You mean when you take the car to the dealer for the maintenance and almost have a heart attack when you see the bill?

 

I used consumer reports once to look up a good coffee maker.. i bought it..it broke in 2 months and even when it worked the coffee tasted lousy. nuff said.
I think at one time CS was actually quite a good source of data.
Now it seems purely marketing driven and hyped, and I seldom agree with their findings.

CS reports aside, let's be realistic- most of us here are probably the type who don't mind getting stuck with a bit of above average car maintenance for the return of having ABSOLUTE KICK BUTT DRIVING FUN!

 

Agreed....we bought the HIGHEST rated washer and dryer which was a whirpool calypso....well guess what..they had to STOP MAKING them because the electronics failed they kept having to replace them....ended up buying a new washer and dryer 2 years later. When I was growing up...we had ONE washer and ONE dryer for like 30 years....So much for consumer reports....They also rate my other car low, teh Range Rover...I am on my 2nd Porsche and 2nd Range Rover and NONE of those cras ever left me stranded....sold the last rover with 150,000+ miles on it....I am on 132,000 on the 2nd Porsche.....The only time I use their data is to convince the wife NOT to buy something...lol....

 

I'd consider other sources for recommendations on buying a sports car... Not consumer reports...

Mike

 

Newport, I think you're lucky.

One of my friends did not have the best things to say about Land Rover. He had the Land Rover "Ford Escape" clone and had back to back problems with his engine. With the high depreciation of the brand, he ended up upside down on his loan as well.

Now he drive a Scion tC...

 

CR recommended a certain condom brand...



...nine months later, I'm a daddy!




j/k

 

Congrats...

 

A Land Rover Discovery or LR3 or LR2 or Freelander are NOTHING...I mean NOTHING like a Range Rover...they may as well be different car companies. You even said it...its a Ford Escape. Now a Range Rover is a Ford what? Nothing...ford makes nothing even close....Remember the full size Range Rover was designed by BMW at least the 2003-2005 models. They have BMW drivetrains, the same as the BMW 5 and 7 series. They DONT have the quirky BMW iDrive system....so you get the best of all worlds....a well proven drive train, solid amazing off road engineering from like 60 years of building off road vehicles, and the best materials put in a car..the oxford leather is amazing, and the car is just SOLID.....Even the Range Rover Sport is a LR3 or Discovery chassis....the Range Rover is built completely differently than any other car they make...and its actually lighter than the LR3 and Sport because of the all aluminum monocoque chassis....its the real deal.

 

Hmm- I think I used that brand as well.. Except I ended up having to get penicillin.

 

It's all relative, $35k car, $200 service, $80k car, $800 service.

But then, if you buy a BMW, you don't have to do oil changes for 15k mi. But no BMWs made it to the top of the list.

Oh yea, S2k has no low end torque, revs to 8k+ and a 1k power band. Plus, can't rev over 3k when cold or during break in. doesn't it hurt waiting for it to get into the power band? I drove it and still can't see why people rave about that car. Why do you want a naturally aspirated car with a turbo lag? My M-Coupe could out run it on the track already.

 

I'm not too sure if that's the case. I owned a 2000 M Roadster and E30 suspension setup on the car was fairly sub-par compared to the S2k around the track- the rear just can't grip the ground. The M engine was of course much better, both 240hp, but the M had much better torque curve.

Technologically the S2K had an amazing engine and power to displacement ratio. I agree it's not made for daily driving, but then again most F1 race car engines have low torque, small displacement, and high reving HP. For Honda to be able to design one that is reliable and requires minimal maintenance is amazing. I would not be able to speak for the 2.0L engines, as I had the 2.2L with a better torque curve and power output/drivability.

Beyond that, the S2K has one of the best short shift tranny's I've ever driven: feels both notchy, but still easy to select gears without effort - almost telepathic. Both the M Roadster (with its built in short shift kit), M3, and Porsche shifters come nowhere close to matching that feel. Only after I upgraded my car to the B&M SSK does the shifting now somewhat "mimic" that amazing short shift feel of the stock S2K.

I think the S2000 is just a balanced car, excels in no specific category, but amazingly fun to drive, takes regular (non-synthetic) oil and very reliable and low maintenance. I personally never had a problem of reving beyond 3K with a cold engine, but maybe I was just killing my own car.

BMW feels and drives nice, but I had build quality issues with both of my cars... I had the power windows break within 6 month of my M Roadster ownership, my stereo stopped working, and the A pillar (I think that's what the windshield pillar is called) cover fell on my lap when I was driving.

I was convinced that upgrading to the then new 2001 E46 M3 convertible will solve all the "older" US built Z3 issues. Plus it had what I call the German VTEC (engine revved up to 8K RPM, just like my 2004 S2K). After 7 months of owning the car, my engine died while I was at 3K RPM on the highway. Apparently some manufacturer defect from some crank shaft bearing - turned out later I found out it was a relatively common problem.

One thing I have to admit is that the service advisor at BMW treated me much better than at Honda, which is expected. But for both of my BMWs I had to take them back so often for warranty repairs I actually became great personal friends with my service manager... not something I'm proud of.

Another thing that not many current or ex- BMW drivers think of/aware of, but we are all guilty of, is having to "reset" our cars on the freeway because the electronics (whether it's the dashboard display, heating/cooling, or GPS) went haywire. By "reset" I mean we actually turn off our car on the highway, put the car in neutral, then restart it. My friend, an Acura driver, was the one who freaked when I did that once with him as a passenger in my BMW days and notified me that what I had to do was not "normal".

I will always look back and think about how fun and great my BMW drove, but chances are slim I will go back to the brand, esp now Mr. Bangle is heading the design team.

 

I like to add that although if the coyote did not decide to cross path with my car, I would probably still be driving the S2K, I do not regret buying the 996 C2. I love my car. The best I can describe is that a stock C2 does require some "customization" to my tastes, but now it's like a S2K with a much better engine and handling

Yup, I do enjoy the newfound torque of the 3.4L engine. Nothin' replaces displacement for more torque...

 

I see... it's too bad that Ford decided to put crappy products with the Range Rover to bring down the perception of the brand.

Similar problem with the hic-up Porsche had with the reliability of the first gen Cayennes gave the rest of Porsche a bad reliability rep.

 

It's not green and itchy, is it?

 

The Z3s are a beast. Kind of like the older 911s. You have to drive it into the corner and throw it out then control it with the throttle. I believe the new MZ4 is the same way. I had a M-Coupe and loved every minute of driving it. Had to switch to 911 because I have 2 boys and they both wants to ride with me all the time. I was able to pass a fairly able driver in a S2k on the track in the corner. He was shocked.