BrashSi
Member
- First Name
- Blake
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2018
- Threads
- 3
- Messages
- 42
- Reaction score
- 30
- Location
- STL, MO
- Vehicle(s)
- 2017 Civic EX-T Sedan in Aegean Blue, 2012 Ridgeline EX-L, 2018 Civic Si Sedan in Aegean Blue(sold), 2004 S2000 NFR (sold),
- Thread starter
- #1
I've held off on posting this for a while but I've gotten to the point I need your help. Over the last 4 months I've been in a pretty significant self-struggle in the debate on whether or not to get a Type R (first-world problems, I know). I'll explain my scenario then considerations so bare with me. My wife and I have her 2017 Civic EX-T, my 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee V8 Lifted, my 2004 S2000 and my 2018 Civic Si. I liked her Civic enough that when I was looking for a new daily I got the Si. The Civic is stock outside of a TSP Stage 1 tune and is a great daily driver. The S2000 is lowered with intake/exhaust. I'd put it as lightly modded.
My wife and I are expecting a child and have my wife's 2 dogs. We regularly make trips across MO to see family of about 250 miles one-way where we generally will take my wife's car as it gets better MPG at about 41 MPG highway. We'd want to be able to make the trip in my car as well. The Si does great for this and I suspect will "baby" just fine, even with 2 small dogs but could be kind of tight with kid gear. I'm just not sure. My wife's EX-T is pretty much identical to the Si (both sedans), so what works for the Si should work for her car.
My issue with the S2000 is that I've had it 6 years and interest has lessened, especially now with the Si that frankly has more HP/Torque with the TSP Stage 1. I've enjoyed the S2000 taking it on 3000 mile road trips when I was younger and quite a few group drives (S2KI Boston Mountain Tour in NW AR - I'm jeepilot on S2KI btw). I never really got around to tracking or autoX, but always thought that'd be fun. It's an amazing car, but needs change as life does. Over the last 2 years I've driven it less and less; I've put a total of 25,000 miles in the 5 years I've owned it, only 5,000 in the last 2 years. With the new baby, I expect that to go down to essentially nothing. It's lowered with intake and exhaust but that's about it. I have fun roads within an hour of me to be able to do what its best at, ripping up the roads. Same for the Si, but the S2000 is the clear handling winner, but the Si is no slouch. I've done Tail of the Dragon with the Si and AR's Pig Trail with both. So now I must decide if I should sell my S2000 & Civic Si and get a new Type R?
Considerations:
What say you CTR owners? I'd like to hear if anyone has been in a similar situation and what they did? Wife is due in April, so this debate will continue for a while. I've had this debate even before we got pregnant out of the interest of down-sizing and opening up garage space, but the pending baby has amplified my internal debate.
My wife and I are expecting a child and have my wife's 2 dogs. We regularly make trips across MO to see family of about 250 miles one-way where we generally will take my wife's car as it gets better MPG at about 41 MPG highway. We'd want to be able to make the trip in my car as well. The Si does great for this and I suspect will "baby" just fine, even with 2 small dogs but could be kind of tight with kid gear. I'm just not sure. My wife's EX-T is pretty much identical to the Si (both sedans), so what works for the Si should work for her car.
My issue with the S2000 is that I've had it 6 years and interest has lessened, especially now with the Si that frankly has more HP/Torque with the TSP Stage 1. I've enjoyed the S2000 taking it on 3000 mile road trips when I was younger and quite a few group drives (S2KI Boston Mountain Tour in NW AR - I'm jeepilot on S2KI btw). I never really got around to tracking or autoX, but always thought that'd be fun. It's an amazing car, but needs change as life does. Over the last 2 years I've driven it less and less; I've put a total of 25,000 miles in the 5 years I've owned it, only 5,000 in the last 2 years. With the new baby, I expect that to go down to essentially nothing. It's lowered with intake and exhaust but that's about it. I have fun roads within an hour of me to be able to do what its best at, ripping up the roads. Same for the Si, but the S2000 is the clear handling winner, but the Si is no slouch. I've done Tail of the Dragon with the Si and AR's Pig Trail with both. So now I must decide if I should sell my S2000 & Civic Si and get a new Type R?
