Re: EVO: Z06 vs Exige 240 vs M400 vs GT3RS Article Scans
With little fanfare, the Honda NSX slipped into the pages of performance car history this month with the last of the US bound cars rolling of the production line in Japan.
The NSX was first shown at the 1989 Chicago Auto show, where Mazda also debuted their ground-breaking MX-5. In the 15 years since sales began - first in August 1990 in the US as the Acura NSX and a month later in Japan wearing a Honda badge - less than 20,000 NSX's were sold worldwide.
If you choose to be cold and analytical, yes, the NSX was a commercial failure. But sometimes, you can't judge a cars worth on sales figures alone. Like very few cars before or since, the NSX significantly altered the motoring landscape - especially in the supercar stratosphere.
Why do you think the current crop of supercars are such well rounded cars and not just circus sideshows making a living of their looks and performance? Because the NSX showed that you could have all that and still deliver the everyday goods. Here, finally, was an ultra high performance car with genuine driveability and liveability.
Remember in 1990 the offerings from Austin Martin, Lamborghini and Ferrari were all very crude devices. Even an early 90's is hardly a paragon of refinement and technology. The NSX was.
Perhaps the greatest tribute to the Honda NSX is the Mclaren F1 - still the ultimate supercar to many enthusiasts. During the car's development phase, creator Gordon Murray used an NSX as everyday transport to remind him what he was attempting to achieve with the F1.
So what went wrong? Initially the NSX was a critical and sales success but Honda allowed it to wither on the vine with only minor upgrades and improvements over the last 15 years. If only Honda had given in and fitted a V8...
Ultimately, though, consumers turned away from the substance of the NSX in favor of fancier badges, engines and bodies, even if, initially at least, those exotics were inferior cars. And to a degree that's understandable.
Personally I've only ever driven one NSX and that was more than three years ago. It was a face-lifted bubble headlight model and whole the interior was massively dated, the quality of the engineering in the chassis and drivetrain remained bang up to date.
So if you lust after the latest offerings from Ferrari, Lamborghini or Porsche dip your lid to the car that made it all possible.
The NSX was first shown at the 1989 Chicago Auto show, where Mazda also debuted their ground-breaking MX-5. In the 15 years since sales began - first in August 1990 in the US as the Acura NSX and a month later in Japan wearing a Honda badge - less than 20,000 NSX's were sold worldwide.
If you choose to be cold and analytical, yes, the NSX was a commercial failure. But sometimes, you can't judge a cars worth on sales figures alone. Like very few cars before or since, the NSX significantly altered the motoring landscape - especially in the supercar stratosphere.
Why do you think the current crop of supercars are such well rounded cars and not just circus sideshows making a living of their looks and performance? Because the NSX showed that you could have all that and still deliver the everyday goods. Here, finally, was an ultra high performance car with genuine driveability and liveability.
Remember in 1990 the offerings from Austin Martin, Lamborghini and Ferrari were all very crude devices. Even an early 90's is hardly a paragon of refinement and technology. The NSX was.
Perhaps the greatest tribute to the Honda NSX is the Mclaren F1 - still the ultimate supercar to many enthusiasts. During the car's development phase, creator Gordon Murray used an NSX as everyday transport to remind him what he was attempting to achieve with the F1.
So what went wrong? Initially the NSX was a critical and sales success but Honda allowed it to wither on the vine with only minor upgrades and improvements over the last 15 years. If only Honda had given in and fitted a V8...
Ultimately, though, consumers turned away from the substance of the NSX in favor of fancier badges, engines and bodies, even if, initially at least, those exotics were inferior cars. And to a degree that's understandable.
Personally I've only ever driven one NSX and that was more than three years ago. It was a face-lifted bubble headlight model and whole the interior was massively dated, the quality of the engineering in the chassis and drivetrain remained bang up to date.
So if you lust after the latest offerings from Ferrari, Lamborghini or Porsche dip your lid to the car that made it all possible.
Dain
Or remember the microwave oven or lead free fuel? Americans were far ahead in the past. So please...there is no clash of the cultures...just a little bit of passionate sportscar talk. Nothing more and nothing less. 
