Test Drives Available at the Transportation Research Center

[neuronbob]

I did my test drive and had a surprise visit to the PMC today. No pics of the drive event itself due to restrictions at the Transportation Research Center. I’m sorting thoughts for a full review of the experience and of the car. Meanwhile, I posted a few pics under my username (same as here) on Instagram.

Suffice to say, the car is fracking amazing, and misunderstood. Love it! Now my new car lust has been kicked up, and sooner than I wanted. PMC workers should be proud of what they do. Still not paying MSRP though...

Acura is going all out at these events to wine and dine you into a new NSX.

 

[Bricks and Bio]

I am glad you were able to participate.

Did they have a pro driver for hot laps?

 

[neuronbob]

I am glad you were able to participate.

Did they have a pro driver for hot laps?

Not at my session. The idea is to get prospects into the car, though, so kinda not a surprise.

 

[powdbyrice]

Good to hear you had fun!

Its a different experience on the track and with an Acura rep pointing out the finer details.

 

[buckeyensx]

I just got home from my test drive of the new NSX at the TRC. I also attended the 2014 NSXPO when we also spent time at the TRC. Today we got to experience the car in four separate situations. 1) Standing start 1/4 mile runs with and without launch control. 2) Tight road course through cones in a large open area. 3) High speed oval track. 4) Road course that was also used during the 2014 NSXPO. A professional driver was in the passenger seat the whole time giving me instructions. He was very helpful on the road course helping me pick the best line through the track, when to brake, when to accelerate, etc.. This was a much more intense experience than 2014. The car was very stable and drama free at 140+mph on the oval. I was allowed to hammer the car as aggressively as I chose to. I probably got a dozen laps on the road course alone. The Acura folks were awesome. Walking away from the event makes me want one even more. It was a very good day!

 

[powdbyrice]

i'm jealous that you got to drive the high speed oval.

during our training, they kept us on the short road course. we only got 2 laps too.

 

[Bricks and Bio]

I just got home from my test drive of the new NSX at the TRC. I also attended the 2014 NSXPO when we also spent time at the TRC. Today we got to experience the car in four separate situations. 1) Standing start 1/4 mile runs with and without launch control. 2) Tight road course through cones in a large open area. 3) High speed oval track. 4) Road course that was also used during the 2014 NSXPO. A professional driver was in the passenger seat the whole time giving me instructions. He was very helpful on the road course helping me pick the best line through the track, when to brake, when to accelerate, etc.. This was a much more intense experience than 2014. The car was very stable and drama free at 140+mph on the oval. I was allowed to hammer the car as aggressively as I chose to. I probably got a dozen laps on the road course alone. The Acura folks were awesome. Walking away from the event makes me want one even more. It was a very good day!

Thanks for outlining what you were able to do.

Do you have a sense regarding how many folks they put in the cars per day?

 

[buckeyensx]

There were 8 cars/drivers in my group. They scheduled groups in 2 hours sessions all day Saturday and Sunday. I am not sure how many groups each day but I would guess 4-5. When we walked out of the welcome center, 8 cars were sitting there and we were told to get into whichever car we wanted, just pick a color. The high speed oval was cool but very drama free and stable. Much more confidence inspiring than I remember in 2014 with my first gen. I was doing about 145 like it was nothing. The road course at the end was the best. I was permitted to drive as aggressively as I wanted and I took full advantage of the opportunity. Most of the other participants had already quit and I had the whole track to myself for several laps.

 

[neuronbob]

It was the same for my group. Two groups of four each for the driving to avoid congestion on the courses. Just a few details to add to bubbadog's above.

My group did the high-speed oval first. "Keep it to 85 or so on the wall". Um, OK....I was 95-100 mph on the wall, more stable for me at that speed. Never driven on a banked oval, so bucket list item checked. I was allowed to floor it to a max of 125 mph....OK, I did 130 but wow is the car stable at that speed.

Next was the road course. I didn't know it'd been used for NSXPO in the past. I slid the car (controllably) in a couple of turns! Cool....

Next was acceleration/deceleration. First an accel without launch control followed by a full ABS stop (PS um, the brakes work really well, I almost had to peel my face off the windscreen), then an accel with launch control (my exact line in the car was "holy fscking s**t!") followed by full ABS stop again.

Last was an autocross track, where I could feel the handling without as much speed.

After all were done, we had a meet and greet session with workers from PMC, who explained various features of the car, how it was manufactured, why the A-pillar was designed thusly (and why we likely won't get a targa version--my inference), etc. An extra treat was that in the same room were a 130R White new NSX, an NSX cutaway, and Zanardi #41 (ahh, Zanardi....)

Last, we were bussed over to the PMC to see the receiving area and the factory floor. I have pics of that on my Instagram (again, same user name as here) if you want to see my pics.

There was a reception Saturday night, but I could not attend as I had other business to attend to.

One couple had flown in from NJ, another drove from Nashville, others from other areas of the Midwest. One guy was local (Columbus) and had motorcycled over. One person in the group before me had driven his Ferrari California over. None were new NSX owners and so far as I could tell, I was the only gen 1 NSX owner, and of course I drove mine there. It had fingerprints on it when I collected it.....goes to show you that the gen 1 is appreciated still.

