Want to buy an NSX? Start here, please...

[BrownBear]

Fancy buying an NSX? Please review the following, thanks...

Here's a quick run down on the NSX models, and a few tips on buying them - please have a scan through these first.

NSX Model Details
http://www.nsxprime.com/FAQ/General/modelinfo/modelinfo.htm

NB: the UK never got any Type S/S-zero/R models
There are a couple of private imports around though.

NSX Model Years
http://www.nsxprime.com/FAQ/General/changesbyyear.htm

Note: in section 'Changes for 1997' this applies to 1998 in the UK

NSX Buying Guide
http://www.nsxprime.com/FAQ/BuySell/nsx_purchase_process.htm

NSX Checklist
http://www.nsxprime.com/FAQ/BuySell/Used_NSX_Checklist.pdf

[NSXGB]

This one is worth sticking in here too....Common Faults....

http://www.nsxcb.co.uk/testvb/showthread.php?t=3444

[Senninha]

(March 2012)

Over recent months the forum has seen much new interest with many potential new owners.

The above information will answer many of the common questions initially asked when new to NSXCB. Please take time to review.

Within the club there are many outstanding examples of the NSX. A lot of these cars are considered by their owners to be 'keepers' and have therefore been lovingly maintained. So how might you get to know if a current owner is thinking of letting his or her NSX move to a new owner??

The two most recent options that have seen success are 1) to post an advert in the Wanted section of NSXCB. Option 2) is to post the same wanted add on Pistonheads. Neither option will cost you anything. For the best success you should consider the things that are must have requirements, i.e. transmission, 5 or 6 speed, OEM, mildly modified, project car. Try not to limit yourself with colour restrictions, but do state if you couldn't live with specific colour.

Ensure that your wanted add has clear contact details and good luck. This approach has resulted in several NSX being offered for sale that might not normally have been openly advertised.

And whilst you're waiting, do take time to review the following;

http://www.nsxcb.co.uk/showthread.php?8732-NSX-Technical-and-Service-Information-Index

http://www.nsxcb.co.uk/showthread.php?9724-NSX-Technical-and-Service-Information-Index-02

a warm welcome to all new visitors and existing or potential NSX owners

[Skippybadger]

Hi everyone. Brand new to the forum and so please be gentle with me, for now. Im at that point of my life (nearly 44) and I have the aching to take the plunge. Ive been on dozens of websites, looked through piles of trade mags and know that its getting close. I just cant push myself to do it yet. A friend of Mine has just got himself A beautiful Lotus Elite, Blue, Twin Turbo, Targa top. Anther is about to take ownership of a great Ferrari F355 GTS, Yellow (considered by some to be the right colour). But me. Im a huge fan of the late, Great, Legendary Ayrton Senna. To know that he had input into The NSX is what really tips it for me. That and the fact that I wont be the victim of a certain hand gesture from other drivers unlike my friends, atleast the Ferrari owner friend. The difficulty I have is to find the one I want knowing how difficult it can be. Firstly,manual, secondly, Targa and thirdly, Red. Its a big commitment and I want to make the right choice. Whatever I get, will most definately be a keeper to pass on to my eldest in time. Its an emmotional choice. Purely driven by my heart and not my head. If that were the case I wouldnt be here chatting to you on this forum. I guess I just want to aks what made you decide on the NSX? Was it emmotion? Was it for the Love of the style and engineering, or am I being too thoughtful and looking too deep? As I said, this is my first entry and I do appreciate your views on this.
Best regards

[Senninha]

Welcome to NSX CB.

On my way out earlier today I stopped for fuel. Whilst filling the car the owner of 645 came over and his first words where 'so whats it like to own the sensible super car?' So as you suggest above, no unusual 'waves', just respect.

Like you I'm a Senna fan so maybe we'll swap stories one day. I was selling Honda's when the NSX was launched and fell for it. Put these two things together plus a little good luck along the way and I've been fortunate enough to have owned this great car for over 5 yrs.

I dont know what budget you have in mind, but the perfect NSX you wish for is going to be almost Impossible to find. When I was looking I wanted manual targa and a 'dark' colour rather than specific colour. If you could do the same then the Imola 03 could be the car.

