Cars in same league as NSX ??

johnny010 said:
Interesting you are still on this board then :biggrin:

I loved my NSX so I check in here every once and a while. Usually looking for next generation nsx stuff. Who knows? Honda may spank Porsche and Ferrari again. I would like nothing more.

But for now, the C2S is a better car for me and a better all around car IMO.
 
Khajjathefang said:
that thing looks like the ugly twin of the dino ferrari

A.jpg

Fortunately, most posters here don't need to trash other car makers to know their NSX is worthy.
 
The question to begin with was:
Can anyone suggest what other cars come in the same league as far as price/maintenance cost & reliability is concerned?

My answer:
The Toyota MR2 Turbo Jap spec
Mid engined, rearwheel drive.
245bhp factory spec (on dyno most are measured at 255-265bhp)
0-100Km/h 5.9sec
Topspeed 245Km/h
Weight approx 1250Kg
Very easily/cheaply tuned to 280-300Bhp, 0-100Km/h close to 5 sec.
Quite relieable, very cheap to maintain.

Sure it doesn't have the supercar image, is less comfortable and noisier compared to a NSX, but is is a seriously quick car, in slightly tuned version faster than a factory NSX (except for top speed, but when do you use that) and a lot of fun to drive.

Set-up wise very similar to a NSX and at a fraction of the cost.
Only, in the wet it can be a very tricky car and lots of these cars have died against trees and poles.

I have been driving a 350 Bhp (0-100Km/h in 4.5 sec) Mitsubishi Evolution 6 for the last 5 years and performance wise, almost nothing compares to that. I could humiliate almost any Porsche (except the Turbo) and many Ferrari's with this car. However, as I was looking for something else, perhaps not as fast (been there/done it), but with more exclusivity, I descided to try to find a NSX.
Untill now, I haven't been succesful in finding the NSX that I want.

In the mean time as I did want a fast road/track toy, I got me a MR2 turbo to play with, and it is a lot of fun.
The one that I have at the moment:

2418ruu.jpg


2418sbt.jpg
 
rsevo6 said:
The question to begin with was:
Can anyone suggest what other cars come in the same league as far as price/maintenance cost & reliability is concerned?

My answer:
The Toyota MR2 Turbo Jap spec

Blah blah, blah... (original text deleted)

Sure it doesn't have the supercar image, is less comfortable and noisier compared to a NSX, but is is a seriously quick car, in slightly tuned version faster than a factory NSX (except for top speed, but when do you use that) and a lot of fun to drive.

The MR2 is a nice car, when compared to a corolla, but the MR2 will never be in the same league as the NSX... Not in price, form or function... No matter how many turbo's you put on it. Adding and tweaking turbos to a corolla engine just drops the little corolla engine out of the only category it had a chance of competing... reliability!

Think MR2... Think Miata.
 
Funny, exactly the kind of reply I was expecting on my writeup:biggrin: :tongue:

The question however was: what other cars come in the same league as far as price/maintenance cost & reliability is concerned
Which if these points doesn't it fulfill?:rolleyes:
Oh sorry, I now see: price as it is cheaper :tongue:
 
Why are owners of a special kind of car often sooo defensive when their car is compared in any way with another car (mine is the best/most beautiful/fastest etc)
Don't get me wrong, I want a NSX too, just haven't found the right one for me yet:frown: and am still searching.

But there are many nice cars around, it is just why you get a certain kind of car: my Evo6 was bloody ugly in my opinion, but I got it for the sheer performance of it and in that aspect, it was the best that money could buy. It was soo impressive and fun to drive, with the additional plus to be able to humiliate superior feeling German/Italian supercar drivers both on the road and on the track with this Japanese tin can costing less than half their cars.

Funny that you should mention Miata, as I also have a Turbocharged MX-5/Miata too.
Most sportscar drivers will call this a "girly car", however, it is one of the sharpest steering cars available "out of the box", just lacking the power to have real fun. With it's turbocharger and some small mods to suspention and brakes, it has now performance-wise become a real sportscar able to give a Boxter S or S2000 a serious equal competition:eek: .
Image of a car doesn't interest me very much:rolleyes: , it is how it performs that matters to me.
 
