It’s hard to replace a legend, especially like the Honda NSX. Of the 3 JDM legends, GTR, Supra, and NSX; Honda designed cars for car people.
Honda took their time replacing the NSX, and rightfully so. The original NSX’s folklore belongs around auto history fireplaces: Ayrton Senna having his fingerprints all over the DNA of the NSX, Honda reverse engineering supercars to create a car that had the performance, but was able to be driven daily and was sensible in price, & lastly, Honda was at the face of motorsports at the time with their F1 success.
My experience with the original NSX is with a 2004 model as an instructor at New Jersey Motorsports Park on a summer day in 2010. When I learned my student was driving an NSX, excitement is an understatement. I worshipped Senna, & having never been in an NSX, I was expecting it to feel like I was driving god’s chariot. I drove the NSX for a few laps with my student, & there‘s only one word to describe the NSX.
Tricky. Yes, not divine, harmonious, or easy to drive, but tricky. The car required proper driver skill to really push it. Obviously, in the hands of Senna, any car could dance like Shakira, but in the hands of a novice, it was tricky.
So, why don't people give the new NSX a chance? The same reason they say don’t meet your idols. Disappointment. If people drove the new NSX back to back with the old NSX, & liked it, it would be very hard to admit that they were wrong all along. Just remember, if the original NSX was so great, why was it discontinued?
The second generation NSX is a monster on paper & a sweetheart on track. An all wheel drive, hybrid, with 2 electric motors on the front axle, one electric motor on the rear axle, & a traditional gas motor delivering 573 horsepower from a 3.6L turbocharged 6 cylinder motor changing gears through a double clutch transmission.
Even with its weight, the car feels light & composed. The chassis has been calibrated to reward hard driving. Now, the car does have electronic steering, but mid corner, where you can tell whether the people in the chassis department did their job or not, you get quick reaction & the right amount of feedback.
The elephant in the room is price. Yes, the car is pricey. You can get more performance, for less. There’s no other way around it. The NSX is not selling well, which means one thing, can you say future classic?
It took 10 years for Honda to bring back the NSX, & it shows with how advanced & capable the car is. No, it is not as bare bones & analog as the first gen NSX, but it’s not meant to be.
The new NSX IS NOT meant to replace the original NSX, but IT IS meant to showcase what Honda has always been; a technologically advanced car brand that maintains its roots as a brand comprised OF drivers that design, create, calibrate, & perfect a reliable and evolved supercar made FOR real drivers.