The original Japanese supercar makes new waves
In early April, an Acura NSX set an auction record for this Japanese sports car, with a 2002 model selling for $377,500 on the Bring A Trailer online site. That was a $50,000 leap over a 2005 model sold on the same platform in December 2024.
While you can still find 1991-2005 NSX models for under $100,000, these $300k+ prices certainly put this first-gen NSX in the spotlight. They also call for a look back at the sports car deemed so good, it gave McLaren F1 engineer Gordon Murray a new benchmark for sports car handling and ride quality.
Still A Bright Star
Firstly, we should point out that those two $300k+ Acura NSX models were low-mile cars, the 2005 model having 2,000 and the 2002 model showing 9,000 on its odometer. The Silverstone Metallic 2002 model was also equipped with a Comptech supercharger that was installed by the dealer before the customer took delivery. Such installations boosted engine output from the stock 290 to about 370.
Also worth noting, both of those $300k+ cars were from the model’s sunset years, when production fell to a trickle as the $90,000 price deflated demand. That was partially a reflection the car, which had barely changed over its 15-year run, getting just a small power increase and a mild facelift along the way. It was also a reflection of just how much other sports cars were evolving. That market slide from years ago does not dim the first-gen NSX’s star, and the resulting rarity likely helps it today.
The Stuff of Movies
Thirty-five years ago, the Acura NSX burst into the premium sports car category with searing acceleration and scalpel-sharp agility in a comfortable daily-driven car. The $60,000 price tag undercut the all-wheel drive Porsche 911 Carrera 4 by $10,000 and Ferrari 348ts by $40,000. The NSX it beat both in a Car and Driver comparison test. File that in your mind as we fire up the Wayback Machine to discover how the NSX came to be.
The NSX was marketed as an Acura only in North America and Hong Kong. Everywhere else, it proudly wore the Honda brand. And why not? The NSX was the culmination of 25 years of the Japanese manufacturer upending benchmarks and expectations.
In 1965, when Honda was known only as a motorcycle maker to most people, the company entered Formula One auto racing as the underdog. Honda won its first race in Mexico in that season and two in Italy in 1967. The 1966 film “Grand Prix” fictionalized the Honda team’s effort with James Garner starring and became one of the top-10 grossing movies that year.
High-Speed Heritage
With its domination of the motorcycle market well underway, Honda shocked the two-wheeled world the groundbreaking 1969 CB750. The bike successfully mainstreamed the transverse inline four-cylinder engine configuration, which became the superbike standard a few years later.
Both the Formula One effort and the motorcycle leadership came to define Honda as an expert in lightweight, high-revving, reliable engines for road and track. A high-performance car, though, would have to wait. Just as Honda was planning its Acura luxury division in North America, the parent company also returned to Formula One auto racing in the mid-1980s. Honda became an engine supplier to Williams and in 1988 switched to McLaren. Honda earned six F1 Constructors’ Championships from 1986-1991.
From Track to Showroom
Meanwhile, Honda cars and motorcycles were riding high on a stellar reputation for everyday usability and reliability. For 1990, the automaker combined all those elements in a striking lightweight, high-tech mid-engine sports car, the NSX. For North America, it made the perfect flagship model for Honda’s fledgling Acura premium brand.
A stunner from the start the NSX looked like an exotic, and it was built like one with aluminum chassis and body construction. It sounded like one, too. The 3.0-liter DOHC V6 engine could scream to 8,000 rpm. Honda’s innovative VTEC valve control technology and lightweight titanium connecting rods were exotic in the day.
Ferrari and Porsche Beater
If the NSX’s 270 horsepower seems lackluster today, consider that the Porsche 911 Carrera’s 3.6-liter flat six made 247 hp back then, and the Ferrari 348’s 3.4-liter V8 gave 296. That was the imported sports car landscape in 1990. The NSX was 100 pounds lighter than the Porsche and 200 less than the Ferrari.
With the standard five-speed manual transmission, the 3,100-pound NSX dazzled with speed: 0-60 in 5.2 seconds, the quarter-mile in 13.7 at 104 mph and a nearly 170-mph top track speed. That was in a car that could return 25 mpg in daily commuting.
Double-wishbone aluminum suspension, tuned with input from Formula One legend Ayrton Senna, yielded spectacular handling. The NSX won over McLaren engineer Murray after he tested a prototype. “The car we would create, the McLaren F1, needed to be faster than the NSX, but the NSX’s ride quality and handling would become our new design target,” he later said.
Shooting Star
The production NSX won over driving enthusiasts and triggered waiting lists, at least for the first two years. The NSX was never intended to be a volume model, of course. In the U.S., Acura dealers sold just over 4,400 in 1991 and 1992. Annual sales remained in triple digits after that.
By 1994, when a four-speed automatic transmission became an option, an unfavorable exchange rate and a global recession pushed the price past $75,000. Sales dropped to about 650 for the otherwise unchanged car. For 1995, Acura augmented the solid-roof coupe with a new NSX-T featuring a one-piece lift-off roof panel.
The 1997 NSX got a bump in output to 290 horsepower thanks to an increase in cylinder displacement to 3.2 liters. A six-speed manual transmission replaced the five-speed, helping the driver make the most of the available torque. The 1999 NSX Zanardi Edition used chassis parts from the Japanese market NSX-S and cut weight by 150 pounds. Just 51 were made.
A Reprise That Faded
A 2002 facelift replaced the NSX’s pop-up headlights with exposed lights, and larger wheels and tires plus suspension tweaks put an even finer point on handling. By then, the value equation had flipped. The NSX cost over $90,000 while the all-wheel drive Porsche 911 Carrera 4 was $75,000. The acclaimed 405-horsepower Corvette Z06 weighed the same as the light NSX, was much quicker, and cost $51,000. You had to really, really want an NSX to choose one in a much-evolved competitive crowd.
Few did. Annual sales fell into the 200-per-year neighborhood in these final years. The last NSX was made in 2005, though the last five dozen in the U.S. lingered into the following year. Of the approximately total 18,000 NSXs built over 15 years, half came to the U.S. and about 700 to Canada.
Acura revived the NSX badge for a 2017 mid-engine hybrid, which it designed and built in the U.S. Like the original had, the new NSX won wide acclaim for design, engineering, performance and everyday comfort. A twin-turbo V6 engine was teamed with three electric motors, and the car started at about $150,000. The powertrain was boosted to 602 hp for 2022, though the slow-selling NSX would carry on just one more year. Just over 1,500 total were sold in the U.S.
