TheOverAnalyzed

Patrick George, with Jalopnik on the Honda NSX:

There is no way the new NSX will escape comparison with its famous father.

I remember seeing the fabled Iron Man SH-AWD NSX of a few years ago. I wondered just how Honda planned to top their venerable supercar with … this. Flash forward to today, and I still don’t think they’ve quite figured that out.

I suppose my hesitation to fall in love with the new NSX is mostly due to me being stuck in the old days, when cars didn’t drive themselves, when the steering wheel was actually connected to the driveshaft in the Porsche GT cars, and when one could row their own gears on an Italian.^[1]

But even if you strip all that away, the fact remains: no new NSX could ever be cooler than the first one. Over twenty years later, the car still impresses in person.

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About 5 or so years ago, I was back home in Central California visiting my parents, and while I was driving through the neighborhood on the way back to our house, I spotted it.

It.

A black NA1 NSX.

I followed him through the neighborhood until he pulled over.^[2] He seemed like a pretty cool dude. He was in his 30’s. He wore a navy blue Ralph Lauren polo, tucked into jeans. He struck me as the type of guy who didn’t buy his New Sportscar eXperimental new. He wasn’t that type of guy. He was my type of guy.

He was on the phone. He remained on his cell for the duration of my 10 minute experience with the NSX, occasionally answering my stupid questions. I asked questions for which I already knew the answer, just to have more time with the car. I didn’t care if he was on his phone. I sat in the driver’s seat. I saw for myself what everyone has said for years: the canopy of the NSX is not at all unlike the cockpit of an F-16. The view was amazing. I could see so much. The car was comfortable. It felt like any other Honda. This one just happened to be a supercar. It was glorious.

That experience cemented NSX into my Future Cars Bucket List. Someday, I’m sure I’ll have one.^[3]

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As I have previously written, there’s something about early 90’s cars. Maybe it’s because those were the cars I grew up thinking were cool. Who knows?

And maybe I’ll be proven completely wrong about the new NSX? Maybe it will do the first generation proud?

Maybe ‘out with old and in with the new’ is a saying for a reason?

Maybe my waxing nostalgic for old cars makes me an old person?

Yeah. Maybe.

In closing, let me pose a few questions. If you like cars at all, this will most definitely win you over to my side:

1. Is the new Ford GT cooler than the previous one, or the GT40?
2. Or is the 991 GTS a cooler car than old 80’s SC’s?
3. What about the M4? Better than the E46 or the E92 M3?

Yeah. I didn’t think so.^[4]