The last red targa changed hands only a month or so ago privately and won't be for sale again. The last red targa before that was Ewan's car and that was several years ago. If you can have this little bit of flexibility you could be sampling Senna chassis inputs sooner!

Good luck,

Regards, Paul

[nobby]

Welcome on board, and good luck to potential NSX ownership. Interesting write-up!

Pretty much what Paul says ... you have a VERY strict criteria and at the moment could be VERY VERY hard to meet.

DO you want and NA1 (90 - 97) or NA2 (97 till end of production), budget etc? you need to factor all this in. Most cars need some work, purely down to age, so keep that in mind

Prior to my NSX I had an Evo 8, and when time was coming to sell, i really did not know what to buy next, power performance drive etc was going to be hard to match ... but i went back to my teenage years and remembered the NSX, plus I am a Honda fan. So for me it was a bit like yourself emotive and the desire to own a REALLY nice underrated car (in the car buying market sense), but for those who know KNOW. :) The car excels on every level and is just SO ahead of its time. Mine is approaching 18 years old and she still drives like a new car!

But have your HEAD really screwed on when buying ... scanning these boards will remind you that things are not cheap for this car. Its not the buying its the MAINTAINING and keeping it safe

I hope you find the car you are after, but i think you definitely need to broaden your search criteria ... at the mo its very much the 'holy grail'. PLUS you have some serious competition to pick up the car if it comes along ... a lot of enquiries on this board wanting to buy an NSX alot of people ready to go with money.

all the best

[Problem Child]

I think mine is the "last red Targa" that senninha refers to as I bought it a month ago.

I remember when the NSX was laucnhed and loved it from Day 1 but never imagined I would ever own one. Over the years have owned a variety of hot hatches, sporty saloons etc but decided it was time to buy a collectable, "weekend" car. I was originally going to buy a 911 but just before doing so I decided to trawl around the web to look at all sorts of exotica and remembered the NSX. To my amazement they were affordable and sensible....far more than a 911 (imho).

I was luckythe right one for me came up only days after I started my search. Only "problem" was that it was a red one, but a good red one....good is more important than colour.

I am just an enthusiast who knows next to nothing about these beautiful cars. There are many members of NSXCB who know much, much more about them than I ever will but they are more than willing to share that knowledge. I even had three (who I'd never met before) offer to come and check mine out when I went to buy it. The help and advice was invaluable and as a result I know have a beauty! There's lots of banter amongst the members, which makes the experience even better. Most controversy on the site is about which colour is fastest. IMHO?.............all of them!

I hope you find what you're looking for and use this site to help!

[Hondaboy]

What the other guys have said:)
I bought one because I love old hondas and this is the greatest Honda possibly greatest car ever built
Do your homework though because I didn't and got ripped off and I'm still paying to fix things:angry:
By the time all is well my 91 auto will have cost me over £25k but I love it and plan to keep her a very long time

[nobby]

hi mate

dont be thinking you have been totally ripped off, cars of that age need work done to them. I bought my car for less than 20k with plenty of reading on this forum and having Sudesh with me to purchase but i have sunk over 4k into her just to get things sorted or upgraded. biggest killer for me was the re-spray but that was totally unplanned for and was a right kick in the nads! :(

if you are doing good work to it, its only preserving the life of the car and you are giving it the attention it rightly deserves ... thats what i try to keep telling myself!
Sudesh has done a lot of work to my car to prevent future problems etc as well as do the routine stuff/stuff needing done but I have also made changes to the car such as ABS upgrade etc ...

and as like you i plan to keep the car for a very long time, so if you do the work/spend the money you will reap the benefit longer term

[scottg]

All good advice I am sure. I too am looking to buy an NSX and really want a manual car but have seen a really nice auto, can anyone help me with the dilemma I have as I told myself hold out for manual but the auto is low miles etc. In real terms what is the difference in driving experience?

[nobby]

if its a really nice auto then perhaps you should look at ... considering the sate of market and lack of good manuals available

i have never driven an auto so cant comment, but a few owners on here own them and they dont have any complaints about em. you will still have the VTEC range etc

if it was me personally I would go see the car, drive it, and if you like it then buy it ... then you have your NSX and by sounds of it a reasonably good one!


