nurses, IT folks who bring in decent bank and then first chance they get buy a BMW/Lexus/Audi etc (new or used) and then proceed to let them decay into rod knocking, brake squealing, oil starved, engine smoking, suspension rattling, bald tire sporting abominations of apathy. Many a times, my wife had to shoot me an evil eye indicating I should bite my tounge when neighbors were bitching about how much tires cost for their LS460 or how a transmission fluid change and spark plug job costs $500 yadda yadda. Anyway, this is a small, localized population of luxury car owners, but I would bet it is common in the crowd.

Ha, yeah there's some truth of that even in this car ... read on:

One thing I liked about this car was the clean history. Most of the cars I was finding in the mid-to-low $20k range had either been through an auction (which basically destroys any chance of building a good history) or had an accident on record. This car was owned by some wealthy exec for 2 years and 10k miles, then traded in at the original dealer at 10k where it was CPO'ed to the guy I bought it from (he paid $60k), who had it for 8 years.

I called the original dealer in NJ to fill in the pieces from the first 2 years. Turns out the clutch was replaced at 2700 miles. So the wealthy exec bought a heavily optioned $90k car which he apparently didn't even understand how to drive. Guy I bought it from also had the clutch replaced at 60k miles (and I rode with him, he was nice to the clutch but still didn't heel/toe), so he knows what to do with the left pedal.

Andrew Jonell · **Joined:** Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:43 pm **Posts:** 1350

That is definitely something that I'm looking forward to on my next car purchase: not being in any sort of rush. Having a time limit versus waiting for stuff to pop up makes all of the difference in the world.

Congrats on your purchase, Mike.

JamesShort · **Posted:** Tue Oct 09, 2012 9:36 am

Mike, I'm trying to find something witty for your signature regarding the Pcar:

I'm thinking due to the snap oversteer tendency, how about L = I * omega

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SOLD 2004 Honda S2000, Grand Prix White on Tan, 53k miles

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