20 years on, it’s still from the future
Freeze-frame the view through the NSX windscreen and you’ll see wipers working hard, water streaming over the road surface and pooling in compressions you could possibly fish in, and you’d probably want to park this near600bhp supercar, not squash the accelerator to the floor. But press play, teleport yourself to the low-slung driver’s seat with its strong support and deep padding and I swear you’d feel confident, certainly more than in either the McLaren or the Ferrari. Cutting through standing water, getting on the power early out of corners, braking late – none of it fazes the NSX.
It’s built around a spaceframe chassis, clothed in aluminium and composites with tight panel gaps that make the McLaren look like a Cat D, and equipped with a 3.5-litre V6 boosted not only by twin turbochargers, but also three electric motors – one at the rear to boost the mid-mounted V6, a pair at the front to act on each front wheel individually for all-wheel drive and no need for a propshaft between. Ferrari’s come round to a similar idea with the upcoming SF90.
Updates new this year include a little flim-flam (including our car’s Thermal Orange Pearl paint and its Indigo Blue and black alcantara interior), and, of more substance, chassis tweaks that make things stiffer, grippier and more precise: anti-roll bars are uprated 26 per cent front, 19 per cent rear, rear toe-link bushing stiffness is up 21 per cent, rear hub rigidity climbs six per cent and the Continental SportContact 6 supersedes the previous 5P. Add in software updates for the – acronym ahoy – Sport Hybrid Super Handling All-Wheel Drive, electric steering, stability control and adaptive dampers and the new NSX is apparently two seconds swifter around Suzuka.
No extra power, mind, so the output of both fossil fuel and electrical power combined is still 573bhp and 476lb ft. But mash the throttle and this remains a searingly quick machine – sub-three quick from zero to 62mph, says Honda, a statistic validated by your internal g-meter.
The integration of petrol and electricity is seamless, the batteries filling in for any lag at low revs where the McLaren pauses, fattening out the mid-range and adding an intense, manic rush to the high notes, all of it soundtracked by a deep, angry bellow like the V6 is singing through a vocoder. Artificial perhaps, but it suits the NSX’s digital character perfectly – as does Quiet mode that lets the NSX run eerily, if briefly, silent.
A nine-speed dual-clutch auto plays its part in the NSX’s lunging acceleration, its close ratios and shifts quick enough without getting hysterical, so too the all-wheel drive, simply because you can just
deploy all the power where the McLaren and Ferrari invite more tentative, progressive squeezes.
At 1776kg the NSX is the heaviest car on test by a chunk, but its performance feels significantly stronger than the Ferrari, and fit enough to give the McLaren a hard time, though it’s possible the NSX’s competence in the conditions is a subjective factor today, too.
If it all sounds like driving a simulator, the NSX has far greater depth than that. There’s still a certain sterility to the steering and at times you might notice a little tug as the e-motors act on the axle that also steers, but it’s pretty subtle and really the overwhelming feeling is one of precision and a meaty kind of consistency.
Chassis tweaks have peeled away the layer of detachment from the (albeit impressive) early cars, and what’s really noticeable in these conditions is the NSX’s playfulness, odd though that may sound given its sure-footed competence. Work the chassis hard with ambitious entry speed or early throttle and it’ll pivot around its middle and oversteer, and it’s all so benignly balanced and naturally gathered up that it quickly fosters confidence. It’s a pity traction control won’t fully disengage even in Track mode, but work with it, don’t be too abrupt, and it’ll give you enough rope to give you the full ‘Senna mastering a sodden Donington in 1993’ experience.
There are three crucial areas in which the NSX drops the ball versus our more storied group-test rivals: a badge that wilts against a £30k cheaper Audi R8, let alone Ferrari and McLaren; an interior that borrows too heavily from US-market Acuras; and a boot so tiny you’ll need to pack like a free-climber. Any of the above might prove deal-breakers, but as a car to use every day and then properly lay into over your favourite road whatever the weather? There’s an awful lot to like about the NSX. ⊲
It’s soundtracked by a deep, angry bellow like the Honda’s V6 is singing through a vocoder