Should You Meet Your Heroes? I Drive an Immaculate 1991 Honda NSX

I think the lines are rather elegant. Nose and tail look fine to me. Too many modern cars are chopped off and have had a Basil Fawlty-style damn good thrashing with the ugly stick: Ferraris, McLarens, Lamborghinis, BMWs, Paganis, Bugattis et al have that short, stubby, stumpy too-tall side profile which screams 'corrective footwear'.👟<---👀

There will be no classics built today. They are overpriced fridge appliances that are all pretty similar. Some amazing machines were built years ago.

Don’t you think the NSX was ahead of its time with the longer tail for aerodynamic reasons as McLarens LT models seem to be the ones to go for. Maybe in a wind tunnel the NSX would show why it’s so long at the rear.

18k miles, that car has not been driven

I drive a gen4 Prelude. I quite love it, but it’s quite true I wish I could financially afford an old school NSX, or even an S2000.

The irony is when James said "a stupidly place commercial", literally a stupidly placed commercial of CarMax came on...
The irony is uncanny...or cleverly planned, only to those who find clever in stupidity 😂

With this car, there is no real need for a 'Dramatic' thumbnail asking if it is 'Overrated'... it is one of the best cars to ever come from Japan. Ever. if I ever won the Lotto, one of the first cars Id buy is a 90s NSX lol.
p.s youre so lucky to be driving that one! AND AGREE it is one of the best looking cars ever made! I prefer the pop up head lights, and I would have to have one in white, and one in red because I can not choose between them lol. They are light too, from 1240kg to 1350kgs in later ones. I love the NSX too much lol. Easy the best 90s sports car, easy.

Great review as always. Love the NSX! Also can’t stop staring at your cool watch. 😂💪🏻

i think the fact it wont tear a massive hole in your wallet like a ferrari, audi r8, porsche etc is a major factor in buying ine.

I'll never forget when I sat in my old EK9 Honda Civic for the first time. It fitted me like a GLOVE, like no other car. It felt that they'd built the thing around me personally (I'm 5'1'). That little thing was AMAZING. only 1.3 but it did everything you wanted to do. That NSX inside looks JUST LIKE the inside of my old EK9 with some slightly different shapes and a little bit of leather. I just love the things. Ferrari? Pfff. I just want one of THOSE. Let me know if Geoffrey would take 5K for it would you (it's all I got)?

''the turns have tabled''....don't you mean the other way round....Ha!!

they are a very average V6. I drove one back in the day and bought a RX7 over one. Pleased I did. They are worth more now and always been faster

In terms of looks, same issue with corvette c8 trying to make a supercar practical…except the nsx is way better the corvette feels like u are looking over a boat with that huge expense of metal and glass on the rear half

I saw one on the street yesterday. Black. A sweet ride.

Fantastic! There's a guy that bowls about in Milton Keynes every day in one like this. Maybe this is his! Great to see it about and being used.

Cool car

As a 1994 NSX owner with one of 50 in a "Honda Accord" green ever made in the entire world, the automatics were only 10. My 5-speed has been beaten on for decades but the one automatic I ever saw was in pristine condition. I don't know if the automatic NSX's were as much a thing as this video claims... although I'm down with the rest. :)

P.S. Open exhaust with headers and a cold air intake makes it come alive in a way that stays up with NA cammed/modified C5 Corvettes and makes all the fun noises anybody could ever want. My point is that it's fast by modern day standards, even if not the fastest thing on the road anymore. With my shorter Type-R gears I could not want for more on the street, even if the top speed is limited to 166mph by gearing. I had faster cars. Very few were quicker and more fun to drive.

I drove both the NSX and the 348 back in the day - the NSX was the 'better ' car - but, it just didn't have a sense of occasion, particularly the interior, like the Ferrari. It's a japanese 90's 911, or a M&S gourmet ready meal vs that little Italian restaurant with the over enthusiastic owner.....

I love the NSX, but I would never, never, buy one with an automatic transmission. Yuck.

Great video, James! Keep up the good work 🙂 (John in Canada).

I used to think the rear was too long, and now I scold myself, because it isn't. It's perfect. And the car in all models is gorgeous.

you need to try the NA1 R!

Thanks Jeffery. Lovely car 👍👍

Haven't visited this site for years...... man you got big!

If it had a Ferrari badge James would have 4 of them.

I can still remember when I saw this car for the first time. My band was playing a show at a local club and we were carrying our gear in. It was warm and the sun had just dipped under the horizon, the magic hour. I looked up and saw this impossibly sleek red sports car slowly driving into the large parking lot. It made a complete circle around the edge of the concrete and disappeared behind the next building. I got to drink it in while it stalked by and I saw it slowly it from every angle. I just gaped. What a machine.

