A bit about my weekend....
Saturday night I had a company party, then sunday I rented a car and left Boston for Bluefield West Virginia. Silly me, I left at 4pm for a 780 mile trip, and didn't get there until about 5am. After a short nap, and dealing with the formalities of buying the car, I was on my way. Noon, headed back to Boston.
It is a 1991, black/ivory, 5spd, with 39,000 miles..
This was my first time driving an NSX, and it was far different than I had guessed it would feel. My size 12 sneakers were rather annoyed to be jammed into the small footwell, but after a few miles(and learning how to adjust the steering wheel) it was perfectly comfortable.
The gear selector is quite nice; it feels much more precise than my M3's. the only fault I have with it is that it is difficult to tell when you are *not* in gear, but after some time that issue resolved itself. The controls in general are functional, and well placed, but they don't have the same quality feel as my M3.
By the way, I consider the E36 M3 the benchmark all other cars fail to meet!! Some are better here, or there, but not the total package
Getting in and out of the car took some adjustment because you descend into it rather than "sit down". I am accustomed to riding passenger in "low" cars, but the steering wheel obstructing my large legs and body took some getting used to. After getting in position the seats are perfectly comfortable, and after hours in the car my butt did *not* hurt in the least. My M3's seats kill my butt after 2 hours. However I did notice that in hard corners the seats seemed to "give" a little. I don't mean the cushion, but the seat itself seems to "bend". (ever so slightly). Also the 14 year old leather shows its age; probably not conditioned over the years.. Hard to fault the car itself for this though.
The radio. It sucks; period.
The climate control. it is 'ok', but how the heck do you turn on the rear window defogger? 800 miles; I still don't know. Then again I haven't had a chance to just "look" at the stuff in the car(I'm at work now).
At slow speeds the brakes were far sharper than I had guessed they would be, as people say this is often a weak point. The clutch was much more on/off than cars I had driven recently, despite this I slipped the clutch far more than I would have liked at first. Some time later I tried power shifting and was greeted by the singing sound of gears grinding; I won't try that again.
The steering.. oh.. the steering.. Why do they make sports cars with power steering? What have they done... oh my.. what have they done!! This trip was my first in a manual steering sports car, and I was rewarded more than I could have imagined.. If you move the wheel a millimeter the car changes track, and it seems as though you can feel every irregularity in the road surface.. The feel of the wheel through turns; incomparable.
The suspension.. Firm, but not overly harsh.. I am biased toward sports cars I suppose, but the ride didn't feel "bumpy" in the least. The turnin feels delayed; not as crisp as I think it should be. I am not sure if this is a problem with my car or the NSX in general, but it should be noted.. At turn-in, a slight sense of "float" is felt.. As if the car is deciding what to do.. "left? oh you want to go LEFT.. yes.. ok, lets go" Once on track, the car feels perfect.. I have not pushed too hard in turns at this point, but the tires and suspension seem to hold the road further than my wits will take me.
This is when I noticed how the brakes are lacking.. Stopping from speed.. "Oh, you want to slow down? one second.. ok.. here we go".. The pedal is firm, and you do slow, but not the neck brake I expect for that much pedal pressure.. Different pads and fluid will be on order quite soon.
The motor... What an odd beast, I must say. It reminds me of Dr. Jeckal and Mr. Hyde.. If just putting around, shifting lazily, the car feels slow; I would say, a dog. Select the wrong gear, and you are greeted with a lot of intake noise and that is about it. "woof"
Select the right gear, and you had better make sure the car is pointed the right way, because it goes like a bat out of hell. A great sound of the intake sucking air, and the car rockets from 4,500 RPM to 8,000 RPM. First, second, third.. well, I stop there I haven't pushed fourth gear to redline, but it pulls quite hard when going from the top of third.. I expect the car would hit 140 before hitting any sort of "wall".
When accelerating with any sort of tight corners, the car scares me. My M3, I will toss at the limit without fear of losing control. This is partly because I have autocrossed my M3 quite a bit, and also because I've put 50,000 miles on that car. But more than that, the NSX is like a beast waiting to kill you. It is roaring at you, pulling you in two directions; just waiting for you to stop looking where you are going..
I look forward to bringing this car to the track, and to the autocross courses.. I know I won't be able to really push it until I have a lot of runoff room.. When I do, I'll be able to give a better account.. Until then, I'm just going to keep the shiny side up.
By the way.. After riding 13 hours in a Hyndai(not a bad little car), sleeping two hours, then turning around and riding 12 hours back in the NSX; I was sad to be home, and wanted to keep driving...
