[Pauli]

I remember reading in a post not too long ago about how many Ferarri's people were seeing on the side of the road or being towed etc... Is this an Italian thing? - I have seen two Lamborghini's in the last 3 weeks in the same predicament. I'm thinking one of two things here - either Fiat and Audi have some real mechanical issues w/ these cars - or perhaps (Not to stereotype) the drivers are just not maintaing these cars the way they should be maintained. I think there is a big difference between a car enthusiast who has the financial means to acquire these cars vs just someone w/ just the financial means. I personally feel, that the latter is more of the norm. I have seen many people driving these type of cars that barely even know how to get them in gear - let alone really drive them - That being the case, I guess the maintenance or lack thereof - would go without saying.

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[Fox944]

Italian Exotics have always required a lot of maintenance to keep running right and have historically always been unreliable. I remember reading reviews/articles as a kid where road test editors complained about certain things going wrong/breaking on the cars they were testing.

Cars like the Acura NSX (ferrari performance with accord reliability) cause ferrari to rethink the way they make cars, and have since built much better cars.....but still far from Porsche reliable.

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[Darryl]

Correct, Dino...these cars are quite a bit more finicky and are incredibly costly to maintain. They are very much a double edged sword in that you need to drive them enough so they don't sit and rot, but when you drive them even a little bit, things will break. Many new or first time owners are not prepared for the cost of ownership of these cars and they get neglected. 15K service intervals can run as much as 10-15K for basic maintenance such as timing belts, water pumps, clutch etc. We get off pretty easy considering a couple thou per year on average for 968 maintenance.

- Darryl

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[Monstrous4Banger]

The NSX has ferrari performance? Maybe the 70's, and 80's ferrari's. Fiat stands for: Fix It Again Tony.
Italian cars are notorious for being unreliable. Italians make beautiful, fast cars. Not reliable cars. Ive always seen them more as artwork than cars you drive around. Looks good in a garage, at a show, or elevating your social status when you do actually drive it. I like a sports car that I can actually drive regularly, without insane service costs. Ive heard parts are a pain, and anything after 90' forget about wrenching on yourself.

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[Fox944]

The Acura NSX offered better performance then the Ferrari 348 which is was made to compete with. It also cost about 45% the price back in the early 90's, had an all aluminum chassis and was hand built. To top it all off, it had near Honda Accord levels of reliability. The NSX most def. made Ferrari re think the way they build cars, and because of it...the F355 was a much much much better built car then the 348 it replaced, and while being quicker...still didnt handle as well as the revised NSX in 1996.

People have run 12.9sec 1/4 with bone stock 3.2L 6-speed NSX's.They arnt slow cars by any means. I urge you to drive one if you havnt already. They are Amazing cars.

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[flash]

initially i liked the nsx - the rear wing had to go, and i only liked the targa, but it had promise (i wasn't fond of the a pillar rattle at high speed on the first generation cars either)

that was, of course, until the japanese philosophy on interiors came into play - way too cheap - they have not held up over time - i also hated the hand brake location relative to the shifter - i didn't like the lunky shifter itself either which sat way too high, or the ergonomics when i sat in the car

also, to make the car affordable, they cheaped out on the hardware, which has resulted in a lot of rusted, corroded, and/or rattly parts

not what i look for in a car i want to keep

definitely not a ferrari

other than the muira, i've never been a lambo fan, and those things are on the moon, so i'm not too worried about that one

but i'd still like a couple of different ferraris, not really for their performance, but rather for the feel of how they drive, and the song their engine sings - it's a bit esoteric, but it is nothing in common with the nsx

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[ds968]

To preface this, the NSX is one of my top five favorite cars...in term of looks. And yes, it's fast...in the top speed category, but not sure where they came up with a 12.9 q-mile in a stock NSX, because all else being equal a stock 968 will stay nose to nose with a stock NSX of the same generation, either from a stand-still or any given rolling "x" mph, all the way to about 150 mph.. where the NSX will start to pull away because it has a much greater top end capability. Either its gearing or specific place in the rpm range where the power is delivered inhibits it, similar to the S2000 perhaps [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/huh.gif[/img] , or who knows what, but as much fun as they are to drive and as superior as they may be to Ferrari 308 GTB or GTS, I don't see it that close to 348. And in terms of engine rev and exhaust note.. I'd also take the Ferrari. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif[/img]

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[Fox944]

I must disagree with you guys. You wont find many Rust issues with the NSX as the entire car is built of aluminium. Suspension, drivetrain, chassis, body panels. Many of the components that arnt mae of aluminium are mae of other exotic materials.....such as the engine whose internals are all magnesium. As far as the erogonomics of the car go, i cant argue there as its subjective. But i can say that i find the erogonomics to be perfect, and many road test editors have praised the NSX's erogonomics.

As for the 968 being nose and nose with an NSX. Not likely. The early NSX's are mid 13sec 1/4 cars according to most magazine articles. Every Magazine that pitted it against the Ferrari 348, picked the NSX over it. better feedback, better handling, quicker acceleration, better build quality, better reliability, much cheaper price. About the only thing a 348 has over an NSX is the sound and brand cache. I can see a great driver in a 968 being nose to nose with an automatic NSX or a poor driver in a manual NSX.

