RE: Honda NSX | Spotted

[otolith]

Om said:

£145k! That's almost one and a half Ford Escorts, what are they thinking?

Excellent context setting there.

JD2329 said:

Fabulous car, crazy price.
Is it really worth twice the price of a brand new Cayman GT4? With enough change for a main agent approved DB9 and an M5 as well?
The vendor is clearly hoping someone thinks so...

How would the total cost of ownership compare, if you bought those, put hardly any miles on them, and sold them on in five years?

Assuming that the current price isn't a bubble (which to be fair it might be) it seems likely that it will appreciate.

[scottmelvin96]

Very nice cars but finding a sorted Mitsubishi Gto that's been cared for gives more performance with same slick looks for 20k and atleast you could use it without worrying about depreciation

[sean ie3]

A fellow in the next village along had one in red right around when they first came out I thought it looked pretty cool, another fellow also local to me had 348,I preferred the Honda.
Ferrari 355 is pretty good though.

[Rob-s5mok]

otolith said:

How would the total cost of ownership compare, if you bought those, put hardly any miles on them, and sold them on in five years?

Assuming that the current price isn't a bubble (which to be fair it might be) it seems likely that it will appreciate.

Well, the cost of running them is remarkably little. Services are peanuts by 'supercar' standards. Timing belt and water pump every 7 years.

And the list of things that go wrong is very short.

Early cars suffered from manual gearbox snap ring failure, and the ABS is hopeless and often upgraded. Lost Motion Assembly pistons rattle. All of these are fixed by swapping to later spec replacements.

Later cars, downstream O2 sensors are a pain. And the EPS rack needs overhauling eventually.

All cars - carry a replacement start relay! The audio head units and the a/c system electronics corrode. And the respirator fan in the dash fills with dust.

And that's about it! There's a healthy set of specialist services to look after them, especially in Japan and the USA.

[J4CKO]

scottmelvin96 said:

Very nice cars but finding a sorted Mitsubishi Gto that's been cared for gives more performance with same slick looks for 20k and atleast you could use it without worrying about depreciation

Yeah, trouble is, their reputation is nowhere near that of the NSX.

Though I find that over time, opinions get polarised and the GTO wont be as poor as some say it is, and the NSX wont be the religious experience you may expect given the hype, but having never driven either I suspect the NSX will be a lot more of a pure experience compared to a much heavier, 4WD turbo car with a transverse engine in the front.

I wouldnt pay 145 grand for it as I dont have that spare and if I did there would be a lot of things I would be looking at rather than an NSX, but I am not the target punter, that will be someone who had one or has multiple other cars and has to have an NSX, plus enough cash to buy it. In the scheme of things, for some its not a huge amount of money and to be fair, its a fairly safe place to put the cash anyway (depending on NSX market, not looked, assuming this is typical ?)

There just arent that many of them for sale at any one time, I remember them being cheap but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

And it has an engine related to the Rover 800 V6 of the period, which is more in my budget

[MC Bodge]

dobly said:

I like mine



I must be out of touch with UK prices though...

I like yours too.

I would really like to try driving one.

[otolith]

Rob-s5mok said:

otolith said:

How would the total cost of ownership compare, if you bought those, put hardly any miles on them, and sold them on in five years?

Assuming that the current price isn't a bubble (which to be fair it might be) it seems likely that it will appreciate.

Well, the cost of running them is remarkably little. Services are peanuts by 'supercar' standards. Timing belt and water pump every 7 years.

And the list of things that go wrong is very short.

Early cars suffered from manual gearbox snap ring failure, and the ABS is hopeless and often upgraded. Lost Motion Assembly pistons rattle. All of these are fixed by swapping to later spec replacements.

Later cars, downstream O2 sensors are a pain. And the EPS rack needs overhauling eventually.

All cars - carry a replacement start relay! The audio head units and the a/c system electronics corrode. And the respirator fan in the dash fills with dust.

And that's about it! There's a healthy set of specialist services to look after them, especially in Japan and the USA.

Yep, my point is that a modern will depreciate and generally a classic won't!

[scogins]

I'm in the minority here - the only cool thing for me about the NSX was the Senna link.

Not particularly good looking. Interior was typically 90's Japanese (not nice). Performance was so-so (yes, I have driven them).