-Jeremy
PS: I am a bit sleep deprived, so if this doesn't make sense: tough
Saturday night I had a company party, then sunday I rented a car and left Boston for Bluefield West Virginia. Silly me, I left at 4pm for a 780 mile trip, and didn't get there until about 5am. After a short nap, and dealing with the formalities of buying the car, I was on my way. Noon, headed back to Boston.
It is a 1991, black/ivory, 5spd, with 39,000 miles..
This was my first time driving an NSX, and it was far different than I had guessed it would feel. My size 12 sneakers were rather annoyed to be jammed into the small footwell, but after a few miles(and learning how to adjust the steering wheel) it was perfectly comfortable.
The gear selector is quite nice; it feels much more precise than my M3's. the only fault I have with it is that it is difficult to tell when you are *not* in gear, but after some time that issue resolved itself. The controls in general are functional, and well placed, but they don't have the same quality feel as my M3.
By the way, I consider the E36 M3 the benchmark all other cars fail to meet!! Some are better here, or there, but not the total package
Getting in and out of the car took some adjustment because you descend into it rather than "sit down". I am accustomed to riding passenger in "low" cars, but the steering wheel obstructing my large legs and body took some getting used to. After getting in position the seats are perfectly comfortable, and after hours in the car my butt did *not* hurt in the least. My M3's seats kill my butt after 2 hours. However I did notice that in hard corners the seats seemed to "give" a little. I don't mean the cushion, but the seat itself seems to "bend". (ever so slightly). Also the 14 year old leather shows its age; probably not conditioned over the years.. Hard to fault the car itself for this though.
The radio. It sucks; period.
The climate control. it is 'ok', but how the heck do you turn on the rear window defogger? 800 miles; I still don't know. Then again I haven't had a chance to just "look" at the stuff in the car(I'm at work now).
At slow speeds the brakes were far sharper than I had guessed they would be, as people say this is often a weak point. The clutch was much more on/off than cars I had driven recently, despite this I slipped the clutch far more than I would have liked at first. Some time later I tried power shifting and was greeted by the singing sound of gears grinding; I won't try that again.
The steering.. oh.. the steering.. Why do they make sports cars with power steering? What have they done... oh my.. what have they done!! This trip was my first in a manual steering sports car, and I was rewarded more than I could have imagined.. If you move the wheel a millimeter the car changes track, and it seems as though you can feel every irregularity in the road surface.. The feel of the wheel through turns; incomparable.
The suspension.. Firm, but not overly harsh.. I am biased toward sports cars I suppose, but the ride didn't feel "bumpy" in the least. The turnin feels delayed; not as crisp as I think it should be. I am not sure if this is a problem with my car or the NSX in general, but it should be noted.. At turn-in, a slight sense of "float" is felt.. As if the car is deciding what to do.. "left? oh you want to go LEFT.. yes.. ok, lets go" Once on track, the car feels perfect.. I have not pushed too hard in turns at this point, but the tires and suspension seem to hold the road further than my wits will take me.
This is when I noticed how the brakes are lacking.. Stopping from speed.. "Oh, you want to slow down? one second.. ok.. here we go".. The pedal is firm, and you do slow, but not the neck brake I expect for that much pedal pressure.. Different pads and fluid will be on order quite soon.
The motor... What an odd beast, I must say. It reminds me of Dr. Jeckal and Mr. Hyde.. If just putting around, shifting lazily, the car feels slow; I would say, a dog. Select the wrong gear, and you are greeted with a lot of intake noise and that is about it. "woof"
Select the right gear, and you had better make sure the car is pointed the right way, because it goes like a bat out of hell. A great sound of the intake sucking air, and the car rockets from 4,500 RPM to 8,000 RPM. First, second, third.. well, I stop there
I haven't pushed fourth gear to redline, but it pulls quite hard when going from the top of third.. I expect the car would hit 140 before hitting any sort of "wall".When accelerating with any sort of tight corners, the car scares me. My M3, I will toss at the limit without fear of losing control. This is partly because I have autocrossed my M3 quite a bit, and also because I've put 50,000 miles on that car. But more than that, the NSX is like a beast waiting to kill you. It is roaring at you, pulling you in two directions; just waiting for you to stop looking where you are going..
I look forward to bringing this car to the track, and to the autocross courses.. I know I won't be able to really push it until I have a lot of runoff room.. When I do, I'll be able to give a better account.. Until then, I'm just going to keep the shiny side up.
By the way.. After riding 13 hours in a Hyndai(not a bad little car), sleeping two hours, then turning around and riding 12 hours back in the NSX; I was sad to be home, and wanted to keep driving...
-Jeremy
PS: I am a bit sleep deprived, so if this doesn't make sense: tough