I'm likely going to pull the trigger sometime next year. We'll see....

 

[Bricks and Bio]

Thanks for sharing Bubba and Bob

You folks got to really let the car show it's capabilities short of having Lewis Hamilton be the hot lap driver.

From what the NSX Specialist said in the past, the test drives out West led to sales. Honda is getting more folks seat time and hopefully I can get some more Gen 2 NSX company on the road.

Quoting Bubbadog here "I was doing about 145 like it was nothing." That is why I say the car is really overbuilt. I have done some zippy runs on the highway and the car is like, this is easy. In contrast my S2000 was like, I will do this but I don't like it.

 

[buckeyensx]

Thanks for sharing Bubba and Bob

You folks got to really let the car show it's capabilities short of having Lewis Hamilton be the hot lap driver.

From what the NSX Specialist said in the past, the test drives out West led to sales. Honda is getting more folks seat time and hopefully I can get some more Gen 2 NSX company on the road.

Quoting Bubbadog here "I was doing about 145 like it was nothing." That is why I say the car is really overbuilt. I have done some zippy runs on the highway and the car is like, this is easy. In contrast my S2000 was like, I will do this but I don't like it.

The car was so stable on the banked oval my instructor encouraged me to take my hands off the wheel while doing about 135mph. I did for about 4-5 seconds and absolutely nothing happened. The car tracked around the bank like it was on autopilot. On the road course, I treated it like a rental with full coverage, no fault, zero deductible insurance. This car really needs to be experienced on a track.

 

[neuronbob]

If this car had a Ferrari badge on it, it'd be selling like hotcakes. It'd also have a non-manual steering wheel adjustment....but that's JMO. The drive, though, was f'ing insane. People who don't like this car haven't flogged it like I was able to.

 

[powdbyrice]

If this car had a Ferrari badge on it, it'd be selling like hotcakes. It'd also have a non-manual steering wheel adjustment....but that's JMO. The drive, though, was f'ing insane. People who don't like this car haven't flogged it like I was able to.

like most hondas/acuras, the hard you drive them, the better they are.

 

[thedon67]

It was a great event but Neuronbob got one detail wrong, we drove from NJ

Amazing car. The one I drove was the car that the press has beating on. Car had over 20k miles and still looked and felt like it just came off the factory floor.

What was also cool was Saturday night's reception. Great food, music and company. Many thanks to our hosts John Watts and Robyn Johnson who made it a very memorable weekend!

It was the same for my group. Two groups of four each for the driving to avoid congestion on the courses. Just a few details to add to bubbadog's above.

My group did the high-speed oval first. "Keep it to 85 or so on the wall". Um, OK....I was 95-100 mph on the wall, more stable for me at that speed. Never driven on a banked oval, so bucket list item checked. I was allowed to floor it to a max of 125 mph....OK, I did 130 but wow is the car stable at that speed.

Next was the road course. I didn't know it'd been used for NSXPO in the past. I slid the car (controllably) in a couple of turns! Cool....

Next was acceleration/deceleration. First an accel without launch control followed by a full ABS stop (PS um, the brakes work really well, I almost had to peel my face off the windscreen), then an accel with launch control (my exact line in the car was "holy fscking s**t!") followed by full ABS stop again.

Last was an autocross track, where I could feel the handling without as much speed.

After all were done, we had a meet and greet session with workers from PMC, who explained various features of the car, how it was manufactured, why the A-pillar was designed thusly (and why we likely won't get a targa version--my inference), etc. An extra treat was that in the same room were a 130R White new NSX, an NSX cutaway, and Zanardi #41 (ahh, Zanardi....)

Last, we were bussed over to the PMC to see the receiving area and the factory floor. I have pics of that on my Instagram (again, same user name as here) if you want to see my pics.

There was a reception Saturday night, but I could not attend as I had other business to attend to.

One couple had flown in from NJ, another drove from Nashville, others from other areas of the Midwest. One guy was local (Columbus) and had motorcycled over. One person in the group before me had driven his Ferrari California over. None were new NSX owners and so far as I could tell, I was the only gen 1 NSX owner, and of course I drove mine there. It had fingerprints on it when I collected it.....goes to show you that the gen 1 is appreciated still.

I'm likely going to pull the trigger sometime next year. We'll see....

 

[thedon67]

Here are a few pictures from the event. Again, I can't say enough kind words about our hosts. Hope Roger isn't listening, but each time we are around our friends at Acura, Carla and I want to sell everything and own a Gen2.

 

[DocL]

It would be really nice for Acura to do this with current owners. But hey, they already got my money so I may as well go fvck myself.

 

[gaymondleerpv]

It would be really nice for Acura to do this with current owners. But hey, they already got my money so I may as well go fvck myself.

Acura doesn't have any clue on how to treat, acquire or retain upscale buyers. I get invites to track day, unveilings, etc to lambo events all the time. Porsche sometimes when new models come out, and even Ferrari one time but they overbooked their event and I never owned an F-car until last week

 

[Heavymetals]

I got a personal tour of the HONDA museum...........


(just joking, it had nothing to do with buying my NSX)