We recently picked up a 2017 Noveulle Blue NSX and took her on a 1300 mile road trip. Up to this point, we've been driving this car around town with our friend's car so haven't noticed many of these quirks / features of the car so wanted to write a follow-up.
Background info - we have driven this car quite a few times so this is not a new driver thing but when you spend nearly a whole day behind the wheel doing a road trip by yourself you really get to notice all the little things about a car. In this case we found some really cool things (by luck and chance in some cases) to other things just from repetition. We found ourselves at the gas pump quite often for example. During this trip the weather was adventurous to say the least...we ran into sunshine, snow, fog, heavy rain, high winds in the desert and finally snow again in Lake Tahoe area at night. This is not something you would do in most exotics but then again the 2017 NSX is not like most exotics. It handled pretty much everything effortlessly.
Pluses:
a) Car seats are extremely comfortable! We would never attempt this in any other exotic but didn't hesitate with this NSX. My back was pretty good considering just some fatigue giving the long drive.
b) Very good visible at high speed passing, quick lane changes in heavy traffic. There is virtually no blind spot in this car which is important in day to day traffic. The Huracan had horrible blind spots in comparison.
c) We got 18.9 mpg on the 1300 mile road trip driving pretty conservative (Wyoming has a 80mph speed limit!)
d) ELS audio system is amazing, don't see any need to upgrade
e) The CarPlay interface allows the computer to read text messages to you and you can dictate a reply all from the touchscreen on the car, never have to touch my phone, AMAZING!
f) Trunk is pretty good size with roomy front seats but car lacks some storage in the door sections
g) Car is smart, won't let you lock a key in the trunk if you try to close it, pops up automatically. It happened to us 3 times before we realized the spare key was in the backpack and had to remove it
h) The car is effortless at accelerating and cruising at triple digit speeds if needed.
i) Valentine 1 radar works well in this car, none of the electronics interfere with the V1. Saved us at least 3 times on the trip
j) We were super lucky this car is either frugal on gas or the designers thought of people like us. We were driving in the middle of the salt flats (desert) with nothing around when we noticed the gas was down to 36 miles range. We quickly looked on our NAV and nearest gas station was 56 miles away. When the gauge dropped to 0 miles range, we were nervous to say the least, dropped to 65mph and drove with a steady grip praying......those last 20 miles to the gas station was the longest 20 miles. Luckily the car made it without having to go to electric power. Not even sure if the car can cover 20 miles with electric only power and no gas?
Ok now to the bad things which can hopefully be fixed:
1) Wind leakage noise is pretty apparent and bad - it was coming from both windows near the side mirrors and started around 60mph and comes and goes. Definitely need to have dealer address this, we read about this from another owner, how was it fixed?
2) The car has a relatively short range with 280 miles. We had to fill the tank quite a few times over the 1300 mile trip. Good news is when it does read 0 miles you can still cover roughly 20 miles on empty without any issues (don't ask how we found out, along with a few white hairs and knuckles) - See line J
3) The ride quality reminded us of our F80 m3 in Track Mode. The ride was rough and and pretty stuff. Running over the lane bumps really woke you up immediately. The bad here is even in Sport mode, the ride doesn't change. So all 3 modes is same suspension feel.
4) We wish you can engage "D" by holding both paddles back (same as Huracan and McLaren) - Call it habit but we really had to get used to hitting the D button everytime
5) Paddles should be larger and prefer mounting to the steering column. The longer paddles we will address shortly with extended CF paddles!
6) Stock Conti tires are HORRIBLE grip. We had to slow down quite a bit for the snow when we felt the back slip
7) Exhaust note in all 3 modes is the same, very quiet which is quite disappointing. No comparison to the Huracan or even the Turbo McLaren which we thought was quiet too
8) Gas socket we noticed was extremely small and the lower portion of the pump handle sometimes would touch the paint, not sure why Acura made it this way but it's a bad design you have to be careful when pumping gas depending on where you go
Overall take: If we had to do this trip again, we would grab the keys to the NSX EVERY TIME! The biggest gripe is the wind noise from both windows. This is NOT ACCEPTABLE for a $200k car to have this issue. For those who have not heard this, it sounds like an s2000 with a hardtop that is not properly sealed. It's quite bothersome and on a long trip sucks
Besides the wind noise, the car was awesome - even the cupholders worked extremely well! This car with a new set of rubber is really a capable car and can do pretty much anything whether you want to cruise around town or hit the track. Even as a sport touring car it would be fine for 2 people on a weekend trip as long as you don't pack too heavy.
Leaving Denver and into Wyoming this was the view, perfect weather, about 45 degrees and open road:
Wyoming has a really cool 80mph speed limit and a statue of Abe Lincoln, who would have guessed!
