Should Acura even have this car? Ailing
Acura strikes us as a brand in need of
reinvention from the bottom up, starting
with a new Integra, the car that the people
have crowned as the real keeper of Acura’s
flame. Instead, Honda’s luxury brand is
starting its long journey back to relevance
from the top, with a hybrid supercar that will
sell for more than $150,000. It’ll be a tall
poppy in a showroom where the next-
priciest vehicle starts at $51,870, but it’s too
late to dig up old arguments about priorities.
We’ve finally moved past the drawings and
concepts, beyond the prototypes, and on to
what the aviation industry calls the flight
article. This is it, the real deal, a drivable
Acura NSX with a key that has been placed in
our hands. So we’ll put aside the academic
critique and just go pound pavement.
What we’re about to drive is a distillation of
Honda’s inner feelings at this moment. After
some dark years of uncertainty, the company
is ruminating on past glories, on Marlboro
McLarens with Ayrton and Alain, racing bikes
with oval pistons, and absurdly exquisite
lawn equipment. Honda wants to be spoken
of with awe again, to show the world that it’s
back as a technology and performance
powerhouse ready to both amaze the world
and till its flowerbeds.
An aborted prototype with the transverse V-6
out of an Odyssey minivan died in mid-2012
because it couldn’t deliver amazement and a
crash program to reinvent the NSX ensued.
The 2017 NSX, developed mainly in Ohio by a
small group that has come to think of itself
as a family, is a four-wheel-drive hybrid-
electric knee to the pants of the world’s
fanciest exotics. Its creators sincerely hope
you like it, as do their loved ones, whom they
haven’t seen in two years.
This is a prime example of filter-down
technology. The layout of the three electric
motors onboard—two on the front axle and
a third between the twin-turbo V-6 and the
nine-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox—
echoes that of the late, great $850,000
Porsche 918 Spyder, promising many of the
benefits for a fraction of the price. Those
benefits include rapid torque vectoring,
continuous thrust assist to smooth over
turbo lag and torque changes during
upshifts, a modicum of fuel efficiency, and, if
desired, silent operation for brief periods.
Someday, this stuff will be in a Civic, but for
now at least, the price tag has slid under
$200,000.
Acura’s sculptors passed on the virile flair
typical of the Italians, as well as the utopian
futurism of the BMW i8, preferring instead a
somewhat conventional, menacing
angularity. It’s not an angry-looking car, but
it appears determined. With its wide stance
and long wheelbase, the snub-nosed body
has unmistakable mid-engine proportions,
and it invites a stroll around to investigate its
many nooks and crannies. The flaring
nostrils up front hide the radiators and the
A/C condenser, while the side ducts gulp air
for the intercoolers and engine intakes. The
original 1991 NSX had flaplike door handles,
and this one uses flush grab-sticks that angle
out when needed, as on an Aston Martin.
The hood opens to a “hot box” of aluminum
chassis members and equipment, the single,
four-cubic-foot trunk residing behind the
engine. Squat down in back and you’ll notice
a cluster of what looks like Honda Fit exhaust
pipes. Unusually small for a car expected to
hit 60 mph in less than three seconds, the
four pipes are your first hint that the NSX is
not like other sports cars.
The 3.5-liter dry-sump V-6 has racing
heredity in its odd, 75-degree V angle, and it
fires up with an automatic rev zing now
typical of high-strung machines. But it’s not a
howling yap meant to turn heads in three
counties, just a muffled throat-clearing
heard mainly through the sound tubes
plumbed from the intake plenum into the
cabin. The Japanese culture emphasizes
politeness. The demure NSX faithfully
reflects that ethos.
To wit: The four drive modes start with
“Quiet,” which allows you to sneak away in
silence up to 40 mph if you’re easy on the
gas pedal. Silence “can be really, really cool
in a supercar,” says the NSX’s ebullient chief
engineer, Ted Klaus, who behaved at the
launch as if several anvils had lately been
lifted from his back. “We definitely have a
different opinion than Ferrari.” Definitely.
Sport is the mild-mannered default mode
(you can change which mode is
default), however, with steering that is a little
over boosted. Acura wants the NSX to be
everyday usable, a commendable goal but
one that shouldn’t mean steering so light
that the car changes direction over every
freeway bump and dip. You can’t set steering
heft or shift speed individually, so you get
what the engineers give you in each mode.
Sport mode quickly speeds the many-ratio
transmission to its top gear for fuel
economy, which is expected to peak in the
mid-20s and average around 22 mpg once
the EPA numbers are established.
The base tire is a Continental Conti­
SportContact 5 P, sized 245/35ZR-19 in front
and 305/30ZR-20 in back. It’s the commuter
tire, with only middling dry-road grip but the
promise of wet-weather traction and some
decent longevity. If you are nailing it on the
open road, you’ll find the limit a tad too
quickly as the front end fights for grip. Fit the
optional Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s, almost
the same meats as on the Porsche 911 GT3,
and the grip becomes that of cured epoxy.
But you’ll be lucky to get 15,000 miles out of
a set.
Things get interesting when you turn the
large console dial to Sport Plus. The
electronic tachometer rotates so that red
line moves to the 2 o’clock position—peak
engine horsepower is at 7500 rpm—and the
steering weight finally becomes appropriate
to a car with 573 combined horsepower. You
can lap a track in Sport Plus and get a taste
of the NSX’s capabilities, but only a taste on
the Continentals, which amplify the
understeer tuned in for safety. In Sport Plus, ........ (Continue reading)
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