The original Honda NSX forged itself a firm place in history as one of the best supercars ever produce — the poster on the wall of your bedroom type dream. When it debut back in 1989, it changed the thinking around how supercars would be manufactured and what they should feel like.
It offered supreme styling mixed in with proper performance and dynamic handling, setting a new benchmark for quality, ergonomics, and usability — something rarely found in supercars of the era. Honda made use of a lightweight yet rigid all-aluminium monocoque body and chassis, and mated to it a mid-mounted, transverse V6 powerplant that was miles ahead of it’s competition, featuring forged pistons and titanium rods from factory, and of course, the covet VTEC valve train.
However, what the original NSX did best was challenge the wisdom of supercars by way of forming a connection between the driver and the road. It was a tool, one that was not thrilling to drive despite it’s design features, but because of them. It had a low overall mass, well-balanced chassis, high power-to-weight ratio, and genuine driveability built right in.
Now, more than a quarter of a century on from the original NSX release, Honda New Zealand have announced that they will be bringing the NSX to our market for the first time with the new 2018 Honda NSX. The local branch of the automaker explains that the new example respects those core characteristics of the original, while pursuing a new and even more revolutionary idea of what a supercar can be — a mix of timeless sports car values mixed in with next-gen technologies
Based on the man-machine synergy approach every part of the new version respects the smartest part of the car — the driver. However the biggest selling point among the many trick pieces found within, is Sport Hybrid Super Handling All-Wheel-Drive. It utilities hybrid electric motors to enhance acceleration, braking and cornering, through electrically powered torque vectoring, and the promise of instantaneous torque mixed with tried and true combustion power.
We could ramble on all day about why this is a big deal, but we’ll save it for the review, and if you’ve read this far you’re already well aware of the fact — perhaps fizzing even more than us to see the new NSX on our roads.
The 2018 Honda NSX is set to launch in New Zealand in May this year — and you can bet your ass we’re going to give it a good ol’ thrash test