The Acura NSX was great. Innovative in every element of its construction, brilliant in how it performed, and stunning in quality, the Japanese-made NSX was so undeniably wonderful that it forced the Italian exotic carmakers to build better cars. Many contend that the Acura NSX is the single greatest car of the 1990s. Why argue?
The Acura NSX (it was sold as a Honda everywhere except North America) was conceived back in the 1980s when founder Soichiro Honda was still alive and Honda was shipping out turbocharged engines that powered F1 teams to six constructors' championships and five drivers' championships (including three by the great Ayrton Senna). This was Honda's most brilliant period when engineering excellence and innovation wasn't just indulged but encouraged. All that was left for Honda to do was build the world's greatest road car. The Acura NSX was that attempt.
The first element in the Acura NSX's greatness was its pioneering all-aluminum chassis, suspension components and body panels. Lightweight, but engineered for incredible stiffness, the extruded aluminum frame was a cage around the passenger cell and the midmounted engine and transmission just behind it. Since the suspension pieces were lightweight as well, the unsprung weight at each corner was slight making damping and roll stiffness easier to manage. In the Acura NSX, it was reduced mass that made everything work so well.
That same engineering through finite element analysis resulted in an amazing engine for the NSX. Though just 3.0 liters in displacement at launch, the NSX's V6 used such exotic elements as titanium connecting rods to produce a low reciprocating mass and Honda's VTEC variable valve timing system produced outstanding respiration even at the 8,000-rpm redline. The engine was only rated at 270 horsepower, but that first Acura NSX was quick.
But it was how the Acura NSX used that speed that mattered. With Senna and other F1 drivers contributing, the suspension was tuned with transcendent precision. From the NSX's debut as a 1990 model through all sorts of tweaks and developments until it left production during 2005, it never lost that amazing balance. The Acura NSX is a true classic.
