As others have stated, great article! I enjoy reading about anything NSX and was pleased to learn a new tidbit or two!
NSX Article on Autoblog
- Thread starter SW2 Heritage Cars
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Just saw your article on Yahoo. Great job and it looks like you are going to get a lot more eyeballs.
Enjoyed reading it a lot.
SW2 Heritage Cars
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Thanks!
Interesting, I looked just now but couldn't find it. Good to hear though!
Nicely written article. I can't wait to own one of these amazing machines.
Great article.. Thanks!
Very well written Sterling, you are obviously one of the people who truly appreciate what this car is, and its historical significance.
I didn't see the reference to TB/WP service, was that in the Comments section and perhaps since removed?
Regardless, well done !
Brian
I didn't see the reference to TB/WP service, was that in the Comments section and perhaps since removed?
Regardless, well done !
Brian
SW2 Heritage Cars
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Worth the wait!
Thank you!
I removed the approx. 10-word aside about the timing belt, it was creating a distraction from the purpose of the article: the development & engineering history behind the original NSX. I appreciate your compliments, someone has to champion the cause of this icon.
No, it was a promotional hardcover book given to prospective buyers. I have two copies. There is another, much more rare hardcover book that was given to buyers of USA 1991 NSXs. I'm looking for one of those if anybody has one.
Very enjoyable and well written article .. as others have said. However, most of the comparisons that you and others make are generally about performance (eg. engine, chassis, etc), design (eg. timeless, low cowl, visibility, etc), and innovation (eg. ABS, aluminum body, VTEC, etc) .. with an implied (but rarely detailed) comment about reliability. As an owner of a '91 with 200k miles (110k I've put on myself), I think there are a number of other things that aren't understood or often discussed that help explain how good this car really is.
Some of these pertain to how easy the car is to live with as evidenced by the large number on Prime who use the car as their daily driver. You mentioned the seat design but rarely does the comfort come up in discussion. I used to regularly do 6 hr highway runs without becoming a cripple and a couple of times, I've done 24+ hr marathons. This is even more remarkable when you consider the seat only has 2 adjustments.
Another benefit of the car's thicker aluminum body is that after 25 years, I have very few marks, no door dings, and no rust. It's no garage queen and has a lot of highway miles, but most people can't believe it's 25 years old with 200k miles. This is even more remarkable when you understand that probably 25-30k of those miles were done in the Great White North on snow, ice, slush, salt, traction sand, etc.
Reliability is one of those things that are hard to evaluate and appreciate but because Honda makes a range of high volume, lower cost vehicles, they tend to make parts all with the same requirements and design ethos .. unlike Ferraris, Lambos, or even Porsches. This isn't just about failure rates .. it's also about design criteria. Even though my car was designed and manufactured in Japan for the US market, it could just as easily been designed/manufactured for Canada. The reason I know this is that it has started multiple times at -40F; has been driven for hours in those temperatures; and the heater works just as well as any other Canadian car I've owned. And fitted with winter tires, the traction has been equal to or better than every car I've driven in the past 50 years. I've been in snow deep enough to be levelling it but have never been stuck. And I can't really point to anything that has failed because of those conditions (other than the Alpine CD player in the trunk which eventually quit working). Even the CV joints have held up in those conditions .. but they're probably made to the same standards as most Hondas.
And when I need service, I don't have to drive mega miles to find an exotic dealer .. my local Acura dealer can do it. And they don't charge me hundreds and hundreds of dollars for a simple oil change. And the major service interval is 7 or 9 years/80k miles not every year or two. And the first owner got 80k miles on his first clutch; I got 110k on mine (although granted, a lot were highway miles). The clutch master/slave was good for 195k miles. And I know gas mileage isn't a high point of exotics but most US normally aspirated owners get high 20's on highway cruise; I've often gotten mid 30's in Canada (larger gallon).