Love the cup holders in this car, holds everything:
Going into Salt Lake City, this sucker was covering distances and making short work of the twisties:
One of the many fuel stops, this one was the one we barely made with those borrowed 20 miles on empty:
Stunning view right after the heavy rain storm as we were leaving Utah for Nevada:
Background info - we have driven this car quite a few times so this is not a new driver thing but when you spend nearly a whole day behind the wheel doing a road trip by yourself you really get to notice all the little things about a car. In this case we found some really cool things (by luck and chance in some cases) to other things just from repetition. We found ourselves at the gas pump quite often for example. During this trip the weather was adventurous to say the least...we ran into sunshine, snow, fog, heavy rain, high winds in the desert and finally snow again in Lake Tahoe area at night. This is not something you would do in most exotics but then again the 2017 NSX is not like most exotics. It handled pretty much everything effortlessly.
Pluses:
a) Car seats are extremely comfortable! We would never attempt this in any other exotic but didn't hesitate with this NSX. My back was pretty good considering just some fatigue giving the long drive.
b) Very good visible at high speed passing, quick lane changes in heavy traffic. There is virtually no blind spot in this car which is important in day to day traffic. The Huracan had horrible blind spots in comparison.
c) We got 18.9 mpg on the 1300 mile road trip driving pretty conservative (Wyoming has a 80mph speed limit!)
d) ELS audio system is amazing, don't see any need to upgrade
e) The CarPlay interface allows the computer to read text messages to you and you can dictate a reply all from the touchscreen on the car, never have to touch my phone, AMAZING!
f) Trunk is pretty good size with roomy front seats but car lacks some storage in the door sections
g) Car is smart, won't let you lock a key in the trunk if you try to close it, pops up automatically. It happened to us 3 times before we realized the spare key was in the backpack and had to remove it
h) The car is effortless at accelerating and cruising at triple digit speeds if needed.
i) Valentine 1 radar works well in this car, none of the electronics interfere with the V1. Saved us at least 3 times on the trip
j) We were super lucky this car is either frugal on gas or the designers thought of people like us. We were driving in the middle of the salt flats (desert) with nothing around when we noticed the gas was down to 36 miles range. We quickly looked on our NAV and nearest gas station was 56 miles away. When the gauge dropped to 0 miles range, we were nervous to say the least, dropped to 65mph and drove with a steady grip praying......those last 20 miles to the gas station was the longest 20 miles. Luckily the car made it without having to go to electric power. Not even sure if the car can cover 20 miles with electric only power and no gas?
Ok now to the bad things which can hopefully be fixed:
1) Wind leakage noise is pretty apparent and bad - it was coming from both windows near the side mirrors and started around 60mph and comes and goes. Definitely need to have dealer address this, we read about this from another owner, how was it fixed?
2) The car has a relatively short range with 280 miles. We had to fill the tank quite a few times over the 1300 mile trip. Good news is when it does read 0 miles you can still cover roughly 20 miles on empty without any issues (don't ask how we found out, along with a few white hairs and knuckles) - See line J
3) The ride quality reminded us of our F80 m3 in Track Mode. The ride was rough and and pretty stuff. Running over the lane bumps really woke you up immediately. The bad here is even in Sport mode, the ride doesn't change. So all 3 modes is same suspension feel.
4) We wish you can engage "D" by holding both paddles back (same as Huracan and McLaren) - Call it habit but we really had to get used to hitting the D button everytime
5) Paddles should be larger and prefer mounting to the steering column. The longer paddles we will address shortly with extended CF paddles!
6) Stock Conti tires are HORRIBLE grip. We had to slow down quite a bit for the snow when we felt the back slip
7) Exhaust note in all 3 modes is the same, very quiet which is quite disappointing. No comparison to the Huracan or even the Turbo McLaren which we thought was quiet too
8) Gas socket we noticed was extremely small and the lower portion of the pump handle sometimes would touch the paint, not sure why Acura made it this way but it's a bad design you have to be careful when pumping gas depending on where you go
Overall take: If we had to do this trip again, we would grab the keys to the NSX EVERY TIME! The biggest gripe is the wind noise from both windows. This is NOT ACCEPTABLE for a $200k car to have this issue. For those who have not heard this, it sounds like an s2000 with a hardtop that is not properly sealed. It's quite bothersome and on a long trip sucks
Besides the wind noise, the car was awesome - even the cupholders worked extremely well! This car with a new set of rubber is really a capable car and can do pretty much anything whether you want to cruise around town or hit the track. Even as a sport touring car it would be fine for 2 people on a weekend trip as long as you don't pack too heavy.
Leaving Denver and into Wyoming this was the view, perfect weather, about 45 degrees and open road:
Wyoming has a really cool 80mph speed limit and a statue of Abe Lincoln, who would have guessed!
Love the cup holders in this car, holds everything:
Going into Salt Lake City, this sucker was covering distances and making short work of the twisties:
One of the many fuel stops, this one was the one we barely made with those borrowed 20 miles on empty:
Stunning view right after the heavy rain storm as we were leaving Utah for Nevada:
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