Don’t worry, this isn’t a technical article about air filters, oil filters or even Instagram filters. None of those particularly interest me.
No, this is an article about filters when searching the classifieds, something we all do.
It can become a dark place, mind you. Endless scrolling through adverts of cars we either can’t afford or would never buy anyway isn’t necessarily good for the soul.
“Wow, the aero kit on that Type-R doesn’t look any better now than when it was launched,” said the petrolhead who had zero interest in Type-Rs anyway, after reading about the four available examples in detail.
At least I hate bakkies so much that they never find their way into my searches.
For the past year or so, I had to deal with the unfortunate conclusion that S2000 ownership simply isn’t compatible with having a baby. My little guy is far more special than even that manual gearbox and 9,000rpm combo, but that didn’t make it any less painful to sell the Honda.
I’m grateful to have owned one, albeit for a short period. If you are even remotely considering buying an S2000, pull the trigger and do it. You won’t regret it.
The biggest issue with S2000 ownership is that it becomes very difficult to buy something afterwards that will give you the same thrill or even a similar experience at reasonable cost. The usual choice is probably a Porsche Cayman, which costs more and is no more practical than the Honda. A Z4 M convertible also works as an alternative but doesn’t do anything to improve the practicality and certainly costs more to maintain.
That’s where the S2000 really shines – they don’t depreciate, and they don’t cost much to run!
It took me a long time to accept that my days of two-seater ownership are gone for the next few years. It’s borderline impossible to find a coupe with an airbag switch for the front seat. I have serious trust issues with cars that have sensors that turn the airbag off based on weight.
I’m not about to put my child’s life in the hands of 15-year-old electronics, thank you very much.
My wife now has an X1 which is a brilliant car for a family with one kid and should work for the second one as well (although I’m still in the One and Done camp, despite her protestations). My car isn’t the family car, but I need the ability to travel safely with Baby Petrolhead in the event of emergency or another unplanned event.
So, my classifieds search history became increasingly weird and depressing. I just couldn’t find something that would do the job and tick my tricky boxes as a petrolhead with unusual tastes and needs.
The closest I came to buying a car was an Astra OPC. I think it’s quite possibly the prettiest hatchback of all time and the sound is great when you fire it up, but the gearbox really lets the team down and it’s difficult to get excited about a manual ‘box like that after the S2000. Also, as a three door with a tight entry and small back seat, it’s a family car by the slimmest of margins.
They aren’t cheap to buy either and there are enough stories floating around of broken engines that I decided against buying one with high mileage which falls in my price range.
Eventually, I concluded that perhaps I need to simply enjoy manual driving in the Alfa Stepnose, rather than trying to find an impossible combination of a manual car that gives the same feel as the S2000, with proper back seats, at a price I can afford.
Eventually, I decided to filter for “AMG” and sort the search from low to high prices. Bingo…
Stay tuned for the inside story on life with a high mileage E63 AMG.
