When I first saw the NSX prototype in Detroit, I came back and went to my favorite dealer and put a deposit on it. Dealer told me they had "heard" at the pre-show talk for dealers only in Las Vegas that price was targeted at somewhere between $83-89k. The rumours keep pushing the price in the clouds higher and higher, and if they are true, I am certainly going to get my refundable deposit back and bail on the new NSX. I just can't see how what they seem to be promising is going to be worth the rumoured money. I am not looking for a pretend performance, but a real performance car. I have owned a 93 NSX since 1994 and have put thousands of laps on it. But i wanted something faster, and almost put the buy on a C6 Z06 when I heard about the GT-R. So I put a deposit on that and was one of the first to get one. I have retired the NSX from the track and have been running my GT-R for 4-1/2 years on road and track. In terms of performance, it just destroys my 93 NSX. There is simply no comparison.
I just came back from an invitation only event for advanced drivers at Mont Tremblant, and passed every single Porsche GT3, GT3 RS and the two GT3 RS 4.0's there (dozens of Porsches), many of which were running on slicks, and others on R compounds. For the new NSX to target the GT-R would be a big mistake, as basically hardly any car can beat it on track, except a very few, and it is much easier to drive than most cars than can go faster (only guy faster than me for the day was my buddy in his Viper ACR Type X race car on Michelin slicks). I am not expecting the new NSX to be faster than the GT-R, but hopefully more fun to drive on the street. I still really enjoy my old NSX, and it has been the most reliable car I have ever owned. But it has always been down on power.
Gordon Murray when driving the NSX while developing the F1 for McLaren said the NSX chassis was very stiff and wondered why Honda had not given it more power as the chassis could easily handle it. I always thought a V-8 with twice the cylinders and twice the power of the S2000, or 480 HP would have fit the bill, but Honda just never really developed the NSX as time went on. GT-R on the other hand has been developed significantly since I bought my 2009. The last version tested by Top gear was about 2 seconds faster than the 2009 model on their track, and the 10th fastest car ever at this point, faster than a Ferrari Enzo and Maserati MC-12. And the new 2014 GT-R has more power yet and a more refined chassis and would be faster still. Plus 2014 GT-R is still only $99k, and not $110k as some say. For the extra 10k you get the black edition which has no performance improvement over the base model, just cosmetics really. I just don't think anyone can make a car for under $100k that can compete with the GT-R. But they could certainly make a car that is more engaging to drive at normal speeds. GT-R just wants to eat the road, and is really made to come alive at way-past-legal track speeds, for which it is very, very good. But now I see the new C7 with 460 HP is going to sell for $51k, and the Z51 version with all the trick track optimized parts is going to be only $53.8k, plus a couple of k’s for the optimized dampers. I just might get my deposit back from the dealer and buy the C7 Z51. Who does Honda think will buy their new NSX at over $100k, possibly $150k? Certainly not me. And I also have a turbocharged Integra Type R that is pretty much a track only car now. A fabulous drivers car when it came out, which was lacking power, but I fixed that, with 300 WHP, more powerful and lighter than my NSX. And I just sold my old 1970 911 with a 2.7 litre engine, and contrary to what some have said, it never tried to kill me. It was a lot of fun, old school, but a little too slow for me, although I had it for almost 30 years. Porsches are great cars, and the new base Cayman platform is only about $59k and getting great reviews as a driver’s car.
So I am a big Honda fan, but I also like many different cars, and I kind of want a new NSX as much as anyone might, but I am having serious doubts about what is being offered up in the rumour mill. I am a big fan of new technology, and the 2 front wheel electric motors might be great to improve handling and traction out of corners, with Super Super AWD or whatever they might call it, but will they deliver a light enough car to make it fun? GT-R has figured out how to make a heavy car stupid fast, making everyone else play catch up. Is Honda up to the task? They sure have lost their mojo over the last decade. They just currently don't make anything I am interested in, except my wife's MDX. All their sports cars have disappeared. The ILX has just been rated one of the least enjoyable cars to drive by Consumer Reports. What's up with that? No drinking the cool aid or spreading the cool whip for me. If I don't buy a C7, I just might use the cash to trade in my GT-R and buy a 2015. Honda had better hurry up and do something if they want my deposit to keep earning them interest.
Anyone can drive a PDK/DSG car, while if I had to take a stab in the dark I would say 20% or less of the licensed US population knows how to drive a true manual transmission. I like that manual shifts are "old school", I like having a skill that few have and I like knowing that no matter how good I get there will still always be room for improvement. I prefer to drive the car, not let the car drive me. The manual transmission has been around for 100+ years and will never die in the high end sports car segment. 
