Honda Car Forum

I am looking to buy a 1991-93 NSX, any trouble spots to look for on potential
vehicles ?

On 26 Oct 2003 15:45:49 GMT, mikeygmoed@aol.com (Mikeygmoed) wrote:

>I am looking to buy a 1991-93 NSX, any trouble spots to look for on potential
>vehicles ?

Go to www.nsxprime.com

All your answers are there.
--
Dan Drake

I recommend stepping up to the 1997 version (or later). That's when Honda
added more horsepower and a 6th gear.

I have a 1997 NSX that I drive infrequently. Everytime I get behind the
wheel, I still can't believe I own it. I paid about $50K with tax & license
in August 2002. It was red with 24,000 miles from Northern California.

I also just purchased a 2004 Acura TL that is also lovely to drive but in a
different way. It's quiet, luxurious, and has all the features that the NSX
lacks. The first time my wife rode in the car, she flipped down the visor
in search of a vanity mirror and perhaps a light. No such amenities are
evident in the NSX. It's really a thinly disguised formula car with seating
for two.

Good Luck and I also recommend that you join the NSX Club of America. It's
web site is:

http://www.nsxca.org/nsxca/index.html

- Russ in Santa Barbara

Here's an excerpt from a 2000 article that tested the NSX against some
competition from 0 to 150 and then back to 0. It finished 2nd behind only
the Viper. It beat the Vette and the Porsche. I love it.


Title: 0 to 150 to 0
Copyright (c) 2000 Car And Driver Online

Subtitle: We define a new performance standard for the coming millennium.

By CSABA CSERE

How the Stockers Performed


BY FRANK MARKUS


In the past four years, we've tested more than 70 production cars that could
top 150 mph. So when we cooked up this brutal test, we invited back seven of
them. Our entrants were chosen to cover a variety of price classes and body
styles. The Acura NSX, the Chevy Corvette, the Dodge Viper GTS, and the
Porsche 911 Carrera represented variations on the purpose-built sports-car
theme. The BMW 540i Sport and the Jaguar XJR waved the high-zoot-sedan
banner, and the Chevy Camaro Z28 SS stood for value velocity with its base
price of just $24,495.


It should come as no surprise that the Viper won the stock class outright.
Its 450 horsepower topped that of the others in the stock class and more
than compensated for its fifth-ranked aerodynamic drag. It launched
relatively easily from about 1500 rpm, pulled like a black hole, and then
stopped without drama. Gearing kept the Viper out of its tall, overdriven
fifth cog, ensuring strong acceleration right to 150. Its brakes, which are
without anti-lock, were surprisingly well balanced and easy to modulate, as
attested to by the smooth braking curve.


Second place was a surprise. We expected the Corvette, with the second-best
power-to-weight ratio and the best aerodynamics, to snatch the silver,
especially since it outbraked the other stock cars with a 720-foot stop. It
was a cinch to launch, and its demeanor was quiet and comfortable, even at
140 mph. But shifting into the tall 0.74:1 fifth gear at 134 mph dropped the
LS1 V-8 out of its power band. At that point, the Acura NSX, which was
singing along near its power peak in a 0.91:1 fifth ratio, managed to slip
by and win second place. The Vette was third.


We had expected the NSX and the 911 to duke it out for the bronze. Their
power-to-weight ratios and aerodynamic drag are nearly equal (the 911's
greater frontal area is offset by its superior 0.30 drag coefficient). But
this NSX was the fastest one we've ever tested, and it diced with the
Corvette to 130 mph before pulling decisively ahead to reach 150 mph two
seconds in front of the Vette. Despite a soft pedal and less-than-perfect
high-speed braking stability, the NSX returned the fourth-best overall
stopping distance at 742 feet, trailing only the Corvette among the
stockers.


Our low-mileage Porsche was neither the fastest nor the slowest 911 we've
tested, but it was no match for the rocket NSX. The 911 ran with the pack
through 100 mph, but then its acceleration leveled off. The 911's 10-second
time from 140 to 150 mph was the longest of any car's in the test, and five
seconds longer than the NSX. Strong, smooth brakes couldn't make up for that
much lost time, and the 911 finished in last place. Perhaps an engine with
more than 600 miles on it would have run quicker.


Strong pull at high speed helped the 540i six-speed beat some tall odds. Its
282-hp rating was the weakest of the stockers, and its power-to-weight and
power-to-aerodynamic-drag figures were the poorest. But gearing kept its
4.4-liter V-8 near the power peak at 150 mph, which helped the BMW move from
last place at 130 mph to a fourth-place finish by 150 mph. Strong, firm
brakes hauled the 540i down in 796 feet, anti-locking all the way.


The Jaguar XJR performs with impressive nonchalance. Tromp on the right
pedal for 34.8 seconds; then stomp the left one for another 8.6. Its
supercharged 370-horse V-8 does much to overcome the XJR's 0.39 drag
coefficient (poorest of the stockers) and any pumping losses in the
automatic tranny. The brakes faded a bit, causing the pedal to gradually
stroke all the way down to the floor during each stop, but they recovered
quickly and the anti-lock-equipped Jag still outbraked all three Vipers.
Optimal gearing kept our Jag pulling hard to 150 mph, but pure physics
conspired to rank it fifth in the stock class.


The Camaro Z28 SS uses the same engine (making 25 fewer horses) and the same
gear ratios as the Corvette, and indeed, it ran within a half-second of its
stablemate to 100 mph. But after that, the gap widened because of the SS's
higher drag coefficient (0.34 versus 0.29) and larger frontal area. Smaller
tires on the Camaro prompted an earlier shift into the dreaded fifth gear,
which extended the interval between 130 and 150 mph. Braking was strong and
stable at 772 feet from 150 mph, topping the Eurosedans and the Vipers.
Priced at a fraction of the cost of the other stockers, the Z28 SS finished
sixth, but it was the easy winner in the unofficial bang-for-the-buck
category.

Conclusion


Although some cars suffered mechanical wounds during our two-day flog, at
the end of our tests at the track, Chrysler's straightaway was neither
littered with twisted connecting rods and fractured brake rotors, nor
lubricated with engine oil or coolant. This was especially satisfying
because every one of the modified machines was a streetable car in keeping
with our rules. They were all shod with genuine street tires (rather exotic
ones in some cases), muffled by silencers that will not attract
unsympathetic gendarmes, and fitted with reasonably supple suspensions. As
we had suspected, aerodynamics and gearing helped several cars improve their
finishing order substantially between 100 mph and 150 mph during the
acceleration portion of the test. We were also pleased to see that although
every entrant delivered decent braking performance, the stopping time from
150 mph did make the critical difference in at least two contests -- the
Steeda versus the Hennessey and the RENNTech versus the SVSi. Finally, the
convincing overall victory by the Lingenfelter ZR-1 confirms that speed
contests are still subject to the laws of physics. After all, this ZR-1 had
the most powerful engine, the lightest weight, and the least aerodynamic
drag of all the tuners. Combined with its anti-lock brakes, it proved
unbeatable. At least until next time.







----- Original Message -----
From: "Mikeygmoed" <mikeygmoed@aol.com>
Newsgroups: alt.autos.acura
Sent: Sunday, October 26, 2003 7:45 AM
Subject: NSX Newbie Question


> I am looking to buy a 1991-93 NSX, any trouble spots to look for on
potential
> vehicles ?