Last edited:
I think that everybody has his or her own ideas on why they will prefer a certain car above all others.
For one person it will be image or status, others go for age (ie. a new car is always better), some want just looks (the bling-bling factor), other want actual performance, fuel-economy, handling, and I think most of all will have a mix of these factors and others as well.

How many posts are there on NSXPrime comparing the NSX with whatever-other-car on looks, performance, handling or whatever else comes to mind. And on other forums it is just the same.

So, defining a number of cars that are in the same 'league' as the NSX is not as easy as it seems.
Most of us who are a NSX-owner will somehow have been struck with that kind of 'magic' feeling that they get when they drive the NSX and yes, I am one of them. Yet, at the same time I can still very well remember the feeling I got many years ago when I bought my first 'decent' car which in all truth and reality was nothing more than a cheap, small, sub-compact hatchback.

In Europe, the Honda and/or the NSX does not have the same image as in the US. As a results, it never sold very well. And yes, for some the NSX is in the same league as the MR2 (mine has been mistaken for a MR2 probably just as much as for a Ferrari).

I would say, most important, to each his own :smile:
 
rsevo6 said:
Funny, exactly the kind of reply I was expecting on my writeup:biggrin: :tongue:
So you obviously know yourself that they are not in the same league!... You were just stirring!

Yep that's just what this site needs... Another "my $5,000 POS is better than your NSX" thread! :rolleyes:

rsevo6 said:
The question however was: what other cars come in the same league as far as price/maintenance cost & reliability is concerned
Which if these points doesn't it fulfill?:rolleyes:
Oh sorry, I now see: price as it is cheaper :tongue:

Now let me state the obvious to you again...

1. Price!... Yes the MR2 is 1/10th the price
2. Maintenance cost... The MR2 is toyota corolla based and is much much cheaper than the NSX to service and maintain! The price to replace a clutch (a wear and tear item) costs more than the MR2 is worth!
3. Reliability... You mentioned that to make a MR2 able to compete performance wise you have to modifythe MR2... Effectively doubling the original hp... Thus your reliability is out the window and cannot compete with the NSX...

So you tell me... In what way do you think an MR2 CAN compare??? Certainly not as far as price/maintenance cost & reliability is concerned

In addition, your assumption that I was ragging on the MR2 or the Miata is totally incorrect! They are both excellent cars... They are both loads of fun... I was just pointing out that they are not in the same league as the NSX...
 
We all have our own reasons for why we love a certain car so much and dislike others. The NSX I like for the total package. It has great performance, low service frequency/cost and I have always loved the look of the car. I also very much like that it is not a common car, unlike many other cars I like but seem to be running down the road in packs of 5 every day. Lastly, I think the NSX owner is (for the most part) more of a true driving enthusiast than many Porsche, Ferrari, Lambo, and even Corvette owners. A good percentange of these owners buy them for the cachet of the name and becuase they feel like a "somebody" when they drive down the road in traffic. The NSX gives you this feeling too, if not to the same level that the Porsche, Lambo and Ferrari do, but it's more the thinking man's exotic instead of the "my penis is bigger than your's" exotic. Thinking men can have big Johnsons too:biggrin: :wink:
 
Having owned an NSX for five years (two of those years @ 420HP, fully comptech modded, etc.) and a Ferrari 360 Modena for one year (have driven it 15,000 miles so far) as well as an active member of ferrarichat for over two years, I thought I could chime in.

I agree with most of the people who say that Ferraris are not in the same league as the NSX. However, it's the reasoning that has me scratching my head.

Folks who lump all Ferraris together as being unreliable are simply not informed. While the 355 is a maintenance nightmare, the 360/430's are a maintenance dream. Aside from early model F1 (paddle shifter) issues, these cars are virtually trouble free. They can be driven hard and will not break down. My car has been issue free for a year and believe me, I drive the wheels off of this thing. Same with all of my Modena friends. Ferrari finally got their act together at the turn of the millenium. So the argument that Ferraris are not in the same league as the NSX because they are not reliable depends on what model you are comparing it with.

