Redesigned rear end treatment
Driver's Notebook: New Look, Old Favorite
April 2, 2002
Still, not everyone regarded this characteristic as an advantage. Many so-called purists scoffed at the NSX, claiming the car lacked the soul or character of its Italian and British counterparts. If you defined soul or character as idiosyncratic handling, spotty reliability or torso-wrenching ergonomics, then the purists had their point. What the NSX did possess were the real key ingredients for a car of character: a remarkable passion and commitment on the part of the people who build it. The 2002 model NSX eloquently demonstrates that Honda’s passion and commitment to its usable exotic remain as strong as ever.
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The more businesslike front end is less delicate and fussy. (Click image to enlarge)Worldwide, NSX sales hover around the 600-unit mark, and the United States, where the car wears the Acura nameplate, accounts for about a third of these sales. Yet these meager numbers have not deterred Honda from making the most significant changes to the NSX since the 1997 model year, when the 290-hp, 3.2-liter V-6 and 6-speed manual transmission debuted. The changes for 2002 skew toward updating the appearance of the NSX, but true to the car’s racing heritage, they also contribute to increased performance, making it the fastest, most aerodynamic NSX ever sold in the United States.
The most noticeable change is the disappearance of the pop-up headlights, which are replaced by two pairs of xenon high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps that peer menacingly through clear plastic covers. Besides delivering twice the brightness and three times the efficiency of the old halogen units, they contribute to the car’s more aggressive head-on styling. The reshaped hood line is taller and more blunt, with a larger, mawlike lower air intake opening. To the eye, it looks more businesslike, and a lot less feminine, than the previous car. Against the wind, it definitely presents a much slicker profile, as the coefficient of drag (Cd) has dropped from .32 to .30. Consequently, Honda engineers have seen top speed increase from 168 mph to 175 mph with no changes to engine power. The new car also slides through the air to 125 mph, .2 second faster than its predecessor. And speaking of sliding—or more importantly not sliding—the combination of the new nose, along with the addition of lower side moldings and a trunk-lip spoiler, have also contributed to better front-to-rear aerodynamic balance, which translates into improved high-speed stability.
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