NSX test drive from a prospective owner

[Zygrene]

Hi all,

I won't say too much here, as my post on the s2ki forum explains my situation. Please read it to understand what this post is all about.

Because of that post, s2ki member HGL1668 (Hugo) reached out to me with an offer to test drive his NSX. He is a former 2007 S2000 owner. I'm sure he's on the forums here as well, but I'm not sure of his member name. This was a very important moment for me, since I've only had very brief test drives of two 1991 models (one was poorly modded, and one bone stock). Driving Hugo's tastefully modded 1992 gave me a good impression of how well-sorted an NA1 can feel when the major upgrades (suspension, wheels/tires, shorter gear ratios, full exhaust, weight reduction) have been completed.

Here's the video link for the drive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoqUluKuY10

Many thanks to Hugo for letting me drive his car. I've never been more sure that an NSX will be the car to eventually replace my S2000. :biggrin:

 

[mcano]

Yea for Hugo for being such a nice guy!

 

[RobM]

You can't say enough about how nice people from prime are. I've been driving an S2000 since I got it new in 05. For the last year I've been seriously looking for an NSX. Three or four months ago I took 3 days off work and drove all over the midwest to look at several NSX's. The one thing that never occurred to me was that owners would be so reluctant to let me test drive cars.

The first I looked at was a supercharged one at a Porsche dealer in Cleveland. Just as I showed up it started snowing lightly so they didn't want me to drive the car, which was fine because I wasn't going to buy it, it wasn't exactly what I wanted. Next day I was in eastern PA to look at a beautiful NFR 98 in perfect condition. There was still too much salt on the roads so the owner wouldn't let me drive it, except slow around the parking lot. Next day was Milwaukee for an NFR 95. He actually let me drive it, but only slowly through a subdivision. The last day was a yellow 97 in Indiana and it was a dealer so he was happy to let me drive it, except it was pouring so it was a very slow and easy test drive.

I'm not blaming the owners, I completely understand how the owners feel, I was a stranger and wasn't standing there with 40/50k in my hand so I'm not sure how I would have felt if it was my car, but after 3 days I still had no idea if I really fit into an NSX or would really enjoy driving one. How are you supposed to really figure it out if you can't drive one?

Fast forward a month or so and I'm at the Spring Rock the Dragon with 175 other S2000's and I'm sitting on the patio at Killboyzs with Phil from prime who has a beautiful yellow 02 NSX and we're talking cars and S2000's and NSX's and he says "take mine for a ride". I wanted to so bad but was so worried about doing something stupid it took him a few minutes to talk me into it.

I got to drive it from Deal's gap down to the bridge on the way to Fontana village (very slowly and carefully) then we stopped and switched drivers and he showed me just how fun it is when driven hard. By the time we got back I had a smile plastered on my face and a couple of knots on the back of my head. If you're 6-1 and the top is off and you're sitting up too straight you smack the back of your head if somebody shifts too fast.

Anyway, long story short, thanks so much to Phil for letting me drive his car, that convinced me more than any of the test drives I had taken to that point.

 

[MrHugo]

Hi all,

I won't say too much here, as my post on the s2ki forum explains my situation. Please read it to understand what this post is all about.
......................
Many thanks to Hugo for letting me drive his car. I've never been more sure that an NSX will be the car to eventually replace my S2000. :biggrin:

Fenton, it was my pleasure to share my experience with another car enthusiast like you. I hope you luck it finding a car/or NSX you like.

On the test drive, you did not want to take any risk of crashing the car, which I appreciate, thus, one thing that I should have done was me driving the car while you sit in passenger so you can get a feel of what the car is like driven spiritedly.

Yea for Hugo for being such a nice guy!

It is people like you, Mario, that augments my desire to help others and the NSX community. It is fun and contagious.

 

[Zygrene]

Fenton, it was my pleasure to share my experience with another car enthusiast like you. I hope you luck it finding a car/or NSX you like.

On the test drive, you did not want to take any risk of crashing the car, which I appreciate, thus, one thing that I should have done was me driving the car while you sit in passenger so you can get a feel of what the car is like driven spiritedly.



It is people like you, Mario, that augments my desire to help others and the NSX community. It is fun and contagious.

Yes, ideally I would have liked to do a short drive through the canyons, but I didn't see any good roads near Cerritos on the map. It would have been fun to ride shotgun while you drove it harder. Maybe next time... :tongue:

Nonetheless, thanks again for the amazing experience. At least now I have a goal to buy an NSX before I'm 30. In the meantime I will keep enjoying my S2000.

 

[bja72774]

Pretty cool, nice video...Im on the lookout too. Seems like you guys have a pretty cool community network here.

 

[orangenblack]

Great video- very informative! I noticed Hugo mentioned TCS and ABS were turned off because (I am assuming) the ABS is obsolete and TCS kicks in with larger wheel sizes? Does this mean no rainy day commuting? =/

 

[Zygrene]

Great video- very informative! I noticed Hugo mentioned TCS and ABS were turned off because (I am assuming) the ABS is obsolete and TCS kicks in with larger wheel sizes? Does this mean no rainy day commuting? =/

Yes, Hugo mentioned the ABS system on the NA1 is old and doesn't work very well, while the TCS kicks in when it's not supposed to due to the larger wheels.

Also, I sold my S2000 today. I got an offer I simply couldn't pass up. I essentially drove the car for free for over 2 years, excluding the cost of consumables.

I am getting a 1991 NSX (the bone stock one I drove 3 weeks ago) inspected this week, and if all goes well, I'll have it by Independence Day!

 

[B2FiNiTY]

Great video. Thanks for sharing. I couldn't help but watch it all the way through.

 

[Hass]

Awesome video! Very nice of Hugo to reach out to you and offer you to drive his nsx, it says a lot about a person.

Makes me want to go for a drive!

 

[Zygrene]

Great video. Thanks for sharing. I couldn't help but watch it all the way through.

Awesome video! Very nice of Hugo to reach out to you and offer you to drive his nsx, it says a lot about a person.

Makes me want to go for a drive!

Thanks! Yes, my experience driving Hugo's car really pushed me over the edge to buy an NSX. First thing I'll do after (hopefully) getting mine this week is do a first impressions video and post it here.