NSX sequel decided: 6 cylinders

[NSX-Racer]

Germans biggest car mag "auto, motor & sport" reports that Honda finally decided to develop a NSX sequel. It will have a 6 cyl engine - not 8 or 10 as most of you had on the wishlist. That resembles to my thoughts in another thread that Honda will keep the lightweight-, light engine idea. Not to mention the 280 hp limit for the japanese market - or do you know a japanese car that has more than 280 official hp?

 

[NSX/MR2]

I love the car, either way: 6,8, or 10 cylinders.

 

[CHOICE]

As much as we love the current NSX, there's no way it will survive in the US/european market with under 400hp. Looks like I will have to look forward to the Basch boost for the current one.

 

[Animate]

NSX-Racer: This is encouraging. Coming from a mainstream publication should lend a bit more credibility to the report...

With regard to the light weight philosophy: I saw a Caterham 7 compete in an autocross recently. I don't know the exact numbers for that car but it was approximately 1300 lbs & 220 hp. It accelerated like a rocket sled! Now I know a production GT car couldn't get anywhere near that weight, but it was a great example of the benefits of light weight.

 

[Juice]

A bad sign indeed. If the NSX isn't looking to compete against the Ferraris, than it is going the way of the 350Z. Just read the Supra is heading the same route. Looks like my next Honda might be an Asimo.

 

[Tony Montoya]

Honda's decision to continue with a 6 cylinder engine in a light weight NSX is very good news in my opinion. The car is a joy to drive around corners and I don't care at all about the top speed or the 1/4 mile time.

Maybe I should get a go-cart?

 

[gheba_nsx]

It should better have 700ps...

 

[generation2]

Honda's decision to continue with a 6 cylinder engine in a light weight NSX is very good news in my opinion. The car is a joy to drive around corners and I don't care at all about the top speed or the 1/4 mile time.

Maybe I should get a go-cart?

Very good Opinion! Because a V-8 or even try to make it 3.5L will make the car un-balance. One of the NSX designer have talk about this issue in the 2002 August Best Motoring video.

 

[generation2]

A bad sign indeed. If the NSX isn't looking to compete against the Ferraris, than it is going the way of the 350Z. Just read the Supra is heading the same route. Looks like my next Honda might be an Asimo.

??? NSX could compete w/ the Ferraris, but which model are we talking about? 350Z is nothing compare to NSX!

 

[The REAL nsxtasy]

No offense to either NSX-Racer or auto, motor & sport, but I am taking this report with a grain of salt. We have heard so many contradictory reports about the next-gen NSX - V6, V8, hybrid, conventional, supercharged, NA, $55K, $143K, steel, aluminum, cancelled, etc - that I am not putting much faith in anything I hear about it, until it comes in the form of a press release from Honda.

 

[NetViper]

Put it this way. If the next gen NSX comes out with a V6 and 280ps... it will fail.

 

[Zuerst]

Germans biggest car mag "auto, motor & sport" reports that Honda finally decided to develop a NSX sequel. It will have a 6 cyl engine - not 8 or 10 as most of you had on the wishlist. That resembles to my thoughts in another thread that Honda will keep the lightweight-, light engine idea. Not to mention the 280 hp limit for the japanese market - or do you know a japanese car that has more than 280 official hp?

Infinite M45 or something like that have well over 300HP. V6, V8, V10, or even V12 doesn't really matter to me as long as it performs. I mean I wouldn't mind a V6 3.5L that pumps out 420HP at 120HP per liter like the S2000 in an aluminum or maybe a carbon fiber chassis that brings the total weight of the car to maybe 2800lb or less.

 

[NetViper]

If it has 420HP and weighs 2800 lbs... it will suceed.

 

[mlambert890]

The HP isn't an issue in and of itself, but the performance really has to be there.

If a new NSX can't hang with the existing Viper and Corvette Z06, Honda should really not bother. A "redesign" that keeps power the same and just drops weight? That's just an NSX-R; it's not nearly enough.

I really hope this rumor is false. I'd rather see them just end of life the car than do this. There would be completely no point in a redesign that is basically nothing more than cosmetic; they already did that trick in 2002.

For the people that think this announcement is great news... Are you actually going to pay $90 grand for a "go kart" that will fall mid pack in tests against cars that range from 10-60 thousand less and has to trade purely on subjective feel and appearance?

 

[Russ]

If it's a 3.5L V6 with a 12,000 RPM redline... that would be pretty cool.

 

[Cambo]

My theory is that Honda will bring out a successor to the current NSX. My only reasoning for this is that there is no other reason I can think of as to why they would keep producing the current model for so long... or why they would perform a 'refresh' so late in the car's model run...

Any thoughts?

 

[NeoNSX]

Put it this way. If the next gen NSX comes out with a V6 and 280ps... it will fail.