Another point that is brought up is the renowned "balance" of the NSX. This cannot ever be argued by anyone. But this is not the only car on the planet that has achieved such a balance. You only need to get behind the wheel of a Modena to understand what I mean. When my NSX was stock, it was a perfect, balanced car. When I tuned the engine to over 400HP, it was no longer a balanced car. The engine was pushing the rest of the car over the limit. Now don't get me wrong, there are bigger problems one could have than to have a car whose suspension limits your ability to negotiate through the twisties. Nevertheless, even aftermarket suspension mods did not bring back the balance inherent in the NSX design. Evan Shone from Ferrari of San Francisco said it best. When I told him that my NSX had 420 horsepower, his reply was, "Yes, but the car was *designed* for 270 horsepower". Good point. Five minutes behind the wheel of a Modena and you realize that the entire car was designed around a 400BPH powerplant. Going scary fast in this car is effortless. I was never able to do more than 110MPH on my local freeway onramp in my 9PSI NSX. I can hit 130 in the Modena without even breaking a sweat. And so "balance" is also not a reason that the NSX and the Modena are in different leagues either.

In my humble opinion, the NSX is the sweetest looking car on the planet. The lines are long, thin, straight and sleek. Think Elle MacPherson. The Modena, on the other hand, is more of a Jennifer Lopez. Be that as it may, I don't know too many guys who would turn down J Lo for a date. Every day I get into my car, I have people with cell phone cameras, video cameras, digital cameras, etc. driving up to me, clicking off pictures. People want to come up to the car just to touch it. Chicks pull up their tops as they drive by. So I think the Modena could hang with the NSX in the looks department.

The reason they are not in the same league is because of the price. Seven year old Modenas are going for ~$125K average. Fluid changes are $1400. Supercharger kits are $60,000 (yes, sixty thousand dollars). The NSX is definitely more bang for the exotic buck. But is the Modena worth all that extra money? Absolutely.
 
Chromatose said:
Having owned an NSX for five years (two of those years @ 420HP, fully comptech modded, etc.) and a Ferrari 360 Modena for one year (have driven it 15,000 miles so far) as well as an active member of ferrarichat for over two years, I thought I could chime in.

I agree with most of the people who say that Ferraris are not in the same league as the NSX. However, it's the reasoning that has me scratching my head.

Folks who lump all Ferraris together as being unreliable are simply not informed. While the 355 is a maintenance nightmare, the 360/430's are a maintenance dream. Aside from early model F1 (paddle shifter) issues, these cars are virtually trouble free. They can be driven hard and will not break down. My car has been issue free for a year and believe me, I drive the wheels off of this thing. Same with all of my Modena friends. Ferrari finally got their act together at the turn of the millenium. So the argument that Ferraris are not in the same league as the NSX because they are not reliable depends on what model you are comparing it with.

Another point that is brought up is the renowned "balance" of the NSX. This cannot ever be argued by anyone. But this is not the only car on the planet that has achieved such a balance. You only need to get behind the wheel of a Modena to understand what I mean. When my NSX was stock, it was a perfect, balanced car. When I tuned the engine to over 400HP, it was no longer a balanced car. The engine was pushing the rest of the car over the limit. Now don't get me wrong, there are bigger problems one could have than to have a car whose suspension limits your ability to negotiate through the twisties. Nevertheless, even aftermarket suspension mods did not bring back the balance inherent in the NSX design. Evan Shone from Ferrari of San Francisco said it best. When I told him that my NSX had 420 horsepower, his reply was, "Yes, but the car was *designed* for 270 horsepower". Good point. Five minutes behind the wheel of a Modena and you realize that the entire car was designed around a 400BPH powerplant. Going scary fast in this car is effortless. I was never able to do more than 110MPH on my local freeway onramp in my 9PSI NSX. I can hit 130 in the Modena without even breaking a sweat. And so "balance" is also not a reason that the NSX and the Modena are in different leagues either.