All good advice I am sure. I too am looking to buy an NSX and really want a manual car but have seen a really nice auto, can anyone help me with the dilemma I have as I told myself hold out for manual but the auto is low miles etc. In real terms what is the difference in driving experience?

[Hondaboy]

If your going to use it on the track hold out for a manual if not then go see the auto I love mine and I'm happy to let friends and family have a shot not sure if I would if there was a clutch for them to burn out:D

[Eddie]

I have two auto NSX's at the moment, one with tiptronic and one without. Previous to that I had a manual. I would choose an auto any day for city driving.

Cheers,

Eddie

[havoc]

Fair...but I wouldn't choose an NSX for city driving. I'd choose something narrow and inexpensive to repair, for starters...

...so it's a bit of a silly reason to buy an auto NSX, if you ask me.

[markc]

Skippyb... the 2nd car (Red, manual, Targa) in this thread may be available soon... http://www.nsxcb.co.uk/showthread.php?10157-Is-having-2-NSX-being-greedy Try a PM to the owner?

You need to be prepared to wait but "red" and "manual" were 2 of the most popular choices when new so there're plenty of that combination, however coupes outsold Targa's by about 4 to 1.

Why did I want one? Well I was never a the biggest Senna fan nor did I love all things Honda as such, it was more the NSX'x design, mechanical spec and engineering integrity as well as the fact that it wasn't a Ferrari ;)

I went karting at Thruxton yesterday and gave the NSX it's first outing of the year. I got some respect from a MP4-12C (note the seat colour) driver at the event and a GT-R driver (double thums up and huge grin) on the way home... could be an orange thing :)

Cheers

Mark

[NSX 370]

From NSX 370 - I bought a brand new NSX Auto in 1991 and I have enjoyed every minute of owning it - I also have another car which means that my NSX has been driven about once every two weeks and incredibly has now completed only 16,000 miles. I just love the sound of my NSX when I drive it and it is totally unmarked in the original red paintwork with black top. Pop-ups of course.

My only disappointment is in the partly failed Bose radio which I hope can be replaced with a better quality unit. I am not too bothered about music from a radio, the engine provides the best music.

I will be taking delivery of a new V6 engined Jaguar F-Type S within the next few weeks and I may have a heart-breaking decision to make. I have always kept the NSX on a pedestal - with the F-Type it will be my everyday car.

I can only say that over the many years of owning an Auto NSX I have had absolutely no technical issues. As a retired airline pilot I have a healthy respect for operating mechanical systems well within their limits. I would definitely buy an Auto again.

NSX 370

[Senninha]

It is always nice to here from established owners, espcially when you kept such a secret!

I suspect that your NSX is still in original factory specification, therefore with your Bose issue might I suggest you contact Kaz via his blogs here on the forum as he is a) local and b) probably able to refresh the OEM system to restore the audio quality.

As an example: http://www.nsxcb.co.uk/entry.php?744-Audio-Head-Unit-02

Good luck with the new toy and I would love to meet you and the NSX one day ...

regards, Paul


From NSX 370 - I bought a brand new NSX Auto in 1991 and I have enjoyed every minute of owning it - I also have another car which means that my NSX has been driven about once every two weeks and incredibly has now completed only 16,000 miles. I just love the sound of my NSX when I drive it and it is totally unmarked in the original red paintwork with black top. Pop-ups of course.

My only disappointment is in the partly failed Bose radio which I hope can be replaced with a better quality unit. I am not too bothered about music from a radio, the engine provides the best music.

I will be taking delivery of a new V6 engined Jaguar F-Type S within the next few weeks and I may have a heart-breaking decision to make. I have always kept the NSX on a pedestal - with the F-Type it will be my everyday car.

I can only say that over the many years of owning an Auto NSX I have had absolutely no technical issues. As a retired airline pilot I have a healthy respect for operating mechanical systems well within their limits. I would definitely buy an Auto again.

NSX 370

[simonprelude]

http://www.nsxcb.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=11256&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1337523050

What is going on with that wiper?

[WhyOne?]

How so?

Standard pantograph wiper on a MP4-12c

[simonprelude]

How so?

Standard pantograph wiper on a MP4-12c

Just looks huge.

[WhyOne?]

They all look like that sir....