Juice - you're right on - take the current car off the market.
For some reason, the NSX has long been the black sheep at Honda. Over the past 15 years the mid-engine V8 Ferrari, Porsche 911 and Corvette have all gone through 3 complete generations while the NSX has hardly changed at all. Between 1991 and 2005, base Corvette HP increased from 245 to 400, with a 500 HP Z06 on the way this year. Ferrari HP increased by nearly 200, along with terrific innovations such as the F1 transmissions. And Mercedes, BMW, Audi and now Cadillac have all up-ed their offerings by huge leaps since 1991. Consider that the new M5 – with a 500+ HP V10, 8250 RPM redline and 7-speed F1-style transmission - is about the same price as the NSX.
But forget all of this; let’s look at Honda’s own products in comparison to the NSX. The S2000 revs higher and has a higher specific output. The TL, RSX and TSX have iVTEC (3-stage) whereas the NSX still uses the original 15-year old VTEC system. Many Honda products including the Odyssey minivan have available navigation systems, and the RL has Bluetooth and 5.1 surround sound. Why not fit these accessories to the NSX – a car that doesn’t even have an in-dash CD player? Perhaps most embarrassing of all is the 4-speed automatic transmission option that requires a de-tuned 252 HP engine. Good God. MB has an automatic that handles the 600+ HP of the CL/SL65. Honda’s automatics in the TL and RL are both 5-speeds and clearly handle more than 252 HP.
So why doesn’t Honda improve the NSX with the technology it already has in hand? The NSX is not Honda’s technology leader anymore – nor its HP leader. So it’s not even a matter of the NSX matching the competition when Honda won’t even give it its own best technology. In a couple of years, will the Odyssey outpower the NSX? The RL already has and the TL is pretty close.
It’s time (actually, its many years overdue) for Honda to retire the NSX from production – the market has practically done this already as Honda sells about 5 NSX’s a month as of late. Like a boxer that refuses to retire, it is now just a sad sight. The NSX was without a doubt the best sports car in the early 90’s. Honda needed to either retire then or improve. The NSX went from worlds best, to world-class, to contender, to unranked. I haven’t seen a recent article on the NSX that doesn’t use terms like “long in the tooth”, “underpowered”, “outgunned”, “worst HP/$ ratio of all cars on the market today”, etc. Again, like the boxer that stayed in the game too long, what should have been a great legacy is now tarnished.
The companies that are committed to their products usually also have commercial success. In the early 90’s, GM brass considered killing off the Corvette – it was losing money. The reason was simple – it was an inferior product and required significant investment to make competitive. Even GM, probably the dumbest auto maker on the planet in the 90’s, figured that out. Since it launched the C5, GM sells over 35,000 Corvettes per year. The C6 is already outselling the C5. With 35,000 units a year, the Corvette rings up about $1.5 billion in annual sales for GM – most likely at a premium profit margin. Ferrari F360 sales ring-up nearly $500,000 per year. Honda rings up maybe $25m per year in NSX sales – so of course it is a money loosing operation.
As for Honda leapfrogging the competition with the NSX-II in a few years time – I don’t see that as a realistic possibility. The competition already has a big lead in terms of engine, transmission, aerodynamics, brakes, stability control, etc. And there is no doubt that the C7, Fxxx, next-gen 911 are already under development.
I have two NSX’s in my garage; which I will likely keep for a long time to come. However, my next new sports car will be from a manufacturer committed to constantly improving their product. Loyalty goes two ways. Customers are highly loyal to a company like Ferrari because Ferrari is loyal to them – giving them products that require no excuses. Same with the Corvette and 911. Same with BMW, current styling not withstanding. And same with Honda for the millions that buy Accords and Odysseys.
It’s a great shame that, IMO, Honda has let us down – because I love the NSX formula. And it goes beyond improving the car. I don’t recall seeing Honda/Acura at NSXPO 04 – where they there, did they sponsor anything? How hard would have it been for Acura to bring the most loyal customers of its most expensive product some new RL’s, TL’s and RSX’s to test drive at NSXPO? Or even to put on display? Clearly, the NSX and us NSX owners aren’t very important, or so it seems. Can you image Ferrari not showing up at the national gathering of its Enzo owners?
As for Mr. Elliot's comments - he has been promising a new NSX since for a long time - I have clipped at least a dozens since 1998 that promise a new NSX is just 2 or 3 years away – a few with his quotes. I can post them if anyone is interested. Obviously, they have all gone unfulfilled.
It seems highly unlikely that a new NSX will to show up in less than 4 or 5 years. And in 4 or 5 years, will the market care, or will it be another commercial flop for Honda?
JMO. But let the flames begin.
