THE ACCEPTABLE FACE OF HYBRIDISATION
Two petrol/electric trailblazers to help you forget the Prius
The universe must have a sense of humour – how else can you explain the fact that, three years to the day since my last drive in Honda’s mighty NSX, I find myself climbing aboard one once again, albeit in circumstances that might be considered the polar opposite.
Last time, brilliant winter sunshine bathed Tokyo, and the tarmac was dry and grippy. It was a day alive with one-in-a-lifetime experiences, from the Honda’s thumping all-wheel-drive launches to its startling agility and accessibility, whether you’re cutting through traffic or chasing apex speeds on a deserted Fuji road.
Today the Honda and I meet again in Corby. It is dark, cold and wet. But still the NSX is a thing of wonder, and as sensible a used buy as a mid-engined supercar can ever be. The first NSX, from 1990, was lighter and more alive, but this post-2016 car is every bit as innovative, with the kind of hyper-agile, very sophisticated three-motor hybrid drivetrain that Ferrari’s only just debuted on its £400k SF90 Stradale.
You could go either way with it. Use it as its maker intended, every day and in all weathers, or stick some gummy Pirellis on it, go out only when the sun’s shining and wait for its astonishing rarity to halt its depreciation and eventually send values skyward.
Before Honda was blazing hybrid trails with the NSX, BMW was blowing minds with its i3, the kind of rulebook-pulping production car that only comes along once or twice in a generation. Good looking, relentlessly innovative, from its powertrain to its interior, and above all huge fun to drive, the i3 is simultaneously entirely unlike any BMW that came before it and absolutely a BMW to drive – alert, agile, punchy and unmistakably rear-drive. The i3 neither changed the world nor made BMW much money, but that doesn’t mean it should be judged a failure. It taught its maker one or two crucial lessons. And it now makes an irresistible used buy. ⊲
YOU COULD GO EITHER WAY WITH YOUR NSX. USE IT AS ITS MAKER INTENDED, EVERY DAY AND IN ALL WEATHERS, OR STICK SOME GUMMY PIRELLIS ON IT