And who would have thought that Honda would engineer the car to tolerate racing conditions. Many owners track their cars at NSXPO events and on weekends. The only 'race prep' my car has is slotted rotors and upgraded pads but in 2010, my 25 year old son and I shared my car in back to back track sessions at SMMR west of Vegas and beat on it for a combined 10 hours of 'on track' time over a weekend .. and then drove it about 2000 miles back home. We're not budding Ayrton Sennas but we have both raced competition go-karts so this wasn't novice track speeds. The only casualty was a new set of pads when we got home. Not to suggest that other exotic owners don't track their cars but not likely such a high percentage.
So, the points you made were good ones .. but I hope some of my largely unknown examples further help you understand how truly great this car is.
Some of these pertain to how easy the car is to live with as evidenced by the large number on Prime who use the car as their daily driver. You mentioned the seat design but rarely does the comfort come up in discussion. I used to regularly do 6 hr highway runs without becoming a cripple and a couple of times, I've done 24+ hr marathons. This is even more remarkable when you consider the seat only has 2 adjustments.
Another benefit of the car's thicker aluminum body is that after 25 years, I have very few marks, no door dings, and no rust. It's no garage queen and has a lot of highway miles, but most people can't believe it's 25 years old with 200k miles. This is even more remarkable when you understand that probably 25-30k of those miles were done in the Great White North on snow, ice, slush, salt, traction sand, etc.
Reliability is one of those things that are hard to evaluate and appreciate but because Honda makes a range of high volume, lower cost vehicles, they tend to make parts all with the same requirements and design ethos .. unlike Ferraris, Lambos, or even Porsches. This isn't just about failure rates .. it's also about design criteria. Even though my car was designed and manufactured in Japan for the US market, it could just as easily been designed/manufactured for Canada. The reason I know this is that it has started multiple times at -40F; has been driven for hours in those temperatures; and the heater works just as well as any other Canadian car I've owned. And fitted with winter tires, the traction has been equal to or better than every car I've driven in the past 50 years. I've been in snow deep enough to be levelling it but have never been stuck. And I can't really point to anything that has failed because of those conditions (other than the Alpine CD player in the trunk which eventually quit working). Even the CV joints have held up in those conditions .. but they're probably made to the same standards as most Hondas.
And when I need service, I don't have to drive mega miles to find an exotic dealer .. my local Acura dealer can do it. And they don't charge me hundreds and hundreds of dollars for a simple oil change. And the major service interval is 7 or 9 years/80k miles not every year or two. And the first owner got 80k miles on his first clutch; I got 110k on mine (although granted, a lot were highway miles). The clutch master/slave was good for 195k miles. And I know gas mileage isn't a high point of exotics but most US normally aspirated owners get high 20's on highway cruise; I've often gotten mid 30's in Canada (larger gallon).
And who would have thought that Honda would engineer the car to tolerate racing conditions. Many owners track their cars at NSXPO events and on weekends. The only 'race prep' my car has is slotted rotors and upgraded pads but in 2010, my 25 year old son and I shared my car in back to back track sessions at SMMR west of Vegas and beat on it for a combined 10 hours of 'on track' time over a weekend .. and then drove it about 2000 miles back home. We're not budding Ayrton Sennas but we have both raced competition go-karts so this wasn't novice track speeds. The only casualty was a new set of pads when we got home. Not to suggest that other exotic owners don't track their cars but not likely such a high percentage.
So, the points you made were good ones .. but I hope some of my largely unknown examples further help you understand how truly great this car is.
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I've written a piece on the development & engineering behind the original NSX on Autoblog, thought you guys might enjoy.
http://www.autoblog.com/2016/09/28/the-original-acura-nsx-development-history-and-driving-the-icon/
Seriously, this article has the best photos I've ever seen in an article. They could convince me to have sought a red one in place of my GPW. Did you take them?
SW2 Heritage Cars
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Please, some lessons on technique and editing? If you tell me you used an iPhone 6 and just hiked up the LUX a la instragram, then maybe it's time I upgrade my 5s. 
Just read this for the first time. Great article.
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