In my humble opinion, the NSX is the sweetest looking car on the planet. The lines are long, thin, straight and sleek. Think Elle MacPherson. The Modena, on the other hand, is more of a Jennifer Lopez. Be that as it may, I don't know too many guys who would turn down J Lo for a date. Every day I get into my car, I have people with cell phone cameras, video cameras, digital cameras, etc. driving up to me, clicking off pictures. People want to come up to the car just to touch it. Chicks pull up their tops as they drive by. So I think the Modena could hang with the NSX in the looks department.

The reason they are not in the same league is because of the price. Seven year old Modenas are going for ~$125K average. Fluid changes are $1400. Supercharger kits are $60,000 (yes, sixty thousand dollars). The NSX is definitely more bang for the exotic buck. But is the Modena worth all that extra money? Absolutely.

It's always nice to hear someone who has boths cars that they can compare one to another. I've always been a big fan of a 360 modena, I've to admit that the 360 will always look better than a NSX anyday. One day I will love to own a 360 modena. I'm glad to hear from someone that has a 360, whos car doesnt break down and it's a reliable car. Thanks for the insight.
 
Au-NSX wrote: Reliability... You mentioned that to make a MR2 able to compete performance wise you have to modifythe MR2... Effectively doubling the original hp... Thus your reliability is out the window and cannot compete with the NSX...

You haven't read my mail well mate, the MR2 Turbo comes from the factory with 245Bhp rating, in reality probably 255Bhp, which makes it with almost the same performance level as the NSX.
I wrote that it can very easily and cheaply tweeked to close to 300Bhp, making it somewhat faster still.

Chromatose wrote: When I told him that my NSX had 420 horsepower, his reply was, "Yes, but the car was *designed* for 270 horsepower". Good point

That is exactly right, I wouldn't be surprised when a for instance 320-350 Bhp NSX were to be faster on the track than a 420 Bhp one.
From the point on that you put too much power in a car (making it unbalanced), it becomes a handfull to handle and you are busy all the time to tame "the beast" and not able to concentrate on clean driving.

On the track a lot more raw power in a car doesn't automatically mean it is faster round the track as because of that power a mistake costing you time is more easily made.

I have attended quite a lot of track driving courses and ice racing incentives, so I dare to say that I have some idea of how to drive quickly round a track in lots of different cars
 
rsevo6 said:
Au-NSX wrote: Reliability... You mentioned that to make a MR2 able to compete performance wise you have to modifythe MR2... Effectively doubling the original hp... Thus your reliability is out the window and cannot compete with the NSX...

You haven't read my mail well mate, the MR2 Turbo comes from the factory with 245Bhp rating, in reality probably 255Bhp, which makes it with almost the same performance level as the NSX.
I wrote that it can very easily and cheaply tweeked to close to 300Bhp, making it somewhat faster still.
Sorry but even standard the MR2 Turbo does not have as much power as an S2000, and the S2000 is not in the same league as an NSX either...

So, ticking the boxes... MR2 is still 0/3... No comparison!

Like I said... (As you still have not convinced me.) The MR2 is a nice car but it is no NSX... Sorry.

Don't feel bad, I understand you love your car and feel the need to defend your choice! The MR2 ia a nice car! But when you get an NSX... You'll understand! :wink:
 
I say 90-96 300ZX TT is in the same league as NSX as far as price/maintenance cost & reliability is concerned.

On the look/style department, Z32 is still there. Both NSX and the Z32 have this timeless looks.

On the performance side, 300ZX TT will outperform the NSX stock for stock.

NSX however has this looks that you can't help to notice when you seen one on the road. NSX is a masterpiece.
 
To me there is no car like the NSX. For the money I paid for my 1994 NSX-R I could have bought an R 34 Skyline GTR v-spec ore an EVO FQ 400 or a Maserati 4200 Spyder, but there is only one exotic, with power, reliability, exclusivity and that it won't makle you look like a wanker.

