***STICKY*** Gen1 NSX Current Market Analysis

Just going by the BaT sales it looks like the Prices are climbing slowly.... looks like most are going from mid $40's to low $80's

Most recent NA1 coupes just went for $57k and $52K

https://bringatrailer.com/acura/nsx/


I'm thinking of selling mine on BaT soon.:confused:
 
qingcong said:
Do you have data on how long the NSX stays on the market before being sold?
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Along with location, this is one factor I do not track. While it could be useful as a factor in determining if an NSX is over or underpriced, keeping track of each NSX and when it sells would require too much effort for my manual entry process. When a price is reduced, I update both the date and the price with the objective of keeping an accurate listing price at the time of sale, whenever that may be.

Bram said:
Hey Racer,

A couple of data point to consider for Canadian Private Sales and BJ that I'm aware off.

Sold 2018 -
1991 NSX $104.000 Canadian with 7001 KM

Sold 2018 -
1996 NSX $90,000 Canadian with 32000 KM

Sold 2019
2001 NSX $99,000 USD with 52 000 KM...sold at Barrett Jackson


Bram
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Thanks Bram! I regularly check the auction house results and include their results in the database.

91 X said:
Just going by the BaT sales it looks like the Prices are climbing slowly.... looks like most are going from mid $40's to low $80's

Most recent NA1 coupes just went for $57k and $52K

https://bringatrailer.com/acura/nsx/


I'm thinking of selling mine on BaT soon.:confused:
Click to expand...

The state of the market in 2019 so far is "hotter" than 2018 for all NSX types, each common NSX type commanding a higher nominal value across the mileage range.
 
bullithollywood said:
97-05 NSXs slip to the bottom 25 of Haggerty Value Rating.

https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2019/06/11/cars-losing-steam-summer-2019
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I've always felt the original '91-'94 coupes will have their day, especially as they are now approaching 30 years old and therefore proper "classic" status in my opinion.

I find that the NA2s in general typically appeal to knowledgable NSX fans who have owned one or multiple NSX before, but not necessarily to the first-time NSX buyer who wants to experience the car that was so revered when new in the early '90s.

The latter group also tend to be collector types with Porsches, Ferraris, etc. in the garage and are willing to spend more money than those in the former group.

NA2 values are still generally higher than NA1 due to the sheer difference in production numbers, but the gap is closing.
 
Good points. For collectors wanting an "NSX" and the original Senna version it can be had for less in a NA1. The NA2s are pricing so high they're approaching costs for some modern super cars and the miniscule performance difference to be had from the 20hp and another gear just isn't worth the cost premium.
 
bullithollywood said:
Good points. For collectors wanting an "NSX" and the original Senna version it can be had for less in a NA1. The NA2s are pricing so high they're approaching costs for some modern super cars and the miniscule performance difference to be had from the 20hp and another gear just isn't worth the cost premium.
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It's not so much that the cost difference isn't worth it to them, it's that the collector types actually prefer the original coupes for the nostalgia factor of having the original article as it was released in 1991. I find that most of them are increasingly not really interested in buying an NA2, unless they specifically want a fixed-headlight car, although requests for those are also much lower than they were in 2016-2017 when I started trading in NSXs. Of course, NA2 still trade above NA1s, but the actual price differential in recent months is not as big as you might assume, aside from one-off auction sales for sub-10k mile fixed-headlight cars.

In general, the people who buy these cars with performance in mind are dwindling. Buyers today care less about the difference between 3.0 vs. 3.2 and 5-speed vs. 6-speed, and more about condition, history, colors, etc. This is generally what happens with all sports cars as they get to 25+ years old - it becomes more about the feeling they give the buyer, and less about the actual performance or value.
 
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As a final comment, my personal recommendation to buyers has always been to gravitate towards the original coupes, as I felt they were highly undervalued. I'm not sure if I had anything to do with it, but that gap has obviously now closed, and the early cars are valued correctly if not slightly high.

My recommendation to those currently in the market is to mark early cars as a "sell," and the NA2 cars as a "buy," assuming you can find an owner who doesn't think values are still the same as they were 2 years ago.
 
My data has shown a consistency between 1997-2001 NA2 Targa sale prices this year and last year (6 data points) and a general consistency between 2002-2005 NA2 sale prices this year and last year (4 data points). While this is a low amount of data, it is in contrast to the NA1 Coupes, which are selling at a notable increase in sale price across the mileage range this year (12 data points).
 
Sterling Sackey said:
All of us serious NSX enthusiasts know that the '95-'96 cars are the least desirable in terms of performance, so this speaks even further to the current trend amongst buyers to prefer earlier cars and history, condition, etc. over the NA2 "improvements" and rarity factor.
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I think those two examples indicate that buyers who do their homework won't see much performance difference from a 95/96 to other NA1s because there's no objective data to support it, actually just the opposite. Its a given early coupes are a purer driving experience, sans assisted steering and a targas reduced rigidity that affected all later cars but the 95/96 years did have a lot of improvements from earlier NA1s.
 
bullithollywood said:
I think those two examples indicate that buyers who do their homework won't see much performance difference from a 95/96 to other NA1s because there's no objective data to support it, actually just the opposite. Its a given early coupes are a purer driving experience, sans assisted steering and a targas reduced rigidity that affected all later cars but the 95/96 years did have a lot of improvements from earlier NA1s.
Click to expand...

