In 1991 Honda shocked the world with their first supercar, the NA1 NSX. It was made to rival the likes of the Porsche 911 of the time and the Ferrari 348, yet it was far cheaper than those two cars. The NSX quickly became a favorite amongst car journalists who believed that it was actually better than its European rivals. The original NSX was in production until 2005, which by that time it was vastly out of date. Nevertheless, these later year models are actually more valuable than the earlier models despite the fact that they do not include pop-up headlights.
The term “NSX” stands for New Sportscar eXperimental which is quite a name. The whole project started in the 1980s, with Honda engineers testing out different engine and chassis layouts for future proposed projects. Honda’s engineers actually cut a Honda City mini car in half with an engine placed behind the driver powering the rear wheels.
Honda eventually committed to a sports car project later that year. They instructed Pininfarina to design a sports car known as the HPX which had a 2 liter V6. That car was a very weird-looking thing that was very futuristic. The performance benchmark for this new car was the Ferrari 328, and later the 348. Honda’s aim was to offer something that was just as fast or even faster than the Ferrari cars whilst offering better reliability at a lower cost. Sounds too good to be true right?
Honda massively utilized its F1 and motorsports division to test the car. Formula One legend Aryton Senna was one of the most notable test pilots for the NSX in which he told the company to make the chassis stiffer in order for handling to be better. At the time, he had won many races with Honda.
In 1989 at the Chicago Autoshow and Tokyo Autoshow, the car was launched. It received a lot of positive reception, so it was put into production.
Is the NSX a good car for you? Or should you look elsewhere at other cars? Let’s find out.
picture via: motor1.com
A Fantastic Car To Drive
The NSX drives like a proper supercar. Its mid-engine RWD layout has been praised massively since it makes the car feel so much more fun to drive. Honda spent a lot of time perfecting the NSX by listening to its test drivers which included F1 and other motorsport drivers. They tweaked the chassis massively in order to make the car handle better and feel stiffer.
However, Honda still wanted the NSX to be an everyday supercar rather than something reserved for weekend use only. Therefore, they didn’t make the NSX into some hardcore race car that could only be driven by serious drivers. Honda even created an automatic version of the NSX with a 4-speed gearbox which later got a Tiptronic gear selector.
This is where the Type R, or NSX-R model as it was originally called, comes into play. It featured stiffer suspension, less sound deadening inside, racing seats, no radio, and more. It was a hardcore NSX made for the track enthusiast but Honda did not stop there. They made the Type-S model which was made specifically to tackle “winding roads” and later an NSX Type-S Zero model which took the place of the then discontinued NSX-R as the track day choice.
The NSX did suffer from oversteer at high speeds. This was increased on the facelift Type-R model which was a very tricky car to drive.
However, the NSX manages to conquer its rivals despite having less power. The facelift NSX Type R model which was only offered in Japan had. the same Nurburgring time as the more expensive and 100hp more powerful Ferrari 360 Challange Stradale. Honda had kept tweaking the NSX so, despite the fact the whole design was 15 years old, it could still keep up with the competition. A more hardcore version of the facelift Type-R called the Type R GT was launched in 2005 as a homologation for the JGTG and Super GT racing series.
Loved By Many But Not Brought By Many
Many people love the NSX yet not many actually went out and purchased one. Honda had sold 18,000 units by 2005 which was a decent number for a supercar but these numbers began to fall as the car got elder. Sales may not have been as bad as the second-generation NSX but they were a far cry compared to Porsche and Ferrari.
Sales were somewhat strong when the car was launched since it was ahead of its time and it did beat the competition whilst being offered at a lower price. Yet as time went on the competition improved, and despite the price difference people began to buy these more expensive competitors instead.
The Honda badge didn’t help either. You weren’t paying for a supercar but rather a Honda. In North America and Hong Kong, the NSX was placed under the Acura luxury division badge as a way to convince buyers that this was a serious luxury car and it did in some ways work.
However, in places like the UK, the car was badged as a Honda, and at the time Honda was known for making boring everyday cars rather than flamboyant fast supercars. It was mostly proper car nerds who wanted an NSX since they knew what it was and what the car stood for.
Those who wanted a supercar but were not as nerdy went for something like a Porsche 911 instead or a Ferrari since brand value was higher than Honda’s.
To Conclude
The NSX is a great classic that will only go up in value as time goes on. It’s funny because it’s far more desirable now than ever was new and that is saying something. Manual cars go for way more since they are rarer than automatic cars.
There are many NSX models on sale today within the used market. From beaters to concourse models. The only issue is, is that none of them are cheap whatsoever. Expect to pay six figures for an absolutely mint car with low miles.