Honda Accura NSX accelerates nicely up to 155 mph
>> Monday, November 21, 2011
The NSX removes almost all barriers to heroic driving. Late for an appointment and need to go 80 mph around mountain curves? You won't hear the tires squeal. Getting a call on your cell phone? Nudge the transmission into full auto and the car will shift for you, smooth as a Lexus. Don't want to downshift while descending the Sierra mountains? Good luck getting the ventilated foot-diameter rotors to heat up enough to make the brakes fade. Worried that your $85,000 car and cell phone aren't enough to attract a partner and anxious to get a tan? Take the top off your NSX-T and store it in the ingenious spot above the engine that doesn't rob you of any luggage space.
I wish I could be like one of those studs from Car & Driver magazine and tell you that "the NSX accelerates nicely up to 155 mph when the limiter kicks in harshly" or "the NSX steers neutrally until 0.95 g but then starts to oversteer slightly." But I can't. I'm too old. I'm 32 and believe that I'm going to die one day and I hope it won't be soon. I drove the NSX from Los Angeles to San Francisco and back, about 1000 miles total. Adjusted for the twisty roads along the coast and in the Sierra, I drove faster than I've ever gone in my life. I never came close to any limit imposed by the NSX. I would be scared to test the limits of this car on a public road.You can get the NSX with a 5-speed manual or 4-speed Formula One-type automatic tranmission. My testosterone-poisoned psyche yearned for a manual transmission, but rationally I knew that all race cars these days have "semi-automatic" transmissions.
The console-mounted shifter in my automatic NSX-T had four settings: 4, 3/M, 2, 1. In "4", the car behaves like any other with an automatic transmission: it chooses the best gear from 1 through 4. Shifting into 3/M from a stop, the car starts in first gear. You can accelerate until just before redline and the transmission will not shift. All control has moved into a little stalk by your right index finger. Tip it up and the car will instantly shift into second gear. Another tip up and you're in third gear. Tip it down and the car will shift back to second, assuming that won't result in overrevving the engine.While other car companies whined that the new California emissions standards were impossible, Honda figured out how to meet them with minor valve timing and induction system tweaks. The same kind of engineering brilliance was applied to the NSX's all-aluminum 3.0-liter V-6. It produces 270 hp and 210 lbs-ft of torque, which is ample considering that the car only weighs 3100 lbs.
I wish I could be like one of those studs from Car & Driver magazine and tell you that "the NSX accelerates nicely up to 155 mph when the limiter kicks in harshly" or "the NSX steers neutrally until 0.95 g but then starts to oversteer slightly." But I can't. I'm too old. I'm 32 and believe that I'm going to die one day and I hope it won't be soon. I drove the NSX from Los Angeles to San Francisco and back, about 1000 miles total. Adjusted for the twisty roads along the coast and in the Sierra, I drove faster than I've ever gone in my life. I never came close to any limit imposed by the NSX. I would be scared to test the limits of this car on a public road.You can get the NSX with a 5-speed manual or 4-speed Formula One-type automatic tranmission. My testosterone-poisoned psyche yearned for a manual transmission, but rationally I knew that all race cars these days have "semi-automatic" transmissions.
The console-mounted shifter in my automatic NSX-T had four settings: 4, 3/M, 2, 1. In "4", the car behaves like any other with an automatic transmission: it chooses the best gear from 1 through 4. Shifting into 3/M from a stop, the car starts in first gear. You can accelerate until just before redline and the transmission will not shift. All control has moved into a little stalk by your right index finger. Tip it up and the car will instantly shift into second gear. Another tip up and you're in third gear. Tip it down and the car will shift back to second, assuming that won't result in overrevving the engine.While other car companies whined that the new California emissions standards were impossible, Honda figured out how to meet them with minor valve timing and induction system tweaks. The same kind of engineering brilliance was applied to the NSX's all-aluminum 3.0-liter V-6. It produces 270 hp and 210 lbs-ft of torque, which is ample considering that the car only weighs 3100 lbs.
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