A look back at the rare Acura NSX sports car in 1997
(About this time 25 years ago, in
May 1997, I enjoyed three days of driving the rare Acura NSX sports car, provided by Terry Fenner, owner of Mile High Acura on
Havana Street. Excerpts follow:)
The rare, expensive NSX sports car, pride and joy of Acura, hit town this week. I picked mine up at Neal East’s Car Book Store on South Broadway.
The three-day loan was long enough to fully appreciate the handling and responsiveness of the mid-engined, all-aluminum-bodied NSX, which is superbly balanced.
The review model isamonte Carlo blue (it also comes in spa yellow) ’97 NSX-T, with 290-horsepower V-6 engine and 6-speed manual transmission. Its price is in the neighborhood of $89,000.
Most revealing as to the car’s impressive agility was a drive up Lookout Mountain. It performed like a quarter-mile sprinter on the curves, up and down the hills. It cornered better than a sprinter.
Short throws mark the shifter, and the vehicle performs with strong acceleration, even fairly so in
6th gear. The power comes with smoothness.
Off the line, the rear driver is as quick as anything I’ve driven in the past couple of years. Acura engineers say it will go from
0 to 60 in 5 seconds, with top-speed capability of 168 miles per hour.
The car averaged 20.6 miles per gallon in a variety of driving situations.
This sleek model, which stands only 46 inches high, has an aerodynamically lowdrag coefficient. It is necessary to approach some dips and driveways at an angle, since the front air dam is only
5 inches off the ground.
Wheels are 15-inch in the front and 16 in the rear.
The fine-finished product is evident in the comfortable leather-covered seats and the perfectly fitted removable top. With the top on, headroom is somewhat limited.
The car, surprisingly, contains a small trunk of 5.4 cubic feet.
With the mid-engine configuration, what goes beneath the hood?
It is the spare tire and braking system controls.
The two-seater weighs only
3,150 pounds. Other specifications include 99.6-inch wheelbase,
174-inch length and 71-inch width. The car was brought here for the first-annual NSXPO, a national gathering in Denver of owners of the heralded sports car, which was introduced in 1991.
“This inaugural event is intended to provide an ongoing opportunity for Acura NSX owners to exchange information and ideas that enhance the ownership experience,” said Terry Fenner.
Second generation ending this year
Production of the secondgeneration Acura NSX, which began in 2017, will end this year.
The final 350 cars built will be the new 600-horsepower Type S edition. Only 2,500 of the second generation have been sold. The first-generation NSX was produced from
1991 to 2005.