I want a new car for the summer. I’ve narrowed it down to two cars, an Alfa Romeo Spider or a Honda S2000.

Very different cars I know. Honda being more driver focused rear wheel drive fun machine compared to the Alfa s stunning looks.

What do you guys think? Help me decide

Cheers

Honda – bomb proof mechanicals. Surely it would have better residual value too.

Ask yourself what you want from the car…

The S2000 isn’t quite the drivers car Honda wanted it to be by all accounts, though still going to be quite a lot of fun with 240bhp (albeit at 9000rpm) and rear wheel drive. The Alfa will be quite a bit slower, and a car for pottering about in and looking cool.

Both will probably have strong residual values assuming you’re looking at used examples of a few years old. Obviously the Honda is likely to be MUCH more reliable…

Me, I’d take something else altogether… Probably look at something slightly older, a 3.2 Porsche Boxter S most likely, or maybe a 3 litre Z4…

+1

Alfa spider by a mile, the S2000 looks dated now.

I take it your talking about the brera ? Saw one today and they are stunning but you can’t fault the s2000

Ahhh the old Alfa reliability question
I presume u have experience with the new shape spider / brera mboy or that would just be jumping on the easy bandwagon 😛

My dad has the new 3.2 spider and it has been faultless, driving style deffo more cruise than sporty though

Rosss the spider being refered to is the one that looks like a brera with the roof off but it is just called the spider and the shape at the back is v different

Can’t afford Porsche:( I do like z4 tho. I reckon 15k would
Be my max budget.

You learn something new everyday Cheers Titus

15k? you can easily get a boxster for that

Yeah but it’ll be 10 years old!

I presume u have experience with the new shape spider / brera mboy or that would just be jumping on the easy bandwagon

Alfa have significantly upped their game in the last few years, ever since they employed that bloke (can’t think of his name) from BMW to come and improve their quality.

I had (wrongly) assumed the OP was talking about older cars, meaning the Alfa Spyder from the generation before. In which case, they weren’t all that great reliability wise. The newer cars are much better of course, though not really old enough yet to do any long term reliability studies on. I’d still take a Honda over any Alfa though if my only concern was reliability.

Can’t afford Porsche:( I do like z4 tho. I reckon 15k would
Be my max budget.

You can get Boxsters for less than £7k if you look hard! Though I wouldn’t… I’d spend £10-12k on a very good, well cared for, Boxster S with a manual gearbox in a good colour if it were my money… Virtually depreciation proof, and mechanically very strong too (ignore the smaller engined version, the 5spd manual is a much weaker gearbox).

Chalk and cheese!

You just can’t buy a boxter.

” look at that man over there, he can’t afford a 911 you know”

The view from the alfa is very good…….it’ll spend most of it’s time on the back of a flatbed

Rolls eyes at mr crispy

You might be able to find a maserati 3200gt for 15k. Lovely car and has 4 big seats to boot. But otherwise I’d get the Alfa. My favourite car that I’ve ever driven is a 156 2.4 diesel. More fun than an xkr or sl55 (can’t stand automatics)
EDIT. you can get one with a few grand to spare.

Keep the Honda for ages. Keep it clean and put fresh oil in regularly enough. Get a good one and keep it garaged and you can pass it onto your grandchildren

Can’t afford Porsche:( I do like z4 tho. I reckon 15k would
Be my max budget.

This is what you want. Porsche 911 within budget… cheaper to run than a Z4

This coming from an Alfaowner 😉

A good mate of mine had an S200 and had a fair few issues and had to spend a reasonable amount of money on it too. I’ve got an Alfa Brera and it’s been great, couple of minor bits done on warranty and thats it, biggest issue is having a good dealer nearby. Having said that my TVR has been the least hassle of any car I’ve ever owned.

If you can get to drive both, that will tell you the answer!

stug45 – Member
Keep the Honda for ages. Keep it clean and put fresh oil in regularly enough. Get a good one and keep it garaged and you can pass it onto your grandchildren

It’s a Honda – surely you don’t buy it unless you already have grandchildren?

Brera = cool, Spider = retiree.

The S2000 looks dated? Classic IMO. Depends what you are looking for, I LOVE the Brera but some of the engines aren’t great (2.2 isn’t).

S2000 for me.

Drive them – the Honda might be good if you are tonning it around at high revs but boring otherwise.

My mate had a boxster – I wasn’t impressed at all – he sold it as it was too noisy with the engine right behind your head.

