By: IOL Motoring Staff
Detroit Motor Show - It has had one of the longest gestation periods of any modern car, but here at last is the production version of the second-generation Honda/Acura NSX sports coupé, developed and built in the United States.
Which is why it has two names: It will be sold in North America under the banner of Honda's Acura premium brand, but for the rest of the world it will be badged as a Honda, when it goes on sale in the second half of 2015.
Twenty-five years is a long time in the automotive industry, and the new NSX has nothing in common with its illustrious predecessor. It has an all-new mid-mounted twin-turbo 3.5-litre, 75-degree DOHC V6 driving the rear wheels via a nine-speed double-clutch transmission, with a platter-style electric motor sandwiched between engine and transmission - as in Honda's cheeky little CR-Z coupé - and another electric motor driving each front wheel, completely independently of each other.
That not only provides an individually controllable all-wheel-drive system, but also enables real-time torque vectoring by increasing the torque to the outside front wheel and gently braking the inside front wheel as the car begins to understeer, seamlessly keeping the car going exactly where it's pointed.
SPACE FRAME
The NSX is built around a space frame of aluminium, steel and composite components bonded and riveted together, and anchored by a carbon-fibre floor for maximum torsional rigidity. The body panels are composed of a combination of aluminium and sheet moulding composite.
Fully-independent, all-aluminium suspension carries six-piston front and four-piston rear monobloc callipers squeezing carbon-ceramic brake discs, inside alloy rims shod with 245/35Z R19 front and 295/30Z R20 rear ContiSportContact high-performance tyres.
Interior designer Jonathan Norman explained that the NSX was designed from the inside out to provide the best possible driver control, visibility and packaging, with simple and intuitive controls. There's even a nod to Honda's motorcycle roots with an exposed midframe a la Lotus, under the centre console.
FULL TILT BOOGIE
The instrument cluster is centred on a colour screen that shows different graphics and information depending on whether the driver has dialled in Quiet, Sport, Sport+ or Track mode - which adjusts the engine, motor, transmission and chassis response, as well as the engine sound level. Quiet mode enables electric-only driving at low speed for short distances, while the car's responses become increasingly sharp as the driver moves from Sport to Sport+ and, finally, to Track mode.
The NSX also has a Launch function, which uses the V6 and all three electric motors to get it off the line, although Honda hasn't released any power or performance figures as yet, other than repeatedly referring to the NSX as a supercar.