I am inclined to agree with NetViper here.

The NSX2 has to have figures that speak for themselves; not honda-fans speaking for the car to justify it.

 

[mlambert890]

I am inclined to agree with NetViper here.

The NSX2 has to have figures that speak for themselves; not honda-fans speaking for the car to justify it.

That's right on the money... 290 hp and a pretty light car is what we have today and it's selling barely 200 units a year. Shaving off a couple of hundred pounds isn't going to be enough.

 

[MvM]

Not that I'm saying anything new here but...
I do not really care if the next-gen NSX has 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, or 16 cilinders. Nor do I care much about the total displacement of the engine. What matters is how the car will perform.

I still surprise people if I tell them my NSX has 'only' a 3-liter engine. There are many smaller/cheaper cars nowadays which have a bigger engine, usually a 3.2 liter, like the Alfa Romeo 156 and 147 GTA, the Opel Vectra 3.2, the Volkswagen Golf R32 but none of them hs more than 250HP. Nor can they match the NSX-performance. So, in that respect, my 13-year old 'old' NSX-engine-design still outperform those newer engines.

So, if the next-gen NSX would have a 3.2-3.6 liter engine with something like 400-420HP it would be OK with me. After all, the Porsche 911 also only has a 3.6-liter engine and is doing fine.
As long as Honda will maintain the idea of a well-balanced car with relatively low weight than HP-output would be enough to be competitive. As long as the next-gen NSX can have anything like 3.5-4.2 HP/kg the car will do fine.

Personally, I would like the new NSX be a modified current one to make sure it's an obvious development from the current model rather than a completely new design. Just like Porsche has always done with their 911.

 

[gheba_nsx]

And the NSX costs a lot less than the GTA or the R32!

 

[NeoNSX]

is it a possible theory that Honda might say the specs are 300BHP but the engine actually delivers much more??? Wasn't there another Japanese car that did this recently?

This would keep the "gentleman's agreement" but also keep the boys happy too.

 

[NSX-Racer]

Another possibility: Honda makes two versions - one for the foreign market with full power and another for the japanese market where the power is limited by another ECU. We have that method already: Remember that the cars for Japan are electronicaly limited to a top speed of 180 km/h and there are also different ECUs (sometimes also exhausts) for different foreign markets due to noise and pollution limits.

If they get the same power/displacement relation as in the S 2000 out of a 3.2 l V6 engine the next NSX would have 384 hp - not bad, isn't it?

Anyway - expect a concept car on the Honda stand at the Frankfurt car fair IAA in autumn.

 

[PorknBeanz]

My theory is that Honda will bring out a successor to the current NSX. My only reasoning for this is that there is no other reason I can think of as to why they would keep producing the current model for so long... or why they would perform a 'refresh' so late in the car's model run...

Any thoughts?

Manufacturers will often do small cosmetic work or introduce a special limited edition just before the end of a car's life, or before a complete redesign. The manufacturers don't know how much of the secret stuff on a redesign will leak out into the public. If the public knows that next years model is going to have double the horsepower, look nicer, and be half the price, no one will buy this years model. So, they put lipstick on the old pig. The same logic applies when a model is at the end of its life. Remember the 2002 special edition Camaro and Firebird. There is no 2003 Camaro or Firebird.

Honda has to do something. Either kill it or major redesign. Honda, as a company looks at the NSX as a good financial decision or more of an emotional thing, where the NSX improves peoples perception of Honda engineering.

Financially, I don't think you can make 500 cars a year, discount them down to $75,000, and make a profit. On the emotional level, within two or three more years the current NSX will be a dinosaur. Very well-balanced and pretty, but still a dinosaur. Honda won't be able to point to it (like they did in 1991) and say that it is the pinnacle of Honda engineering. At that point, there will be no reason for the current NSX to exist. Just my opinion.

 

[Animate]

..... At that point, there will be no reason for the current NSX to exist. Just my opinion.

At which point you can park that beautiful T of yours in my driveway

 

[Juice]

Everybody keeps saying, "it's OK to have 6 cylinders as long as it produces 'X'." It seems that some people are not realizing what this thread is about. Cylinders, displacement, and weight mean nothing when you are only working with 280 hp.

We already have this car. We have low weight. We have 6 cylinders. We have 280 hp. Actually I'm willing to bet a lot of us have a hell of a lot more. I'm not going to buy another NSX that under performs the '91 I already have!

That was my point with the 350Z and Supra. They are remarketing these cars in a lower budget, everyone can get it sports car market. Honda was very upset that their little NSX makeover didn't go that well. Sales still mean a lot to Honda because of their smaller size. I don't know what the future for the NSX is, but from what I am reading above it might mean we will be seeing a high volume sports car rather than a low volume super car.