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Miso Missiles: 1991-2005 Acura NSX
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If you had to pick one era where the Japanese auto industry truly came of age, the early 1990s would be a great answer. Not only had the island nation’s Big Three (Toyota, Honda and Nissan) established their own luxury brands in this country, but they (along with Mazda and Mitsubishi) released their own high-power, high-dollar supercars. Granted, these cars are by no means in the same league as such time-space continuum shredders as the Bugatti Veyron or McLaren F1, but for people who grew up with cheap and cheerful little runabouts like the Toyopet Crown and Honda N600, these cars may as well have been created by Kelly Johnson and his team in Burbank. Don’t believe me? Look at the Acura NSX.
In 1983, Honda returned to Formula 1 as engine provider for the Spirit team. The following year, the company commissioned Italian design house Pininfarina to design a grand prix-inspired high tech, mid-engine sports car. The resultant HP-X (for Honda Pininfarina eXperimental) concept featured distinctive, F-16-inspired styling and a mid-mounted 2.0L V6. Honda management was excited by how the project turned out and how it was received by the public, so they set about developing a production version. The name changed to NS-X (New Sportscar eXperimental) – the hyphen was dropped shortly before production began – and the production V6 was bumped up to 3.0L to enable the car to keep up with the vehicles the Honda engineers benchmarked, the Ferrari 328 and its successor, the 348. The NSX’s V6 was a DOHC design with four valves per cylinder, as well as a little something called VTEC, which made its North American debut in the NSX. VTEC is Honda’s proprietary variable valve timing and valve lift system, which allows for good engine breathing at both low and high revs. The NSX, which because of its high price was sold under the company’s premium Acura brand in the U.S. and Canada, produced 270hp and 210 lb./ft of torque, and was offered with either a 5-speed manual or 4-speed automatic transmission. In addition to VTEC, the NSX’s other pioneering features included an all-aluminum unibody upon which an aluminum skin and aluminum double-wishbone suspension at all four corners was hung, titanium connecting rods inside the engine (which made possible a still-staggering 8,000rpm redline), four-channel ABS for the brakes, a 23-step painting process and, on the auto-trans models, an electric power steering system. Oh, and the final suspension and chassis setup was derived from the efforts of one Ayrton Senna. Think about it; that’s like having a drum kit designed by John Bonham, or a pump-action 12 gauge that’s been field tested by Annie Oakley.
Needless to say, the NSX not only turned the sports car market upside down, it turned it upside down and shook it vigorously until loose change started falling out of its pockets. Not only was the NSX as quick as the V8 Ferraris, it was also as reliable as the tides, whereas the Fezzas would often require trips to the dealership, where mechanics who talka like deese would tell you, with a perfectly straight face, that the engine is supposed to die when you drive over a railroad crossing at any speed above 2 mph. The fact that NSX owners experienced no such things was a breath of fresh air, and the sales loss Ferrari et al experienced as a result prompted them to up their game in terms of product quality and customer service. Of course, the NSX also upped its game over the course of its incredible 15 year lifespan: a targa roof model was added, eventually replacing the hardtop altogether in the U.S. market; the manual transmission became a 6-speed; the manual model’s engine grew to 3.2L and 290hp and 224 lb./ft; the manny-tranny cars got the auto’s electric power steering, and the pop-up headlights gave way to exposed HID units. But through it all, the basic, razor sharp underpinnings remained largely unchanged until the NSX was finally retired at the end of the 2005 model year.
Though very pricey and quite rare (8,949 made it to the U.S.) when new, the NSX actually represents one of the best supercar bargains under the sun. Nice, high-mileage examples (not that 100k miles and over is cause for alarm in an NSX) can be found in the low- to mid-$20,000 range, while later, low-mileage examples are known to flirt with the $50,000 mark. The most common problem areas are the air conditioning system, the window regulators, and the transmission countershaft bearing snap ring breaking on early 5-speed cars, but as mentioned above, these cars are generally super robust when properly maintained. Combine that with the sublime driving experience and the identity of the guy responsible for getting that driving experience to be so sublime, and all of a sudden this thinking man’s supercar doesn’t seem all that nerdy.
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