Filed under: Supercars, Acura, Honda
Acura NSX replacement still delayed due to design issues
Here's the only firm detail about the new Acura NSX: it will have a new ten-hole engine. While the designers have been trading bodyslams and suplexes over what the next Honda supercar will look like, engineers took the opportunity to collaborate about wrist pins, valve geometry, and vee angles. Everyone involved does acknowledge that it has to look right, thus the contention. Time has not yet slipped through Acura's fingers, and the company wants to avoid the stagnation that leaves a 2005 NSX looking little different than a '91. Acura's going to realign their brand, and the NSX is part of that effort, along with the new RL sedan that will be coming in 2010. According to Acura's Executive VP Dick Colliver, as far behind as the NSX is, the RL's further back. Assuaging fears, Colliver quickly adds that there's still time to get it together.
[Source: Automotive News - Sub Req.]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ligor 8:42AM (1/22/2008)
they better had kept this at 3000lbs or lighter
that's what made the last NSX a gem, it wasn't the huge amount of torque or power
so if I was Acura i'd stick a 4.0L V8 that revs to ~10-11k RPM and comes in at 450HP and 330-370Lb-ft
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naggs 12:44PM (1/22/2008)
just wait, it will be a 3800 lbs 4 seat 550 hp front engined 4 wd cruiser designed to take on the M6 and AMG 63 mercs
obviously, what it should be is an updated NSX with a v8. how they managed to miss that simple fact i will never know. honda is totally lost. every day they seem more and more like an american car company and the possibality of them ever making a desireable product again seems slimmer and slimmer
naggs 12:45PM (1/22/2008)
btw, 4.0 at 10 or 11k rpm would be closer to 600 hp
danms6 9:00AM (1/22/2008)
I hope they fix the design issue that makes it look like ass.
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dmscrx 2:34PM (1/29/2008)
I agree...It looks like hell's ugly stick. They will only embarrass the name and the term sports car. They should have kept to the HSC platform and improved upon the NSX's design not changed it. I could go on for years about how the design team should be fired, but I can only say that I hope they realize their mistake before making another one. It saddens me to see Honda regress so much nowadays.
MikeW 9:01AM (1/22/2008)
No, realistically 440hp@8500, 320ft-lbs@6500, revving to 9K.
It better have 8 forward gears then.
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naggs 2:36PM (1/22/2008)
a v6 reving to 9k rpm would get you well over 400 hp
no need for 4 more cylinders. gas mileage and buzzyness would be rediculous though.
MikeW 4:49PM (1/22/2008)
Honda will probably veto the V10, as F1 has moved away from V10s.
A nice 'big bore' (for a Honda) of 90mm, on 95mm centers, with a 78.5mm stroke, flat plane crank v8.
Maybe Honda will integrate the ZeroShift mechanism into a double clutch transmission design (they are not mutually exclusive, and would help out if the transmission mispredicts)
Maybe 500hp@9000, if Honda goes very 'sporty' 315ft-lbs@7500.
TwinTurbo3000GT 9:01AM (1/22/2008)
i didnt think there was anything wrong with the old NSX...other than slow sales. They talk about it like it was an outdated looking car, lol. Whatever that thing up there is, it appears to be front engine, so scrap that. Keep with the mid-engine theme fo sho.
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MikeW 4:38PM (1/23/2008)
Honda should have used a 60 degree V6 for transverse mid-engine. That would have shortened the tail of the car.
If they were going to use the 90 degree engine, it should have been longitudinal (with a 6 speed transmission).
Gordon Murray also said something to the similar (in 1990 I think)
-rear vision not bad, tail feels too long for parking
-overall size of the car is perfect-except tail length for parking
wrussi 9:07AM (1/22/2008)
as long as the NSX is as good as the old one hey we can wait.
as far as the engine i heard the V10 was not gonna be in the nsx due to weight and size. even though the V10 engine was completed they needed to look into something smaller, probably more like a v8. i guess we will never know untill it hits the showrooms.
what im more concerned is with the RL. is it going to be as bad as the current one? meaning FWD bias, small and underpowered? or is it going to be like the original legend? ahead of its time, sporty, powerful, amazing design and exellent value?
for honda to have a competitive flagship sedan they need to look into hmmm RWD!!