OBD2 means I can plug a code reader in and it talks to me...much better than the mcgrubber paper clip dangling wire deal....:tongue:
 
bullithollywood said:
I think those two examples indicate that buyers who do their homework won't see much performance difference from a 95/96 to other NA1s because there's no objective data to support it, actually just the opposite. Its a given early coupes are a purer driving experience, sans assisted steering and a targas reduced rigidity that affected all later cars but the 95/96 years did have a lot of improvements from earlier NA1s.
Click to expand...

Sorry to sound so harsh on the '95-'96, not my intention as they are all great cars, just using the general consensus amongst most neutral parties to make my point.
 
RacerXwing said:
My data has shown a consistency between 1997-2001 NA2 Targa sale prices this year and last year (6 data points) and a general consistency between 2002-2005 NA2 sale prices this year and last year (4 data points). While this is a low amount of data, it is in contrast to the NA1 Coupes, which are selling at a notable increase in sale price across the mileage range this year (12 data points).
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Makes total sense. On the NA2 front, it seems like there are less buyers in the mix, but simultaneously less sellers which compensates for that.
 
"NA1 Targas are the least desirable" Analysis

I've seen this sentiment frequently echoed here and on BaT alike. The hypothesis is that the NA1 Targa is the least desirable NSX type (with manual transmission), due to its higher weight, loss of manual steering and throttle cable, and decreased rigidity while lacking the NA2 Powertrain improvements. I'll use sale prices of stock, clean-title examples as a surrogate for desirability. Thus, the hypothesis is that NA1 Targa manuals will sell for lower prices than the NA1 Coupe manuals across the mileage range.

Let's find out. Rather than an extensive statistical analysis, I chose to think visual and prepared a gif graph that shows stock, clean title sales in each year since 2010, NA1 Targa vs. NA1 Coupe. The trendlines of each data set are logarithmic and can be used for comparison.

NA1TvsNA1C.gif

The conclusions are:
  • Both types of NSXs have increased significantly since 2010. This is unsurprising.
  • Except for 2017, where the Targa and Coupe are nearly right on top of each other, the Targa is consistently selling for higher prices across the mileage range than the Coupe.
    • In some years, the sale prices are closer than in others
    • In 2019 so far, a value surge from the NA1 Coupe closes the gap at low miles. This is due to the sale of 2 sub 3k-miles Coupes and there have been no corresponding Targa sales at that low of mileage, so I hesitate to draw a conclusion on 2019. In addition to the fact that the year is not over yet, of course.
  • The hypothesis that NA1 Targa manuals will sell for lower prices than the NA1 Coupe manuals across the mileage range is rejected
  • The hypothesis that NA1 Targa manuals are the least desired manual NSX is rejected

For a pure enthusiast, this makes the NA1 Coupe all the more better of a buy. Less expensive than the Targa and a superior enthusiast vehicle for the reasons I initially listed. However, perhaps more buyers place a greater value on the ability to remove their roof.
 
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In my 20 year nsx experience I’ve observed autos appear to be in the range of 10-20k less in value. Let’s see what the charts say. Maybe my experience will be rejected.
 
The market seems to be cooling off for the higher mileage ones.....

A clean well maintained red on black 1991 with 101k miles 5 speed just sold for $38,000 on BaT yesterday... I was surprised it went so low.

But a yellow 2003 with 22k miles is already at $83,500 with 30 minutes to go.
 
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It seems like some more interest is swinging back to the '02+ cars lately. They had gone a bit quiet for a while, with very high asking prices but not too many sales. I have multiple parties looking, which I couldn't say 6 months ago.
 
The 2003 yellow with 22k miles just sold for $93,000 on BaT

I was expecting more.....
 
91 X said:
The 2003 yellow with 22k miles just sold for $93,000 on BaT

I was expecting more.....
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Serious paintwork, and there's more to learn about that particular car for those who take the time to do the digging. There is a reason it sat unsold at a dealer previously for many months.
 
Sterling Sackey said:
It seems like some more interest is swinging back to the '02+ cars lately. They had gone a bit quiet for a while, with very high asking prices but not too many sales. I have multiple parties looking, which I couldn't say 6 months ago.
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I've owned NA1 / NA2 and have an 02+ NSX now. Of the three cars, I do like what my 2004 offers. I think Honda did well with their tweaking over the years. The interior, OEM keyless remotes, and headlight/tail lights (especially the headlights being so bright compared to older models) impressed me. Of course, earlier NSXs can have these features modded, but I'm in the camp that likes to keep a car stock. Not surprised that buyers are looking for them (and of course there are fewer used models to find on the market).
 

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