Silver Honda S2000 (AP1) roadster, three-quarter front view

Honda S2000

1999–2009 · 2.0L NA VTEC, 9,000 rpm · manual · RWD
8.5 / 10
Involvement 9.0 / 10
$ SMILES PER DOLLAR PAID IN GRINS SCREAMER REDLINE DAILY
Miles actually driven7.0
Bought to drive, not to flip7.5
Track-day sightingscontext · not scored6.5

Reference — shown, never scored

Handling · high limits, snappy at the edge8.8
Power-to-weight · sweet spot190 hp/t
240 hp · 1,260 kg

Why 8.5: A 9,000 rpm four, a perfect shifter and nothing else. Owners rack up miles because the car is only alive above 6,000 rpm — appreciation hasn't scared them off yet.

DougScore 55 / 100Weekend 32/50 · Daily 23/502004 S2000 · dougdemuro.com

Market value

Median asking price, good condition · $26k (2005) → $55k (2026), trending up · illustrative data

$20k$55k200520182026$55k

The long version

Values have roughly doubled since the mid-2010s trough, exactly the point in a car's life where owners usually start parking it for weekend photo ops, and the S2000 crowd mostly has not gotten the memo. Forums stay full of track-day writeups and daily-commute threads rather than concours prep, because the car only rewards you once you are using the top half of the tach, and buyers who wanted a static investment picked something else entirely. Smiles per Dollar and Screamer both point at the same fact: bought for the engine note at 8,000 rpm, not for what it might be worth in five years.

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