I remember being a kid when the Acura NSX came out. I remember reading the magazine stories, seeing the stuff on the various car related TV shows, I watched, and talking about it with my fellow car geeked classmates. None of us really got it and even when I watch this video nearly 30 years later, I’m still not sure that I do.
Hey, this thing was new and exotic in the 1990s. The engine was stuck right there in the middle, it made good noises, and it was pretty expensive. When you are 14 years old, any car your parents scoff at is “exotic”. There were a few things that my pals and I kept getting stuck on. The exterior styling was kind of like a stretched out Honda Prelude, the interior styling was completely non-existent and looked basically like every other Honda out there, and the engine only made 276hp. This was the era of the Dodge Viper and the ZR1 Corvette. Ironically, those are two cars that maybe did less with more than the NSX did. But those cars captured our imaginations while the NSX confronted us with questions we didn’t know the answers to.
A super car is supposed to be all swoopy and cool, right? A super car is supposed to have at least 400hp, right? The interior of a super car is supposed to make you feel like Michael Knight, right? This is this the stuff you think when you are 14 and the NSX at this time did none of that.
I respect this car way more now than I did when I was 14. Age and driving several hundred cars in my life have shown me the reasons why the NSX was a bad ass in its time. The thing is? I’m still not really sold on wanting to have one of my own. My inner 14-year old struggles. Given the chance between a 1994 Viper, as rude and crude as it is and this thing? I’ll be waving as my V10 buries the V6 from a roll on the highway.
Am I wrong?
No you are so right. This thing is stuck between Being a family container and a sportscar. And it will never be really any of them. Crush it and get a wiper or a vette and stop trying to live in both worlds.
I think the Supra of the same period was way more attractive ,or the rx7 for styling .
I guess you never drove one. Awesome cars.