Let’s step back and reflect on the history of the Acura NSX shall we? The original Acura NSX was introduced in 1990, and the United States in 1991. It was a car that Honda developed to do it all. They wanted to make a car that could hang with the exotics, blow sports cars out of the water, and reliably cruise in the city. At the time, that was honestly impossible…or was it? The competition laughed in Honda’s face when they learned that they were going to try and develop such a thing. I mean who wouldn’t, Honda was, and still is, known as producing cheap economy cars.
So what did they do? They began developing the NSX. A mid-engine supercar with 42%/58% weight distribution, front and rear respectively. The design was so perfect that it does not matter if you have passengers, or a full tank of fuel, the weight distribution would remain the same. It was ergonomically designed, with plenty of visibility and even a full sized trunk! Why is the car so long you ask? Well, the tail of the car is actually designed for high speed stability, not just looks. Oh, and the chassis was constructed from aluminum too. When Honda reached out to suppliers, nobody believed that they would follow through. But after many hours of R&D, Honda developed a chassis that was 50% stronger than steel, but significantly lighter.
As for aero, it was not Honda’s primary focus. The car does sit low, and looks long, but they did not want any flares or wild scoops on this car. Quite frankly, they didn’t need it! The car sits low to the ground from factory, and instead of aero, they focused in on the suspension. The handling and stability on the NSX was something that truly challenged supercars of its time.
So did Honda build a supercar or a sports car? Many people do not view the NSX as a supercar, but after doing some research, their minds should quickly change. This was a car that truly challenged exotics and blew them out of the water too.
The all new Acura NSX was named Road & Track’s car of the year. Starting at $157,800, it is a big price to pay for an Acura. But, before we call it just an Acura, lets dive deeper and inspect what the NSX is all about. The all-new Acura NSX is a 573 horsepower supercar, with a 0-60mph time of 3.1 seconds. (To give you some perspective, the Nissan GT-R’s 0-60 time is 2.9 seconds)
What powers this thing? A 3.5L twin-turbo V6 and 3 electric engines.
What is the chassis made of? Aluminum and carbon fiber of course! This combination weighs in at around 3,800 pounds.
Oh, and in case you’re trying to save the environment, it has an average mpg rating of 21/22 city/highway. That’s slightly better than the 14/21 city/highway you get from the Lamborghini Huracan.
So is this a Supercar or a Sports car? We honestly can safely say, it is in fact a Supercar. The history behind the NSX and its development just goes to show that if a company is determined, they can build anything. The NSX is proof of that. It competes with the Audi R8, the GT-R, Mercedes AMG, and many other modern supercars. If it was just a sports car, we would be comparing it to a 350z, Mustang, and Camaro.
(All images courtesy of nsx.acura.com)
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