another wannabe owner.

[larjammer]

hi guys,
like a lot of you i have lusted after an nsx for some time and, also like a lot of you, its midlife crisis time. so i figured i would treat myself. budget limits me to an early car, must be a manual, prefer silver, red or black.
there are a few for sale currently, two at a dealer in bedford (possibly overpriced), a red high miles car at plans, a silver car with aftermarket wheels at another dealer.
never having spent anything like this amount on a car before i am very cautious and want to get the right car. does anyone know of the cars currently for sale, or have any advice regarding them, a heads up would be appreciated before i put in the legwork. if anyone here has a nice original car they are thinking of selling please get in touch.

thanks.

[goldtop]

Welcome and good luck on the hunt. :) You are finding out the #1 thing we all found out: when you finally decide to buy one after years of wondering, the NSX you find look overpriced. You remember all the ones you saw when browsing that seemed affordable and wonder where they went. (They sold quickly, naturally!)

FWIW, the £24995 84000m silver one (owned by an ex-forumite and modded) looks the best bargain at the moment. It can be reverted to stock quite easily, I think. There is (was?) a green one with higher miles but fewer mods for about the same. Otherwise at this sort of figure, it's an auto.

[larjammer]

i must have overlooked the silver car in question. anyone have a link??

[goldtop]

It's covered in one of the other recent threads hereabouts. And that has links to the previous owner's mods.

The ad itself is on this dealer page: http://www.plansmotorsport.com/showroom/cars/ Plans seems to be the #1 dealer, so probably worth a visit anyway.

[Honsta]

Yes, this is a car I questioned the forum before. Despite the mods it looks like a good one. There's another thread with more details that I posted up.

[larjammer]

thanks.

im not sure the silver one is for me, even though it is keenly priced. also, i get the impression that plans are self appointed specialists, kaz is very clearly the man.

[Mistercorn]

Nice Blue NA2 recently appeared on PH. Pretty much all of the good mechanical bits of the later cars (engine, gearbox, interior, abs) but keeping the pop-up lights. This is the first NA2 pop-up car I have seen on the market in over a year and looks pretty original.

MC

[havoc]

Nice Blue NA2 recently appeared on PH. Pretty much all of the good mechanical bits of the later cars (engine, gearbox, interior, abs) but keeping the pop-up lights. This is the first NA2 pop-up car I have seen on the market in over a year and looks pretty original.

MC

A pop-up NA2 in a decent colour?!? Bet that lasts all of a week, assuming it's straight!

[Ewan]

It's NSX2000s old car, W2, IIRC... http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/honda/nsx/honda-nsx-v6--------------------2000/3244755

[Mistercorn]

The owner is a member on here, I had contact with him when I was looking for my car, but he wasn't ready to sell. Username W2NSX but hadn't been on for many months. I sent him a PM when the advert went up but haven't had a reply.

MC

[WhyOne?]

Nice car, great colour! ;)

[NSX 2000]

It's NSX2000s old car, W2, IIRC... http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/honda/nsx/honda-nsx-v6--------------------2000/3244755

Ewan, you are correct.

[Rob_Fenn]

Will be an interesting one to track prices. As has been said, a 3.2 pop-up car is a bit of a rarity. For someone keen on originality, it is the 'right' look with the best mechanicals. If i wanted £50k for it, i'd be taking much better photos though.

[larjammer]

i took a '97 for a testdrive today. one thing that struck me was how quiet and civilized it was. and the power delivery was very linear (much like my current car), there was no vtec kick, as such it felt a little underwhelming. it was quick but didnt feel much quicker than my 211bhp daily driver.
would you say this is how it should feel?

[britlude]

Yes, the nsx engineers matched the cams performance at the vtech point so the change is seamless. The last thing you want is a sudden surge of power half way round a corner.

Unfortunately boy racers like this 'surge' of the vtec 'kicking in' so on the civics, etc, there a a huge hole in the torque curve, the initial cam effectively past its best at the vtec point, so when the second cam profile is activated there is a surge, like a turbo kicking in, to keep them happy.

In short on an NSX the vtec changeover is set up for people that can drive, rather than those who think they can!!!

How old is your current car? Its easy to forget the NSX is a 25year old design, even with updates, the '97 is still 18 years old!!!! Alot of progress has been made in the intervening years.....

Hope that helps :)

[Senninha]

As Britlude says, the vtec 'kick' is reserved for the fwd hatches (I loved it in the Integra) but you dont want a sudden change in power delivery mid corner on a mid engine sportscar ... that just wouldnt be fun or safe.

you say 97, so presume 3.0 car?

[larjammer]

Yes a 3.0 litre car. Just for clarity my daily is a 1991 porsche 944 s2, same capacity but 2 less cylinders. I have little interest in modern cars!

For those that like a large surge in power you should try a 944 turbo, the term 'turbo lag' has never been more apt! In fact thats why i chose the s2 over the turbo, it has more useable power, more of the time.