Unmistakably 'Honda'... and that doesn't get my automotive juices flowing!

[otolith]

Of historical significance, though, for leaving Italian supercar makers with no excuse for their product being in so many ways objectively crap. Styling and character no longer enough to excuse their deficiencies. Those manufacturers were improved by being shown up.

[Sandpit Steve]

Another one for the “lovely car, but you want how much for it?” pile

As interest rates start to creep up, we’re surely going to see one hell of a correction in the modern classic market.

[ddom]

scottmelvin96 said:

Very nice cars but finding a sorted Mitsubishi Gto that's been cared for gives more performance with same slick looks for 20k and atleast you could use it without worrying about depreciation

[Marc-jonb5]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but how the NSX doesn’t make everyone go a little goo-eyed I don’t know.

I have one (1994), red, a little under 100k, that’s miles, and a fair bit more under £100k once I get round to putting her on the market. IF I get round to putting her on the market. Cleared out a few motorbikes this month which got me in the mood for a refresh and have an Emira coming - at some point - so maybe time for my baby to go.

I expect we’ve all driven fast cars, at 50% of what they can actually do on the road, which is precisely what makes the NSX and similar vintage cars so much fun. You can drive them, hard, and it’s properly intoxicating when you keep ahead of that pesky Golf R 😂

[Motospook]

'What's average about it?'

I bought one of these (nearly new) around 1998 when I was utterly fed up with my TVR imploding every 5 minutes. I loved the look (and still do) but the engine was gutless (zero torque) and the interior not really any better than a Civic of the time. Other than not breaking down, it didn't really do much for me and was sold (after swift depreciation) to make way for something with some real power (911 Turbo). The thought of paying north of £100K for a MK1 car like this is obviously crazy, especially as all 'modern classics' will be worthless when petrol is £10 a litre...

[dobly]

I don't know how people can say that the NSX has zero torque - you don't drive it like a turbodiesel, you have to use the rev range - it's there for a reason...

[s m]

Sandpit Steve said:

Another one for the “lovely car, but you want how much for it?” pile

As interest rates start to creep up, we’re surely going to see one hell of a correction in the modern classic market.

The bubble is about to burst you mean?

I remember someone saying something similar last year……


……and the year before….

…..and the year before that…..


Eventually someone might be right!

[ddom]

dobly said:

I don't know how people can say that the NSX has zero torque - you don't drive it like a turbodiesel, you have to use the rev range - it's there for a reason...

It’s a strange comment. Going from an S2000 etc the NSX is way stronger. It’s not a 996 TT, I mean, obviously After driving one of those I didn’t think it was that interesting, certainly doesn’t have the noise or sense of occasion that the NSX did. Anyone buying one for drag racing is kind of missing the point.

[Wren-went]

I certainly can remember when they when you can find the odd NSX for anything from £12 to 15000 , Rowan Atkinson ,Paul Gazza Gasgoine and Jenson button were all NSX owners .

Doesn't seam Wright in the states that they even call the original NSX an ACURA NSX it's a Honda NSX, ok they build and helped design the latest so fair enough calling the latest an ACURA but not the original and I'm with the Red it makes them look fantastic.

[sassthathoopie]

The Acura brand predates the NSX in the US.

Here's my car bought in 2008. I've put 47,000 miles on it since then. Magic car for all the reasons listed above. I was close to selling it in late 2010 but my new girlfriend talked me out of it before she had even seen it. I knew she was a keeper then! (The girl and the car!)


Scottish Borders last summer

[nsx60]

18 years ago you could pick one up for £15k , black manual , I did , still got it , still love it , now got 118k on the clock. Had other cars in between but cant see me selling it anytime soon. It prompts so many conversations with random strangers (Petrolheads) in car parks all over the show .

[PomBstard]

Chatting my local Porsche Indy dude about these just last week. We both agreed that if we could afford one, we’d get one (and I did look v briefly at the market when replacing my 928).

And also we reckon Honda copied the 928 dashboard. So, those saying it is without flair might we be right, but Honda were definitely copying a good thing.

As for the price, it’ll be whatever someone pays, and whether it goes up or down is anyone’s guess. I’d prefer a cheaper one that I could use every day.