The NSX

Cheers

AR
 
AU_NSX said:
Sorry but even standard the MR2 Turbo does not have as much power as an S2000, and the S2000 is not in the same league as an NSX either...
I have driven S2000, so know how they feel.
MR2 Turbo 245Bhp
S2000 240 Bhp
Which part in the numbers is unclear?
:confused: :confused:

I don't feel the need to defend the MR2 or any other car for that matter, just trying to clarify the obvious error in your statements.
I don't think I will ever be totally fixed on one car, too many nice different other ones around:smile:
Have owned about 50 different cars till now and many of them appealed to me for one or another reason at the time that I had them and test drove lots of other cars.
At the moment I like this MR2 Turbo for it's powerpackage and how it performs both on the road and on racetrack, am however still trying to find me a NSX.:rolleyes:

However, let's stop this, as it isn't very interesting to other forum members anymore I think:frown:
 
Hugh said:
This is very confusing to me. The Cayman looks like the bastard child of a Boxster and a Crossfire and if anything strongly resembles the same old 30 year old ugly and boring look of every single 911 derivative out there.

The NSX is so unique that still today, 15 years after they first appeared, people still don't know what the hell they're looking at. What do you find in the NSX that hints of the '80s?

Then only cool car that Porsche ever built is still the 928.

The 80's hints are the taillights, rear bumper, flip-up headlights, low-beltline, DLOs, radius of corners, dash. Unfortunetly thats the problem with designing cars for 4 years....you start noticing all the little details. Its kinda drilled into you at school. Its still a great looking cars, I just prefer alot of newer designs. I'm sure the next NSX replacement will looks tons better than the Cayman.
 
Zenky said:
I say 90-96 300ZX TT is in the same league as NSX as far as price/maintenance cost & reliability is concerned.

On the look/style department, Z32 is still there. Both NSX and the Z32 have this timeless looks.

On the performance side, 300ZX TT will outperform the NSX stock for stock.

NSX however has this looks that you can't help to notice when you seen one on the road. NSX is a masterpiece.

Z32 timeless looks? I'm sorry, but I have to disagree. That car looks very dated. The Supra MKIV has timeless looks.
 
The nsx is such a unique creation. And being that ferrari maint. costs are through the roof, makes the nsx the pristine and right choice for the $! However, that porsche cayman is a nice looking vehicle!
 
This is hard, here are my personal picks, maybe in different league, but these are only cars other than NSX that give me that urge with price tag cost below $200k.

360 Modena CS
360 Modena
R34 GTR
C6 Z06 (Getting a little tired of the look already, but it is still one hot looking super performer)
SL55, SL65, SL600
FD RX-7 LS1 motor swap

I too think Z32 is dated as hell, not even close, yes, I am a previous Z32 TT owner. FD RX-7 on the other hand is timeless.

Not a Porsche fan, otherwise, 997 CS, 993/996/997 Turbo, GT2/GT3 are awesome cars as well.

Chromatose said:
Evan Shone from Ferrari of San Francisco said it best. When I told him that my NSX had 420 horsepower, his reply was, "Yes, but the car was *designed* for 270 horsepower". Good point.
Obviously, Shone doesn't know a jack about cars or he is just trying to sell you a Ferrari. It I were in his position I would have said the same, got to brain wash the customer. The car was not designed for 270horsepower, the chasis is way over engineered. Just watch the NSX in American Togue.

Chromatose said:
Five minutes behind the wheel of a Modena and you realize that the entire car was designed around a 400BPH powerplant. Going scary fast in this car is effortless. I was never able to do more than 110MPH on my local freeway onramp in my 9PSI NSX. I can hit 130 in the Modena without even breaking a sweat. And so "balance" is also not a reason that the NSX and the Modena are in different leagues either.
Sounds very odd to me.:confused:, even stock NSX can get up to 130mph without much effort and remain very stable. You add another 130bhp to NSX while maintaining same weight, should be much quicker than 360 Modena.
 
Psychobiology said:
Z32 timeless looks? I'm sorry, but I have to disagree. That car looks very dated. The Supra MKIV has timeless looks.

I like Supras but the looks doesn't do much for me, it looks like one of the 6th generation celica. Z32 are one of the true Japanese super sports until to date. The interior and exterior looks real classy.
FYI, even Lamborhini Diablo uses Z32 headlight. :)
 
Back
Top