Long-term update: Honda S2000 – It’s the little things that…fall off
As we’ve said before, the Honda S2000 is supremely reliable when it comes to mechanicals. But keep it in top cosmetic condition is a never-ending battle due to all sorts of random cost-cutting measures by Honda.
We park our car under the open sun, so there isn’t any opportunity for babying. A few months ago, a brittle clip on the side-indicator light snapped off due to age, causing the indicator lamp to hang by the wires.
So we elected to use double-sided tape to put it back in place. So far it’s held up well, so we didn’t need to go buy a replacement lamp. Looking up the issue on the net, it turns out it’s a common issue with these cars.
Also, a rip has appeared on our soft-top. It started off pin-prick small. Then it became about a nail’s width. And then suddenly it was an inch long. Turns out a rod on the speedy roof mechanism rubs against the inside of the thin vinyl cloth. We’ve plugged it up with duct tape for now, until we find a competent re-upholstery place. Yep, that’s a common problem too.
After a whole lot of searching, who came across a company called ColorGlo in Dubai that sealed up the tear on the outside and pasted a patch from the inside. It isn’t pretty up close, but it’s sort of unnoticeable from a couple of metres away. For the heck of it, we also got the vinyl roof painted to fix its faded look. It looks oddly shiny now, but fingers-crossed it will survive the desert heat. All that cost Dhs 1500.
The S2000 is still a Honda though, so this battle with minor cosmetic issues don’t deter us from trusting its ability to run forever.
Original Mileage When Bought: 14,900 km
Latest Mileage To Date: 20,590 km
Latest Average Fuel Economy: 13.5 litres/100 km
Cost of Latest Problems: Dhs 1500
Cost of Latest Maintenance: Dhs 0Total Non-Fuel Running Cost Since Bought: Dhs 5295
Comments
John Panicker
I had the same issues with the side-indicator light.
Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury
How’s your roof doing?
rami
I have a mustang gt convertible with a black vinyl roof thats color had also faded. . I tried to fix it with paint from a random body paintshop overhere in abudhabi but the paint keeps fading away.. anybody got any advise?
Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury
Remains to be seen how long our painted roof lasts.
William
The roof issue you state was only a common problem in the middle years of production; the early years and later years did not suffer from the rubbing metal frame causing holes.
I did have the same problem with the side indicator lamp – broke mine when washing the car, but they are very cheap to replace.
Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury
Roof tears have always been a problem. This is a 2007, 2 years before end of production.
Samer
Any convertible with cloth roof will suffer the same issues with the terrible heat of Middle East, personally if i decide to buy a convertible, I will go to a hard top one ….. but the damn F Type is so tempting
Bobby
why dont you just remove the soft top and keep it a hard top which isnt convertible? ive seen a few s2k and it looks very nice!
Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury
Hardtops aren’t properly available any more, and need a bit of modification to be installed, which none of the garages here I’d trust with. Even the dealer is unsure about how to do it.
BMFan
the S2000 will return in 2017 and in Europe it will slot in between the upcoming S660 and next-generation NSX. Unlike the last S2000, which was a convertible, it’s being reported that the next one will be a coupe.
Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury
I read that rumour. But there is no way it’ll come by 2017 if the project went ahead.
Dawood Khan
Hey Mash, why not upgrade with a hard-top roof conversion from the States? They’re not to expensive and shipping would be 50/50. Expect 5-7k if not more but great upgrade then the cloth..
Praveen Bisht
When are you Planning to sell this car ? 🙂
Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury
Whenever the first guy shows up with 100k in cash.
Rajiv Sharma
I’ve gotten the same issue with my S2000, the rip has gone up to about 2 inches long now. I’ve heard of after market soft tops which have less issues with the fade on them and also more durable to survive the roof mechanism. Anyone know where I can find em?
Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury
The shop mentioned above will do a full cloth roof for you as well. But I doubt it’ll be any more durable. That rip has already opened up from the outside again, but the patch from inside is staying firm, so no leakage at least.