[Pride]

i took a '97 for a testdrive today. one thing that struck me was how quiet and civilized it was. and the power delivery was very linear (much like my current car), there was no vtec kick, as such it felt a little underwhelming. it was quick but didnt feel much quicker than my 211bhp daily driver.
would you say this is how it should feel?

Hi larjammer, I have owned my 92 manual for over 16 years now and I quite agree with you that the nsx can come across as a bit too quiet and civilised with its origanol exhaust. I changed mine 4 years ago now for a Pride exhaust and it transformed the car, both audibly and pshycologicaly. I'm certainly no boy racer but I get excited every time I drive my car and I'm sure it's the exhaust note, it's far more agressive when you want it to be and the note distinctly changes when the vtec kicks in.

With regards to lack of surge when the vtec kicks in at about 5,500rpm, I have to disagree with both the previous posts as I personally feel an immense surge of power when it does.
I believe Britludes car is an auto so it might be less noticeable for that reason and as regards not wanting a surge of power while cornering, well, if you drive powering round a bend you should fully expect to get into trouble, certainly keeping it in the vtec rev range and then flooring while exiting the bend will give you all the surge you're expecting believe me.
Also if you test drive the car with either the owner or dealer as a passenger, believe me you could never fully exploit the power and potential these cars can deliver without them asking you to slow down first.

If possible try test driving one again with a non standard exhaust and no power steering as it will make all the difference, don't give up on your first impressions.

Here are a couple to try:

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/honda/nsx/honda-nsx-3-0-manual-silver-1991/3145980

This one might be too extreme in it's modifications for you but it could be well worth a look as its in the same sort of price range.

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/honda/nsx/stunning-gt-widebody-honda-nsx-manual-3-0-v6-v-tec/2964684

Good luck anyway and enjoy.:)

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

If it was 3.0L engine and MT model (as in OP, you mentioned that it 'must' be a manual), then you drove pre-97 model as all MT models from 97 onwards were equipped with 3.2L engine.


When NSX was first introduced to the world about 1.5 years ahead of the actual production started, the engine was still SOHC so that will tell one aspect of the project target.
So, until the actual production starts, there is no point in discussing about the engine power, design spec, body shape, etc.

The Japanese version is much longer and covers further detail but if you are interested, there is English version on how the R&D project started. NSX was not even mentioned at the start of the project and it was actually dropped at Honda R&D at the very beginning; http://world.honda.com/history/challenge/1990thensx/index.html
You may be able to sense the DNA of NSX and the big importance placed on man-machine interface of Honda even for the sports car.


If the power is the highest priority, you can't beat the cost/power/equipment ratio of Nissan GT-R.
I respect Nissan engineers since the days of first Skyline GT-R.
More recently, I'm impressed by what Mazda engineers are achieving on various technologies including the diesel.


You need to be bit careful when you judge the 'power delivery' by just the engine power or by your feeling.
Even with exactly the same engine, the 'feeling' could be completely different depending on the gear ratio, rpm band you were using, exh flow rate, torque curve, etc.


NSX engine is not high rpm band targeted. With MT spec engine, you will notice significant power drop after around 7,000rpm before reaching the fuel cut at 8,300rpm.
This shows the characteristic of this car as well.


Lots of people talk about VTEC but personally, the beauty of this engine is the VVIS (combined with the VTEC). This allowed the 'liner' feeling that you felt especially between 3,000 – 7,000rpm.

If you 'felt a little underwhelming. it was quick but didnt feel much quicker than …' then that's exactly what Honda designed it for.
During the development stage, lots of Ferrari, Porche, etc were test driven before the project target was discussed.
At that era, most of the so-called super cars or sports cars felt/sounded very fast, big engine power but heavy chassis, tricky yet telling the driver that I want more. It felt as if sports cars were for the 'selected' or 'special' drivers. I don't deny that kind of aspect and from marketting point of view, it will work for small number production car manufactures.
However, that was not the Honda way as you can read in the above link.
If you have the opportunity to test drive many Ferraris and some of the Porsche from the same era as NSX on the same test course on the same day, you will notice that you are driving at the same speed or same lap time at much more comfortable manner in NSX than those mentioned above. Still, I can't deny the pleasure/sound of swinging the Testarossa or pure German engineering of Porsche with 1,000% better brake feeling/control.


Good luck with the hunt and keep open minded. If you prioritise the factor, it will minimise the disappointment when it comes to buying the classic cars. Depending on what you are after, you may need to recognise that NSX might not be the one for some buyers.


Kaz

[larjammer]

thanks for your input kaz.
perhaps underwhelming was the wrong word to use, i have been lucky enough to drive most performance cars and the nsx is definitely one that i desire to own. yes, if ultimate speed was a priority i would just buy a 911 turbo or nissan gtr but they have no soul.
i will keep looking....