NSX - poor man's supercar from a repair cost P.O.V.?

I have a had a deep deep yearning to get back to a mid-engine car. I learned to drive a stick on a Gen 2 MR2, black on black. So I have a soft spot for mid-engine magic. I know The Answer is as/more capable and the E30 is the swiss army knife of race cars.

But I just like the engine at your back.

So that being said it has been mentioned that the NSX is the Accord of Supercars. They are going up in value for pristine trailer queens but a few driver quality cars are out there and high mileage examples exist. Seems the biggest problem is for the money they were never that fast.

So what am I missing on the NSX? Is this the true real world supercar that the 911 claims fame to except to afford one that won't eat an engine, or has high part & labor prices a NSX may be cheaper.

Some inspiration

Oh gawd, I love those things. And that is exactly the era I'd want, pop-up headlights, and black too.

I've heard that the valvetrains are high maintenance, needing frequent rebuilds. Dunno how true that is. My personal feeling, is that the NSX will be among the next group of unobtanium collectibles.

Flight Service wrote:

You complete me.

Couple good threads from the past about them:

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/how-diy-able-is-an-acura-nsx/57151/page1/

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/any-nsx-owners-out-there/46722/page1/

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/nsx-considerations/40064/page1/

I was lucky enough to drive one owned by an enthusiast, so it was a pretty good example. It was not mind-blowing. I too expect that they will be a good investment in the next 10 years if bought well, but I don't have any desire for one.

So I'd recommend you try to get some seat time before you plunk down the cash.

Here's what I said in 2012. Reading between the lines, you can tell I wasn't impressed with the engine when it wasn't wound out and the steering was blah.

younger Keith said: I've had the chance to drive a customer's NSX. Very nice car, more of a high speed setup than my typical ADD Miata. It didn't have that same urgency about changing direction, partly due to a slightly slow steering ratio (from what I recall) but it also had a great precision. I'd love to have the chance to aim it down a sweeping road and have a go at the upper end of that rev limiter over and over - driving it over the million dollar highway would be delicious.

Yeah, the NSX always seemed life if the was more under the hood, err I mean hatch, it would be something else.

You need to check if you fit, in terms of head room and the steering wheel. I'm barely 5'9" and I didn't fit with a helmet.

DWNSHFT wrote: You need to check if you fit, in terms of head room and the steering wheel. I'm barely 5'9" and I didn't fit with a helmet.

thank you for destroying my dreams with your reason and logic.

I hate you.

Flight Service wrote: Seems the biggest problem is for the money they were never that fast.

...And still aren't. Based on local CL listings, for the price of an early NSX with >100k miles, you can get a 996TT with <100k miles. For a late NSX with <50k miles, it's a 997TT with half as many miles.

Totally agree Driven5. Honestly....I found the 987 and 981 Boxster S more fun to drive than the NSX. If I was going to put that much money up, It'd be a late model Porsche over a NSX.

NSX will never make sense on the performance numbers alone. A C5 Z06 will destroy it for less than half the cash.

NSX is a period car, from a time when Honda turned it's engineers loose to go build the best sports car they could. In exchange, we got a car that is all-aluminum, had variable valve timing, 90 degree V6, titanium rods, etc. And I've seen neglected examples with 350k miles and still rolling.

If you don't get the nostalgia, it won't do anything for you. We live in a glorious time, where anything that runs more than a 12 second quarter out of the box is 'quick, not fast.'

To bring the thread back home, everything on these cars is well-documented and DIY-able. I mean, if Ferrarichat can guide it's members through a major engine-out maintenance on a 348, there's nothing you can't do to an NSX.

In reply to Tyler H:

are you saying I should get a 348?

Flight Service wrote: In reply to Tyler H: are you saying I should get a 348?

Yes. Make red, and a targa. Get a 1911 in a pancake holster, island shirt and shorts, Nikes. Then you can be a modern era Magnum P.I.!!!

Not that I'm in the market, but is this a good buy?

I like the dark green over tan leather.

In reply to WildScotsRacing:

I am 6'4" could easily take my beard to a mustache, I have a Nickel plated 1911, just need the shirt and car.

bastomatic wrote: Not that I'm in the market, but is this a good buy? I like the dark green over tan leather.

If you like green, then it's not bad. The only problem (for me) is the low miles. What do you do with it? Preserving the low miles is how you preserve value, but that means not driving it. Personally I'd try to find a cheaper car with 100k+ miles that I could drive.
$50k for that mileage seems about what the market is asking from what I've seen.

I have nothing of value to add to this other than you can try to win one from these guys.

https://80eighty.com/giveaway/

rules

NSX's were definitely not the accordof supercars IMO. There was literally nothing on those cars that were used on anything else in the honda world. Very nice for a driver though, but when it comes time to repair everything comes from Japan and is triple the price of anything else Honda offers. So don't think you can buy replacement parts at Accord prices. IIRC, that EPS was $3k alone. Body panels are aluminum and about 3x the price of any other car in their lineup.

The NSX was a decent enough car at the time of it's introduction in 1990.Unfortunately Honda did it's thing and did nothing to it. By 1997 it was hilariously outgunned by everything. By 2002, for the $80k asking price you could get a Z06 with double the performance and a couple years worth of tires/fuel and entry fees.

In reply to DWNSHFT & Bobzilla:

I now hate you both for the same reason.

What Keith said----- drive one before you grab your checkbook.

When I first started here at GRM, we had one of the last gen NSX's visit for a week. (non-pop up headlight version)

Unless you are on track, or driving at 9/10ths, they don't drive or feel like an exotic car. They feel like a low Accord with worse visibility. This was one of the reasons they were different--- it was the first exotic to drive like a real car. This is good and bad.

It's good if you planned on buying a brand new one and using it as a daily driver.

It's bad if you want a car that is exciting everyday.

After driving it for a bit, I came away extremely underwhelmed. By then the prices had gotten really silly--- so the value to $$ was very difficult to swallow. It didn't help that a C5 Z06 Corvette would murder it in any performance category. (in 2002 an NSX was over $90K, a Z06 was $50K)

They are undoubtably cool, and pristine examples are bound to go up in price. Just don't think you are getting a red-hot, exciting car, because for most of the time----driving an NSX is a pretty pedestrian experience. On track, I"m sure they are a ton of fun, but for 90% of driving duties, an Acura Integra Type-R is a much more entertaining drive.

I had the opportunity to drive an automatic version at least a decade ago. The power was not that impressive, especially by today's standards, but damn that thing handled like it was on rails.

It's on my short list of cars for when I have a large toy fund. I've always driven lower HP cars anyway, so it's right up my alley.

Joe Gearin wrote: On track, I"m sure they are a ton of fun, but for 90% of driving duties, an Acura Integra Type-R is a much more entertaining drive.

This part right here sums it up perfectly.

DWNSHFT wrote: You need to check if you fit, in terms of head room and the steering wheel. I'm barely 5'9" and I didn't fit with a helmet.

E36 M3! Another car I can't have due to being slightly above average height? Sigh.

From talking to local NSX owners one of the big surprises is how much it costs to replace the clutch, not just for labour (access is difficult) but the parts themselves are extremely pricey.