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psarhjinian 10:39AM (1/22/2008)
No, they don't need RWD to be competitive, and the reason why is spelled A-u-d-i.
Acura's problem is that the RL doesn't stand out against the E/5/A6, not that it isn't RWD, or that SHAWD isn't good. It looks like an Accord--albeit a nice one--and more or less drives like one. This isn't a bad thing, but when you buy a luxury sedan, you don't want a very nice Accord.
The rest of Acura's lineup is actually pretty good. They don't have an equivalent to M/AMG/S ultraperformance sedans, but line-for-line they're pretty competitive with the Germans, Lexus, Infiniti & Cadillac and head-and-shoulders above Saab, Volvo and Lincoln.
Their only serious weakness is cancelling the RSX and leaving nothing in it's place. The RSX/Integra funnelled a lot of young, up-and-coming buyers into Acura and it was a foolish idea to think that the RDX and TSX would fill that role, especially since both start much higher in price.
Richard 9:24AM (1/22/2008)
UGLY!
And I hope they come with a super high-tech V6 and eight forward speeds via paddles. No guages, just video screens and HUDs...in matte black carbon weave - 'cause that always seems to make ugly design more palatable.
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naggs 12:48PM (1/22/2008)
congrats on not reading the post at all
extra points for not even putting the picture in the context of the title!
Richard 2:27PM (1/22/2008)
Yeah!
I should probably cut back on the espresso!
geo.stewart 9:28AM (1/22/2008)
every manufacuter out there is touting you wont recognize the brand in 6 years. Otehr than the TL and RDX, Acura doesnt really have anything worth speaking about. The TSX is okay but bland exterior and nothing more than the Euro Accord. The MDX is a rebadged Pilot and the RL is so last decade as everyone agrees. Sell the Euro Civic Si hatch as the new Integra as a C30 fighter. then dedicate some resources to making a true full luxury brand or get out of the market.
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naggs 1:27PM (1/22/2008)
they euros can keep the overweight beam axel civic type r
another example of a honda that got worse with the new model
psarhjinian 10:03AM (1/22/2008)
I missed the old NSX. I couldn't have afforded to buy one, but was nice to think I could have afforded to _keep_ one. It was also, more or less, like a sporty 1990s Accord on the inside, which, compared to Lamborghini at the time, was a good thing.
It was a car that scared the bejeezus out of the Italians and British. It may not have had their absolute performance or pedigree, but it did demonstrate that a supercar didn't have to have Marquis de Sade ergonomics and/or mechanicals that give up after the first speed bump.
I'd like to see Honda do that again. The supercar makers are getting awfully arrogant again and it's a good check on them to have an upstart like Honda give them a wakeup call.
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Ted 10:04AM (1/22/2008)
Ugh...this thing looks like it could be a modern day Pontiac Firebird.
Hardly an appropriate look for a supercar.
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dreamtech 10:58AM (1/22/2008)
HAHA ha, it seems so apparent to me that all you Honda / Acura lovers have no idea how bad Honda/Acura design really is. All the automotive companies have great designers including Acura and Honda BUT, the Honda management is a disaster. So many times the Honda President Takeo Fukui has overstepped his bounds saying the NSX is coming, and well it hasn`t. Honda decided long ago that they needed a V10 to match the image of Formula 1 and competitors like BMW M5 and Lexus LFA and now F1 cars use V8. The Market is changing faster than the SLOW Honda management can think!! The future is in high performance environmentally friendly powertrains. Maybe they are working to make their diesel a V10.
But back to design, just look at all of Honda`s failures like the Acura RL... a total disaster which just weakens the brand. The new Pilot is not following the trend and looks like a bad Explorer (although the original one had generic design) CRZ is look to predictable. The new Accord is a rip-off of German design cues (BMW hofmeister kink window treatment).
Yes I am sure the Acura brand will somehow come alive in the next 6 or 7 years....but rest of the car companies may have blown by them by then.
What do you all think. Agree??
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