Did I fancy one of these back in the day? Absolutely! But I couldn't afford one and I never got a test drive.
But my Turbo MR2 was only down 70bhp and 10 ft-lb, and was less than half the price, so I never felt the pangs of loss. Most of the performance for a whole lot less money. And the roof came off. Sour grapes? Perhaps, but I slept at night no problem.

FYI this car is perfect save for three things, One, Acura/Honda Never Developed it past its initial interation outside of japan and europe, all we got was some ugly thing where they slapped some Corvette C5 aftermarket headlights on it, two, the thing likes to eat rear tires, and three, the oil systems rigged up wrong for a midengined application on the race track, it badly needs either a deeper oil pan, a dry sump, or an accusump that keeps the oil where it should be in high G cornering

other than that, its a fanastic car with a fantastic back end off of a Jaguar XJ220, as they probably had the same guy rig up the aerodynamics for it, the classic long tail with a spoiler on the end for longitudinal stability, just like that and the mclaren long tail

which was an issue the testarossa had with its first Iteration as this car wasnt just going after the 348, they went after the V12 with a 6, as it was about 2 inches too high, and too far back with its engine placement, something they fixed on the 512 TR, then ruined everything else on with it styling wise, hence why the perfect TR is a classic one with a 512 TR gearbox, and a custom front bumper


as they really needed to cut off a lip and angle it so it looked good like on the BBI before it, also I wonder how one of these would go with twin turbos now, as it probably could do 220

just after the oil systems worked over abit better

actually I wonder why no ones done that, as they were using the race car until the mid 2000's in japan, overall though, damn good car save for the tires, just dont race it till its had some work done

as its got the mid engined V8 Detomaso Failure pantera issue under its bonnet

I turboed my '91 NSX and installed 14" Brembo brakes and larger wheels and tires. Kind of OEM plus, if you will. But the steering, forward visibility and driving position are what really stand out. The people who dismiss it for its power output are really missing the point. Then again, mine has 761 whp, soooo . . :)

Doesn't look quite right. Tried to copy ferrari.

I recently met that "hero", 1995 with interior very worn. Leather seats cracked & torn. Mileage was 238k American miles. Still well maintained despite its worn interior. Briefly driven, it was nimble, spritely, more MX5 than Ferrari. Feels very light & unferrari , it feels like it could be thrashed without worry.
There are many exotics that are more valuable but none feels like they could be thrashed again, & again without worry.

That is also the problem, it feels like a typical Honda.

R8 V10 is the one to get. The Huracan motor is ballistic.

Mitsubishi GTO Twin turbo was a Ferrari killer! Have you drove one?

I want one, it is the best car ever.

Original Exhaust tips look like from hairdressers car , and overall a hairdressers well engineered supercar of the time.

I'm probably in the minority but I prefer the later fixed headlights NSX. Looks crisp and aggressive but not overbearing. Not that the pop-up ones are bad, though.

Most important sports car of the last 40 years. I've owned a 993, 997, 987 Cayman and an Evora. But never an NSX. Because I'm an idiot.... 🍻🏎

I wouldnt rate the F355 interior better than the NSX. The NSX is never going to have knobs and switches snap off, its built to an ultimate high standard, the leather wears much better especially along edges and seams, and the inside is timeless in design and will never look dated. This mid 1990s Ferrari interiors still had the "bolt this here, bolt this there" approach to ergonomics and aesthetics and was more farm tractor approach. The NSX interior will age like the 928 interior....it won't.

wunderlust

The right NSX in the right colours

I got a 1994 NA1 a bit over a decade ago for under 30 grand as a track rat and it was absolutely mega for that. Obviously bitterly regret selling it, but I’m not sure what I would do with the same car for a hundred grand… wouldn’t enjoy driving it as intended

I thing the NSX changed sports cars forever and the McLaren F1 introduced Supercars!

Good video. I confess that I'm a strong outlier. I've just never been a fan of the NSX design philosophy. For some reason, I've just never got on with its looks.

I’m going to say something very controversial, but nevertheless it’s my opinion and I’m not forcing it on anyone else. I strongly believe that if a car it’s good, you drive it. I don’t see the purpose of aquiring cars just to garage them and drive them 40 miles per month

Every time I start looking at cars like this or 360s I always end up at a Lotus Evora/Emira.

That is one goofy looking car from the doors back.

I have what you called a “sweet spot” NSX - a (late) 1999 NA2, which benefits from having non-PAS steering and the later, much better ABS. It’s also a Type S, I have owned it for just over 10 years, having searched for about 3 years prior, buying it from one of the best regarded NSX specialists in Japan. Oh, and it’s not red - it’s blue, Monte Carlo Blue Pearl to be exact. I am a lucky boy indeed.

totally agree much cheaper getting an auto, i got a nice one of a few prototype honda prelude 5th gen sent out to promote, this one was sent to england, but has half JDM half euro spec and is car number 44 but had the sequential auto box which i promptly blew up in a year lol, i bought it with that in mind and already had everything i needed to convert it to manual, so i will be doing that in a few weeks on my channel