Alex Unleashed on Cars- Honda NSX (The Usable Supercar)

 

The original Honda NSX is one of those cars and things in general that isn’t truly appreciated until years after its gone. If you read/watch sources from the time you’d never get the sense that this car really evolved the supercar genre and high-performance cars as a whole. Whereas now, if you read/watch retrospective pieces, you see lots of the same admiration and praise for what was a car so far ahead of the game that made all the other manufactures take a good look at themselves and make an effort to improve their offerings, I mean compare the Ferrari 348 to 355 or Porsche introducing both the Carrera 4 and the 4-wheel drive Turbo, some of the most highly praised cars of their time and class. The general consensus is that these came about because the NSX showed that the supercar could have the usability and exploitability of a hot hatch and the superlative performance and exclusivity of said supercars.

The concept for the NSX began back in 1984 and was highly advanced technically by having an all -aluminium monocoque chassis which as I’m sure your aware was fine tuned by Aryton Senna, in fact he actually recommended the chassis be stiffened by over 50% before the car went on sale. And it also had that iconic VTEC (variable valve timing & lift electronic control) 3 litre V6 packing 271 BHP.  

When the NSX came out, it was well received with most sources giving it mounds of praise, everyone from Car Magazine to Motortrend praising it for being so ahead of the game, Funny thing is that Car Magazine praised it for taming the mid-engine layout only for a few years later when the car got a few tweaks for 1998 to be spun out by journalists 3 times! Though some like Top Gear weren't fully sold on the car, in fact, Richard Hammond practically begged Honda to drop the NSX and work on something else back in 2003. 

As time went on, the NSX received a few changes every few years, including an automatic and targa versions in 1995, an engine upgrade and 6-speed gearbox in ’98, a headlight and price change in ’02 followed by the second Type-R version in 2002 (which won EVO’s car of the year 2002, despite not being officially sold in the UK) to name a few. This approach was rather different to Ferrari and Porsche who launched a new car every few years rather than updating the same model. I mean, the NSX lived through the 348, F355, 360 and into the F430 before going out of production.

Sadly, despite being such a game changer that didn’t reflect in sales numbers: 18,865 in worldwide sales which whilst more than the Ferrari F355’s 11,273 was far less than the Porsche 911 ‘996’s 175,164 worldwide sales. It seemed for most people, they just couldn’t get past the Honda badge which unfortunately has a much less premium image than a Porsche or Lotus. This to some extent is where Honda’s US division was clever by inventing the Acura brand to sell sporty Honda’s like the NSX and Integra Type-R. But that still didn’t turn the NSX into a sales success even with it’s racing victories at Le Mans in 1995 winning in the GT2 class and it’s tenure in its own JGTC series where it regularly clashed with Skyline’s, Supra’s as well as the odd McLaren F1 and Lamborghini Diablo in the top GT500 class.

However, time has been kind to the NSX, journalists are once again showing praise for what was a revolutionary machine at the time and was likely only held back because of our own expectations as to how a supercar should evolve, the NSX changed little by little over time whereas say the Ferrari 348 changed very little before massively evolving into the F355.

Year Produced: 1990-2005

Engine: 3.0-3.2 Litre V6

Top Speed: 165- 175 MPH

Power: 271-290 BHP

Torque: 210-225 Ib/ft

0-60: 7.5-4.8 Seconds

Weight: 1389-1230 KG

Price: £59,995 - £75,000

Rivals: Porsche 911 ‘993/’996, Ferrari 348GTB/F355, Nissan Skyline GT-R, Lotus Esprit S4/V8, Venturi Atlantique 300, Chrysler Viper GTS