Most magazines ran low 13sec 1/4's with the 3.2L 6-Speed NSX's. There are people who have broke into 12's, running 12.9sec 1/4's with stock NSX's. You can do a google search and find some.

Aryton Senna (who is arguably one of the greatest drivers this world has ever seen) was commissioned during the development of the NSX for feedback on its suspension design and driving dynamics.

Gordon Murray (designer of the Mclaren F1) used the Acura NSX as the benchmark for ride and handling when designing the Mclaren F1. This is a testiment to how good the NSX really was.

Here are a few links for the naysayers.

NSX running a 13.0Sec 1/4 (quicker then a 355, let alone a 348)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtNLH4lLgEA

Senna taking an NSX for a spin @ Suzuka & speaking on its development.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAwJsOECGBU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E09fPXK0XE

Gordon Murray's article on the NSX (He owned one BTW)
http://www.carzi.com/2008/11/22/gordon-mur...-the-acura-nsx/


While the NSX isnt extremely powerfull, they are light weight @ 2,950LBS with 270HP from 91-95. The 96 models were revised and made 290HP, and resieved a better geared 6-Speed transmission in place of the old 5-Speed. The '99 Zanardi Edition was a lightweight version similiar to what a 968 CS is to a 968. Only 51 were made.

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[Cloud9...68]

I'm with Fox on this one - the NSX was one of those rare Japanese cars with real soul, standard-setting handling, and, to my eye, an interior that was way ahead of its time. The only area I disagree with most of you guys, is, ironically, with its looks. As much as I wanted to like it, I could never warm up to its faux jet fighter jet looks. Also, it looked about a foot longer to me than it should have (but then, I've always liked compact cars, the Mercedes SLK being a classic case in point). But this stuff is all so subjective, so there are no right or wrong opinions.

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[ds968]

" I can see a great driver in a 968 being nose to nose with an automatic NSX or a poor driver in a manual NSX. "

This could be the case, though I'm by no means a great driver , in that I have picked on at least three NSXs ( they did appear to be earlier ones ) since I got the 968 and not one of them has outrun this car. It's not that I managed to beat any either, but with one in particular we took them up from around 30mph to 120-ish mph and were neck in neck all the way..

Still a head turner for me though.. best looking Japanese sports car I've seen to date [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif[/img]

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[flash]

all of this is largely subjective, and it's not like i don't still like the car - i just don't see too many clean examples, likely largely due to the low cost of the car, and people resultantly letting them run down - what i do see are cars with stuff rattling and falling apart, and a LOT of hardware issues - the hardware thing is a typical japanese issue though - most japanese car mechanics will tell you that you really just need to plan to replace any nut or bolt you remove in a repair

as for the ergonomics, i have a short back and long legs for my height - that makes things tough when you start talking about tunnel height, shifter location and pattern and such - it feels very uncomfortable to me - this bugged me a lot, since i liked the look and layout

as for performance, i was never particularly impressed with that aspect - it was "ok", but i thought it needed another 50hp (never heard that before) - i also didn't like the vagueness i got on the steering, but then i was used to manual steering front engine cars - i'm sure i could get used to it, just as i got used to the insanely soft steering of the 968

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[ds968]

" insanely soft steering of the 968 " OT, but that's the thing I dislike the most about our cars.. and there aren't many things
( hardly any other , for that matter ) I don't like about the 968.

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[Fox944]

The steering on my 968 isnt too soft. But i guess its all relative/subjective. I have 18" wheels & tires which weigh more then OE 16" wheels, so they make the steering a tad heavier. That and while my PS pump is working, i think its been weak since i purchased the vehicle 4 years ago. I've had a problem i never bothered to correct because it has never bothered me. At speed the power steering works, in cold it works...but when the car is hot and i'm parking...its as if its giving me little to no assist and the steering gets really heavy. I should take a few other 968's for a spin to compare.

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[ds968]

Even with my 17s, plus spacers on the wheels, plus max tolerances on alignment, and an after-market PS pulley designed to add steering resistance on top of all that, the response is still way too soft for my taste. My son's 2000 Nissan Altima has a tighter feel to it. That's just sad. Not sure what they did on the Honda S2000 , but that's the ideal steering feel / response ...for me.

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[Fox944]

hmmm, wierd. I've driven Altima's and my steering feels a lot heavier. Perhaps...my pump is barly working...a good thing. :-)

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[ds968]

I may still go PS-free one of these days.. just can't seem to make up my mind.

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[Cloud9...68]

It's so interesting listening to different peoples' perspectives on these things - I guess that's one of the great things about forums like this. To me, the 968's steering feels just about right.

This has to be one of the more meandering threads I've seen in awhile, but being in the non-968 discussions category, I guess we should expect more leeway. I totally agree with Flash's comment that the NSX could have benefitted tremendously from another 50 hp or so (sounds like another car from the same general era we all know and love... [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img] ). I wouldn't expect a stock NSX to totally smoke a good-running 968 (not like a Lexus IS F or anything [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif[/img] ), but by all rights, the NSX should win, thanks to its slightly better power-to-weight ratio, and the greater rear weight bias due to its mid-engined layout. Still can't get past the huge (to my eye) front and rear overhangs, and the odd-looking (again, just in my humble opinion) canopy roof.

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