its debut
in Detroit at the start of last year, the new Honda NSX has had many of us drooling over its chiselled looks, as well as the prospect of its 500hp-or-so
hybrid powertrain
. And order books are officially open.
New NSX is a bit of alright
A £5,000 deposit is all you’ll need to bag yourself an example of the car that’ll undoubtedly be one of the hybrid stars of 2015. That’s the one proviso, mind: you’ll have to wait around two years before you can actually take delivery. Still, if you can wait that long, and you have got the cash – as, says Honda, have 20 people already – you’ll be able to partake of Honda’s splendidly-named
Super Handling All-Wheel Drive
, or SH-AWD for short. This system will use a combination of two electric motors, one for each front wheel and around 50hp each, with a “bi-lateral torque-adjustable control system” that instantly generates negative or positive torque to each front wheel in corners. Honda says that that will allow the NSX to offer “handling performance unmatched by previous AWD systems”. And the rest of the power looks set to be provided by a 3.5-litre VTEC-equipped V6 rated at around 400hp.
Confident-sounding stuff, but then the NSX will be up against stiff opposition when it does make its appearance. The
BMW i8
will be perhaps its most obvious rival; that'll also feature a trick combination of two electric motors, this time apportioned to both front and rear axles to offer what BMW calls ‘eDrive’ – a different style of system, but touted as being no less revolutionary. There’s also the prospect of the
Lotus Evora
414E
, should that ever make production, and likewise the
Infiniti Emerg-E
that’s based around its powertrain. And further up the scale, there are the likes of the
Porsche 918 Spyder
McLaren P1
LaFerrari
, not to mention the upcoming Audi R10 diesel hybrid hypercar that’s rumoured to be in development. All will produce vastly more power and cost a fair whack more to boot, though, meaning direct competition will more likely come in the form of the more conventionally-powered
Audi R8
McLaren 12C
Ferrari 458 Italia
Time to stash one of these away?
Honda hasn’t released any pricing details as yet, though we’re sure they’ll tell you if you ask them nicely while waving your £5,000 cheque provocatively at them, but reports suggest that the NSX will cost anywhere from £75,000 to £100,000 when it does hit the market. Of course, if that’s too rich for your blood, there’s always the
much-loved original
Monkey reckons
, might just be worth snaffling now while prices are reasonable. This
1997 example
looks honest, with a cracking colour combination of dark green and tan, a high spec, plenty of history and just one owner from new. For the money, that represents an awful lot of car in our book!