Ewan
07-04-2008, 07:27 PM
As Paul spotted in the "my neighbour" thread, I finally got an NSX. It's the red 03 Targa that's been advertised recently on Pistonheads, and I went to the (now previous) owner's house to collect it this afternoon.
3513
These pics were taken late in the day and the car hadn't been washed - first thing I did when I got it home was to give it a clean, and check that it'll fit in the garage without compromise or trouble.
3514
This particular car was owned by NorthernRed (Lee) for 3 years before it was sold to a very tall chap who just couldn't live with it because he couldn't get comfortable on long journeys.
3515
I've yet to drive it with the roof on, but first impressions (having never driven an NSX before):
- It's easy to drive. Just flows along the curves of the A & B roads that I took it through in various bits of rural Oxfordshire.
- The noise (even with the Targa top off) is nice and rorty (particularly in 2nd at about 6k rpm) at times, though it's not as loud or burbly as in the Maserati Spyder I used to have... otherwise, the rest of the car drives a load better than the Maser.
- I'm surprised at how close the driving experience is to the S2000 - obviously, the X is lower and bigger, but the gearchange is nearly as good as the S2k's. The power delivery is very different - in the S, you have to wring it's neck to get much oomph, but the X seems happiest a thousand or two RPMs before the redline.
3516
So far, I've driven about 100 miles in total and am very pleased. My neighbour (who had the SLR Roadster for the weekend!) came shooting over immediately after returning to work, and was gushing praise for the car - an all time classic, look how low it is, etc etc. Car people, it seems, together nod and say quietly, "Nice". Even the fat guy in the filling station said - "Pump 7? Ah, the Honda NSX..." when I went to pay.
So, I hope to make it MattFest; I'll be at Goodwood Breakfast club in July for the "open top" day :), at Goodwood FoS and Le Mans (Bleu Nord). Keep an eye out for the red targa with the roof off, and you'll probably recognise it's me once I get my plate transferred :cool:
Cheers!
Ewan
3513
These pics were taken late in the day and the car hadn't been washed - first thing I did when I got it home was to give it a clean, and check that it'll fit in the garage without compromise or trouble.
3514
This particular car was owned by NorthernRed (Lee) for 3 years before it was sold to a very tall chap who just couldn't live with it because he couldn't get comfortable on long journeys.
3515
I've yet to drive it with the roof on, but first impressions (having never driven an NSX before):
- It's easy to drive. Just flows along the curves of the A & B roads that I took it through in various bits of rural Oxfordshire.
- The noise (even with the Targa top off) is nice and rorty (particularly in 2nd at about 6k rpm) at times, though it's not as loud or burbly as in the Maserati Spyder I used to have... otherwise, the rest of the car drives a load better than the Maser.
- I'm surprised at how close the driving experience is to the S2000 - obviously, the X is lower and bigger, but the gearchange is nearly as good as the S2k's. The power delivery is very different - in the S, you have to wring it's neck to get much oomph, but the X seems happiest a thousand or two RPMs before the redline.
3516
So far, I've driven about 100 miles in total and am very pleased. My neighbour (who had the SLR Roadster for the weekend!) came shooting over immediately after returning to work, and was gushing praise for the car - an all time classic, look how low it is, etc etc. Car people, it seems, together nod and say quietly, "Nice". Even the fat guy in the filling station said - "Pump 7? Ah, the Honda NSX..." when I went to pay.
So, I hope to make it MattFest; I'll be at Goodwood Breakfast club in July for the "open top" day :), at Goodwood FoS and Le Mans (Bleu Nord). Keep an eye out for the red targa with the roof off, and you'll probably recognise it's me once I get my plate transferred :cool:
Cheers!
Ewan