But at least a boxster is a decent design, unlike a 911 which needs loads of electronics to keep it on the road…

What about several 3.0 litre alfa spyders of the older generation – cheap and with several there should be always one that is working. Another friend had one and had loads of problems and build problems, then got an Elise, but missed the Alfa.

I’ve got an S2000 and it’s a very focussed sports car, the steering isn’t quite on a Lotus level, lacking a bit of fine feel and it tramlines a fair bit. Other than that it’s a hoot though needs to be treated with respect having no traction control etc to get you out of trouble.

Internally it’s _very_ basic for a modern car but that’s what we were looking for. All controls for heating stereo, lights etc are a finger tip reach from the steering wheel – there is nothing for the passenger to play with and in the left hand seat you definitely feel like a second class citizen with fewer heating vents etc.

In 2004 there was a change to some of the suspension settings to make the handling a bit less snappy, so these are the cars to go for, I think the 2008 update was mainly cosmetic.

VTEC is fantastic and addictive and the engine is not as gutless at low revs as people would have you believe. Not necessarily a major consideration but pottering around it’s also pretty economical as only a 2.0 engine. That engine! Proper engineering, so turbine smooth at 7k… Ours has almost 60k on the clock and still feels brand new.

In my mind the styling is neat and japanese, it isn’t dated except for the Knight Rider dash, still looks much better than one of those horrible beemers.

As you say, very different cars, go and drive them and see what suits.

My mum’s got the new Alfa Spider. Diesel 🙄
In the 12 months she’s had it, it’s been back to Alfa twice for replacement turbos. And there’s an intermittent glowplug problem that REALLY affects power. Alfa can’t find out what the problem is.

Also, have you considered the Vauxhall VX220? Properly mental, by all accounts. Especially the VX200 Turbo.

Glow plugs affecting power? Not surprised they can’t find the issue, sounds like they are looking in the wrong place 🙂

Glow plugs affecting power? Not surprised they can’t find the issue, sounds like they are looking in the wrong place

What’s your point, caller?
From what my mum tells me, every now and again it is really hard to start and accelerates like a diesel until it’s well up to temperature. Obviously by the time it gets to the Alfa garage it’s warmed up and so doesn’t show the problems. As far as Alfa can see there’s no damage to the glowplugs and haven’t offered a solution.

I like the idea of 147 diesel. Would it be rubbish for £2500? I do some 150 miles a day or more so need cheap to run.

in a word HC, yes, you can get an alright petrol for that money, but diesel alfa’s have a bonkers premium on them

You might be able to find a maserati 3200gt for 15k

I’m sure you could, but if my mates is anything to go by it really will spend more time being fixed than out on the road. He kindly lent it too me for my honeymoon in Yorkshire, it is a beautiful car, fast, comfy and it turns heads, but at 1k + for a service its not an everyday car for most people!

‘m sure you could, but if my mates is anything to go by it really will spend more time being fixed than out on the road. He kindly lent it too me for my honeymoon in Yorkshire, it is a beautiful car, fast, comfy and it turns heads, but at 1k + for a service its not an everyday car for most people!

There’s also the small issue of the steering rack detaching itself from the chassis.

Nothing wrong with Alfa reliability these days. I had a 156 back in 2001 and never gave an ounce of trouble. Brother has a 166 3.0 lusso and his missus has the old model Spider. Neither have given any real trouble. They have a great Alfa dealer nearby tho which I think helps a lot.

Besides theres something about Alfas, even the most basic ones are that little bit special to drive

I’m sort of thinking about a 147 diesel, couldn’t afford the petrol’s running costs. BTW Premium? Have a look at Ireland, that’ll cheer you up 😉

You might be able to find a maserati 3200gt for 15k

Or a VW Phaeton

The OP’s looking for a convertible sports car and you suggest a big Passat. Bonkers.

What about Merc SLK?

sounds like the car you could get in order of sportiness -> cruisiness would be

exige\elise\vx220
tvr of some kind
boxter
s2000
350z
z4
audi tt
slk
mx5
spider
crossfire srt

there’s a few in between the s2000 and the spider that are worth considering imo

One nice thing about the S2000 is you can have a conversation at motorway speeds with the roof down, which was a pleasant surprise. Likely to be a future classic with that engine. Gearbox is very nice too, feels like moving a rifle bolt. Very high cornering limits but you have to be good to stay pointing in the right direction in the wet if you’re pushing it. 1300kg vs the Spider at 1530kg. 240bhp vs 181bhp. Built as a roadster and thus nice and rigid, unlike most chopped off coupes.

However, if you live somewhere with busy roads then the slower but prettier Spider may be far less frustrating than being stuck in a queue of traffic in a car that loves to be driven fast!