P650 PVS Red '97 3.0 Anyone owned this?

[jamesb]

Hi,
I'm thinking of going to view this car advertised for sale by Hendon Motors. Does anyone here know anything about it (long shot I know). It's had 5 owners over the years with the previous owner buying Sept '04, which makes me a little suspicious. Advertised price of £20K seems very cheap too.

[Welshman]

No but what's the mileage? That might account for the price, but if mileage is low then it must be in poor nick.

[jamesb]

About 55k I'm told, which seems about average. The 36K service came to £4150 which also surprised me a little, I thought the NSX was quite reasonable to run? That included cambelt, clutch, dampers, brakes, tyres & waterpump.I guess that if it seems too good to be true it probably is, but I may take a look anyway.

[BabyNSX]

£4150 for cambelt, clutch, dampers, brakes, tyres & waterpump sounds very reasonable on a NSX

[Welshman]

£4150 for cambelt, clutch, dampers, brakes, tyres & waterpump sounds very reasonable on a NSX

Cambelt and clutch - OK you would expect them to need replacing - but dampers and waterpump at 55k :?: :?:

£20k sounds too cheap for a 55k car in good nick.

Allowing £1k for the tyres £3150 for the rest sounds OTT to me. After all it's a full days work for a cambelt change so you should be able to do the clutch and the waterpump at the same time. New Mills charged me £300 for a cambelt change so how much does a clutch cost?

[BabyNSX]

clutch is around £2k fitted from main dealer. thats why i ordered mine from amber performance instead.

[jamesb]

Owch, I guess it depends a lot on driving style but how much life would you expect from an NSX clutch? The car has now been sold anyway so I'll never know if it was a bargain or not. Thanks for the advice.

[Welshman]

Owch, I guess it depends a lot on driving style but how much life would you expect from an NSX clutch? The car has now been sold anyway so I'll never know if it was a bargain or not. Thanks for the advice.

I've heard 30k to 40k.

[jaytip]

I've heard 30k to 40k.
but it can also be as low as 10-15k if its being driven aggressively/poorly

[Nick Graves]

Wasn't 5 owners quite a lot?

Tends to suggest a possibly chequered history.

[BabyNSX]

I've heard 30k to 40k.
but it can also be as low as 10-15k if its being driven aggressively/poorly

my car has 56k and the (first) clutch is out. New one being fitted on the weekend :D

[jaytip]

Wasn't 5 owners quite a lot?

Tends to suggest a possibly chequered history.
i think a lot of new owners who havn't reserched the cars running costs prior to buying are supprised by how expensive the NSX can be to own and run.unless you are wealthy,£2000 for a clutch fitted is a lot of money,and we all know what honda is like for the small misc parts,O2 sensor £300+,electric arial £200+,inner door handle £300+ etc,etc.
i knew that it wasn't going to be cheap to run the NSX when i bought it but i didn't know just HOW expensive it can be.
i have to travel from south wales to cheshire to get my car serviced by an appointed dealer=petrol up,b+b,cost of the service,petrol home=alot of money,but damn i just love the car too much to get rid of it :D

[jamesb]

Yes, I agree. I'd read a few articles in motoring magaines that say running costs were low, except for tyres, but that does not appear to be the full picture. Maybe they meant 'low compared to Ferrari, Porsche etc.'. Just nice to go into things with your eyes open, cost not being the main consideration of course!

[Kevin]

I was talking to someone on the weekend who said his Porsche he has now, is a bargain to run compared to the NSX he had.

[Welshman]

Well if a clutch is £2,000 that is expensive. I don't know what a 911 clutch would come out at.

But annual servicing is fine and a cambelt at £300 every 5 years or 50,000 miles is OK.

However, with Ferraris you should budget £4k to £5k a year even for low mileage versions.

[jaytip]

a cambelt change may be reasonable(but i think most authorised dealers would charge you more than £300)but dont forget the cost of the belt itself which is i think £95+vat,and i think that most people choose to get the car serviced while its there so you would be looking at a bill of £600+ easily when all is said and done.Oh did i forget to mention the £500+ for the waterpump if you decide to change that over while the cambelt and service is being done :( .
i had these jobs done myself last year and exept for oil i provided ALL the parts myself and with having the window runners cleaned as well i faced a total bill of £1,300 and something.ouch!!!

[ctrlaltdelboy]

I have all this kind of work done at my local 'general' mechanic - Woolston Auto Engineering (http://www.touchsouthampton.com/comdir/cditem.cfm/8848) - they know their stuff and are very cheap compared to main dealer prices (here's me and Kev 'borrowing' their premises on a Sunday) (http://nsxcb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=77), (here (http://nsxcb.co.uk/forum/files/bumper1.jpg) and here (http://nsxcb.co.uk/forum/files/eng10.jpg) are scenes of my car at their workshop), and like Ivor I always provide the bits myself at proper prices e.g.

