1993 Acura NSX

1993 Acura NSX

It's been a while, but the random program has finally given me something cool. Acura's one venture into the world of exotics over the years has been the NSX. I bought this one back in 1999 on a whim and kept it for some time, driving it quite a bit. I had never been crazy about them, but thought they were, at the very least, unique and interesting.

Between 1991 and 2005 they sold 18,685 NSX's worldwide. More than half of them were delivered to North America as Acura's, but everywhere else in the world they were sold as Honda's. Honda has brought back the NSX this year and it's supposed to be quite a car. I haven't driven one yet, but all indications are that it's a world class sports car.

The early ones like mine were pretty good as well, but it wasn't an overpowering car. It had a 3.0 liter V6 that only put out about 270 horsepower. Some of them were even automatics (blasphemy in the 90's) although mine was the much more common manual. It was quick and handled amazingly well due to its mid-engine layout, but it wasn't all that fast.

The interior was very cool, but snug for a big guy like me. You sat very low to the ground. Everything was well thought out and worked though.

I was kind of curious what became of my NSX so I did a little digging. It was no spring chicken when I let it go with nearly 90K miles on it in 2004. These cars were reliable and easy to drive, so unlike other exotics, people drove them. The car has been sold twice since my ownership, the last time in 2012 with 110K miles, and each time for more money. That's not surprising as these have started climbing the collectible ladder as the market for Japanese classics has heated up.

This is one of those cars that I wish I still owned today. Aside from the investment potential, my NSX was 100% original which is rarely the case with these older ones. The miles were a bit high, but it was a reliable and driveable exotic. Those words rarely go together. I even had all the tools and other extra things that came with the car new. They still look cool too - even today.

My brother even liked this one (not always the case). 

So should you buy one? Absolutely! If you're even thinking about it, do it. It's hard to imagine that you'll go wrong with an NSX. They're only going to continue to appreciate and it's got Honda reliability under it's rather exotic skin. Good, low mileage examples are already through the roof, but I wouldn't hesitate to buy a higher mileage NSX if it's close to stock. You can actually drive it and enjoy it instead of worrying about engine noises and door dings.