Considerations:
- Type R is faster than S2000 or Si and is generally well reviewed and received as being a car that punches above it's weight class and worth the money. Lap times show it's a fair bit quicker than the S2000.
- Type R would be a new "halo" car to me. While the S2000 was a halo car, I never really had the chance to buy it new. The 2018 Si is the first new car I've ever purchased.
- Financially, I would sell the S2000 at about $15,000ish and the Si at about $20,000ish and put cash to the difference. It'd be a pretty close to even swap.
- I'd like a car I can keep for a long time and thought it would be cool to hand down to my future son. By the time he's driving I'm assuming most cars will be electric and manual cars will be a thing of the past. Future collector value is a small consideration. S2000 will be a timeless classic.
- I love the S2000, but not necessarily MY S2000. Got it with 88,000 miles, currently at 113,000. It was lowered, with full exhaust, and is currently in need of a re-paint.
- S2000 makes a lot of noise for being comparatively slow by modern car standards and I'm a mid-30s dude in a red convertible. Kinda screams mid-life crisis car.
- The S2000 continues to get "nice car" compliments which is nice, but I'm not really the guy that seeks that kind of attention. Being in my mid-30s, there is the obvious boy-racer looks of the Type R, but I honestly don't care what people think about what I drive, so it'd have it's own different attention.
- I'd still have a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee that has more recurring MX problems and the other option would be to keep S2000, sell Jeep and Si and get a newer SUV/Truck. I'd eventually supercharge the S2000 to get power up to modern card standards.
- I ran the numbers for insurance as apples-to-apples as I could get and it seems like I'd be saving about $400/yr combining cars. In addition to that, I'd have 1 fewer cars for personal property taxes/registration etc.
- Lower or equal maintenance costs between the S2000 and Si. Assuming I go to 18" all-seasons.
- Depreciation would hopefully be relatively flat. S2000 is pretty much at the bottom, but Si will depreciate albeit slower than my wife's car.
- Hatch design would allow for slightly more room/bulkier objects such as strollers/luggage with me, wife, baby and 2 dogs.
- It makes more power more reliably. I'm on TSP Stage 1 and while it makes more power, I'm slightly concerned with longevity. That and the oil dilution issue with the 1.5T. I'd keep Type R stock.
- Type R would be fast enough and handle well enough that I'd still be able to keep going on the BMT group drives and have no problem keeping up (I've ran with them in my group and they pull on the straights, but my S2000 could hang in the corners. I'm aware of how capable they are, but haven't ridden/driven one.
- Lose seat heaters -this will still be driven in cold weather daily, so this would be nice, but Jeep for salt/snow duty has them and remote start. I even have these added to the S2000, so they'd be missed.
- Lose lane watch camera - I've found this feature to be pretty handy on our Civics
- Lose sunroof - Not a huge con for me, as I don't use the one in my Si really and keep the cover over it most of the time.
- Would likely need end up getting 18" tires due to less than perfect roads here, as well as intent to drive the car below 35°F and as I understand it the stock tires aren't supposed to get that cold.
- More of a no-compromise car designed for the track at the expense of getting rid of creature comforts. I haven't been to the track with the S2000, so I'm not sure I need this much car. It'd be fun to go to the track, but more money/expenses in doing so and I have other $$$ hobbies.
- Dropping average fuel economy from the Civic Si of about 33 mpg to I'm guessing about 24 mpg. My commute is about 30 miles, so this isn't a huge deal. Range might be a concern, but I'm understanding of that limitation with the S2000's 12 gal tank and similar MPG.
- Transition to FWD performance car - I'm good at handling the S2000 and know how to drive it relatively well near its limits, but not as sure on extracting performance out of a FWD platform.
- The S2000 is a "Special" car as many have referred to it. It was a dedicated platform and built by the chief designer that made the original NSX. It's of a different era and nothing like it has really been made since (only the most recent ND Miata comes close). Is the Type R just as special? Will it be looked at in the same light in 15 years?
What say you CTR owners? I'd like to hear if anyone has been in a similar situation and what they did? Wife is due in April, so this debate will continue for a while. I've had this debate even before we got pregnant out of the interest of down-sizing and opening up garage space, but the pending baby has amplified my internal debate.
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