cambelt (http://daliracing.com/v666-5/catalog/index_browse_part.cfm?focus=1124) £63
oil filter with crush washer (http://daliracing.com/v666-5/catalog/index_browse_part.cfm?focus=919) £6
water pump (http://daliracing.com/v666-5/catalog/index_browse_part.cfm?focus=1568) £97
oem clutch including BOTH bearings (http://daliracing.com/v666-5/catalog/index_browse_part.cfm?focus=846) £580

so you don't have to pay Honda prices for parts or labour if you don't want to, you have a choice.
Of course, doing it this way means that you miss out on those shiny dealer stamps in your service book - if this is important to you then ignore all of the above and spend 4 times as much on your servicing as I do

[mcibuk]

As a matter of interest i am just having my clutch replaced at Honda dealer. The parts excl VAT are: clutch £824 and bearing £77. That's £1059 compared to Darren's £580! :oops:
I had my car in to have 5th gear synchomesh sorted out under warranty (baulked when changing up from 4th to 5th at speed) and decided to take advantage by changing the clutch at same time. The car has done 22k and whilst clutch was more or less OK, there was a little judder when moving away.
My only concern about getting local mechanics to do this sort of work (i know a few that could probably tackle this without question) is when reselling the car when Honda servicing and maintenance seems to matter - or is that a myth?
As a matter of interest, my fuel sender needs replacing and HOnda dealer has quoted £110 for part! Anybody know if i can source this cheaper and if it can be located easily to replace myself?

[DamianW]

Mine judders when moving away quite a bit at times - is that a sign of clutch wear? Be a bit alarmed if so at 12k miles, though not entirely surprised.

[mcibuk]

The engineer at Honda dealer said that juddering was not uncommon on these cars. I will advise if the new clutch makes any difference when i get the car back, hopefully before Christmas!

[trackdemon]

My clutch has juddered slightly since the day I got the car, if anything its a little better now! (Purchased at 28k miles, now 45k)

[NSA]

I bought this car. It's immaculate inside and out, and I did 120 miles in it last weekend to make sure everything works. It does. The previous two owners had it a year between them and the last owner traded it in to Hendon for a £40k Porker after only three months. Whatever floats your boat.

I went last Tuesday night and put down a £50 deposit just to look at the car again the next day. Ended up taking the afternoon off and bought it there and then. A regular customer offered them £22k as I was filling out the paperwork.

I think Hendon Way Motors had a limited knowledge of the value of the NSX, made enough on the Porsche, and wanted to sell the NSX ASAP in case anything was wrong with it. This was the only non Porsche / Ferrari in the garage (they had about 50 cars for sale).

The £4,150 clutch / cambelt / water pump service was done at 36,000 miles in 2002. That owner had had it three years. It's expensive, but if you're going to change the clutch I guess it's in for a penny...

Other than that, I think I've got a bargain. If anything does go wrong with it, I've got about a £3-5k margin to spend and still end up with the car at fair value.

Anybody know where I can buy a breatheable fitted cover for the car?

[ctrlaltdelboy]

Anybody know where I can buy a breatheable fitted cover for the car?

http://www.daliracing.com/v666-5/catalog/index_browse_part.cfm?focus=1462

http://www.daliracing.com/v666-5/catalog/index_browse_part.cfm?focus=1045

2 options there - one oem, one aftermarket

I (being me) have both - the oem is really heavy and thick and almost fills the boot it's so big, but is incredibly soft on the inside for your paintwork. The aftermarket one is super light and small and fits almost in your pocket.

[jamesb]

Beat me to it NSA, sounds like the January sale came early - enjoy!

[NSA]

Darren, Thanks for the cover info.

James, I think a lot of people called Hendon Way about that car. Check out their stock list at www.racecar.co.uk.

[ctrlaltdelboy]

nice link NSA - found this beast via that one

http://www.racecarnewmedia.com/duncanhamilton/carsforsale/CarDetails.asp?ID=307

[NSA]

Darren, is that breathable cover water proof / resistant? I've got to store the car outside because it won't fit in my garage. If it is, I'll order one ASAP. I read the threads about Dali Racing but I think he seems alright.

[NSA]

PS: It doesn't say whether the cover is water resistant on DaliRacing.com.

[ctrlaltdelboy]

I would reckon it is certainly water resistant, but waterproof may be a different story

I think this cover was developed by Hrant on NSX Prime - hang on & I'll see if anything comes up on a search

[ctrlaltdelboy]

here is some info (http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33163) which should answer your queries

if you search some more on prime using hrant's username in the search filter you may find even more info on this product

hope that helps

[NSA]

Just got back. Thanks for the info.

[Nick Graves]

It's a good point.

Just because it says Honda on the nose, they don't shift as many replacement door handles as they do for Civics.

The unit cost goes skywards as a result.

I know repair costs for Porsches can also be horrendous, which has shocked the unsuspecting, too.

I'd still trust an NSX better than I would a Ferrari, though.

[mcibuk]

Just to keep you folks updated about the "clutch judder" i was experiencing. I had the clutch replaced when i had the 5th gear synchro sorted out under warranty and can now say that the clutch is now much smoother but thatthe judder is still there on occasions - probably when revs are a little too high (1500). The change from 4th to 5th gear at speed is now smooth wheras it used to baulk -problme solved. Incidentally cost clutch parts was £1059 thru' Honda dealer - labour was paid by warranty insurance cover for synchro repair.