In spirit, the NSX harkens back to the days when all it took to transform a road-racing car into a road car was peeling the tape off the headlights and the numbers off the doors. Increasing layers of safety and emissions regulations in the last 35 years have made the transition impossible for most new cars, but Honda’s research and development staff (read Racing Department) has recaptured the get-in-and-go attitude of the classic era road racers and bundled it with the most advanced contemporary racing technology.

Hand-assembled by an elite corps of workers at a special facility within the Honda proving center at Tochigi, Japan, the NSX qualifies as a classic, having debuted as the first user-friendly exotic sports car over a decade ago. The 1991 NSX embodied the latest in Formula One, aerospace and automotive technol-ogy, and their world champion driver, the late Ayrton Senna, carried out some of the car’s testing and development. Even more newsworthy was the fact that, despite its racing pedigree and level of performance, the NSX possessed the everyday drivability of an Accord.
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.

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.
The latest NSX looks meaner from the rear as well. There are new taillights, and the bumper features larger-diameter dual exhaust tips protruding through a functional black grille. The new wheels and tires fitted to the 2002 NSX are also visually appealing—and even more beautiful when judged by seat-of-the-pants handling impressions. Besides increasing the number of wheel spokes, Acura has also increased wheel size from 16 by 7 inches to 17 by 7 inches up front and from 17 by 8.5 inches to 17 by 9 inches out back. As a result, tire size has increased to 215/40ZR17 and 255/40ZR17, respectively.

Subtle changes to the suspension that include an 8mm wider rear track, 10 percent stiffer front springs, and .3mm thicker rear stabilizer bar are less visible, if not less critical. This kind of tinkering demonstrates that the NSX is still built by the race engineers, not the bean counters at Honda. The added splash of gold paint that now adorns the brake calipers, gleaming through the new, thinner wheel spokes, punctuates these improvements.

Other little cosmetic touches, such as gray stitching and black chrome, update the interior compartment. The six new, if somewhat outrageous, interior color options let you match the carpeting and leather seats to the exterior colors. Black and tan are still available, but for the more adventurous, a new Vivid Orange interior complements the new Imola Orange Pearl exterior, beside which our Spa Yellow Pearl test car pales. Vivid Blue, Vivid Red, Targa Silver, and white round out other available interior color options with similar exterior paint.
During the test-drive, our yellow NSX, like the stripe down the center of the highway, stuck to every twist and turn. The engine, located amidships, provides excellent balance, along with a suspension setup biased to promote understeer, rather than a twitchy tail. A traction control system and limited slip differential also perform their parts when needed. While 290 hp isn’t what it used to be now that the Ferrari 360 Modena and Corvette Z06 have made 400 the magic number, the superslick, short-throw, 6-speed transmission, 8,000-rpm redline, and Honda VTEC variable valve timing combine to make maximum use of every pony on board. A side benefit of staying hard on the 3.2-liter V-6’s electronic throttle is the aural pleasure usually associated with a Ferrari at full song.

While Honda has already begun to lay its plans for a totally new NSX, possibly in 2004, the present edition nonetheless represents the ultimate refinement of an incredibly advanced original design. Yellow paint or not, the 2002 NSX still has what it takes to turn heads, and drivers’ hearts.

2002 ACURA NSX
-Engine: 3.2-liter, 24-valve dohc aluminum alloy V-6
-Power: 290 hp at 7,100 rpm
-Torque: 224 ft lbs at 5,500 rpm
-Zero-to-60 time: 4.9 seconds
-Transmission: 6-speed manual
-Wheelbase: 99.6 inches
-Curb weight: 3,153 pounds
-Fuel economy: 17 mpg city/
24 mpg highway
-Base Price: $89,000
Options
-CD changer is the only option
-Also available by special order:
substitute 3.0-liter, 252-hp V-6 with
4-speed automatic transmission

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1995 NSX-T. (Click image to enlarge)

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Back to the Future – Buying a Pre-Owned NSX
From its introduction, the NSX pioneered many techniques, including the use of an all-aluminum unit-body and forged aluminum suspension. Its factory, which has no automated assembly lines, was one of the first to employ teams who are also responsible for performing quality control inspections before letting an assembly leave their workstations. Each engine is assembled, from start to finish, by one person. A unique 23-step paint process was developed to paint the aluminum bodies. Other production-car firsts include the use of Formula One–style titanium connecting rods and electric power steering.

Aside from the option of a removable roof panel in the 1995 model, other major changes to the NSX came about in 1997 when a larger, 290-hp, 3.2-liter engine became available, along with a 6-speed manual transmission that replaced the 5-speed gearbox.

What this means is that an early-model NSX provides most of the thrills and performance of a new one for substantially less money. 1991 models typically have asking prices in the low $30,000 range, while an example from 1994 is still less than half the cost of a 2002. Just don’t expect to find one in Imola Orange Pearl.

An enthusiastic owners’ club, the NSX Club of America, has chapters located around the country and publishes a newsletter to provide advice and support regarding new and old cars. The club’s national convention is scheduled to be in Texas this year, November 6–10. Go to www.nsxca.org for more details.