Over at Road & Track, Evan Klein took the new 2017 Acura NSX for a spin. And—surprise, surprise—it doesn’t live up to the original:
This is not a modern interpretation of the light and lithe machine that stole our hearts in 1990. If you’re looking for mechanical purity, or that magical synergy of man and machine that Honda once did so well, I’m sorry, neither is here.
There are other ghosts to contend with. Stumbling out of San Francisco and into the varicose pavement along the coast, I expect the NSX to come alive, to shine like the new penny wonder its ancestor was.
It doesn’t happen.
He continues:
[The] wheel’s numb in my handsFigures.More, there seems to be a "healthy dose of understeer that shows up when the road gets tight."Ouch.How about the weight? An NSX should be light, right?
There’s also the weight issue. Despite a chassis intense with lightweight materials like aluminum and carbon fiber, this car tips the scales at just over 3,800 pounds – some 700 more than the fattest first generation machine [emphasis added].
Klein’s final paragraph is as effective as it is depressing:
Honda wants the NSX to be an everyday supercar, but by definition, a supercar isn’t an everyday affair. It’s a special thing reserved for special days, and if you buy one, you never want to quietly tip toe out of a valet stand under electric power. You want to rattle the crystal on the hotel roof. You want to throw open the garage doors on a gorgeous day and bend the asphalt to your will. If there’s compromise, you want it in the pursuit of performance, not livability. There was a time when you felt a little NSX in your Accord. Now there’s too much Accord in your NSX.
Ever since I heard the new NSX would maintain a V6 power plant in lieu of a proper high-revving V8, all hope was lost for a true successor to the spirit of the original NSX. Gone are Honda’s days of high-revving naturally aspirated motors. The new NSX is probably plenty quick in a straight line, but does that really even matter? The new NSX doesn’t offer the legendary handling of its predecessor, it’s a complete porker, and its unresponsive in the cockpit. Why would anyone pony up the $150K for this thing? For that amount of cash, go German.
That said, Chris Harris likes it enough:
I drove the NSX last week. And I'm reading some of the reviews today and wondering if I drove the same car...... pic.twitter.com/5CSzPvJPvA
— chris harris (@harrismonkey) October 26, 2015