New Honda NSX goes on sale in Japan – RM951,300

Sales of the new Honda NSX have kicked off in Japan, 26 years since the pioneering all-aluminium sports car first broke out. The New Sports eXperience is open for custom orders now, with customer deliveries slated to begin on February 27, 2017.

It has been 11 years since the first-gen NSX (then standing for New Sportscar eXperimental) was last on sale, and in the intervening period a lot of technology has been added. There’s still a V6 under the rear glass hatch, but displacement has swelled from 3.2 to 3.5 litres, and the DOHC engine has been augmented by not one, but two turbochargers – boosting output to 500 hp at 7,500 rpm and 550 Nm from 2,000 to 6,000 rpm.

That’s not all – sandwiched between the engine and transmission is an electric Direct Drive Motor that offers 47 hp and 148 Nm. There are also a pair of motors at the front that powers the front wheels; this Twin Motor Unit (TMU) puts out 72 hp (36 hp at each wheel) and 146 Nm Altogether, they produce a combined system output of 573 hp and 645 Nm.

Transferring the engine and rear motor’s power to the ground is a nine-speed dual-clutch transmission, while the electric motors are powered by an Intelligent Power Unit-Power Drive Unit (IPU-PDU) setup, integrating the lithium-ion battery and high-voltage distribution bus bar. Honda’s Sport Hybrid Super Handling All-Wheel-Drive (SH-AWD) system provides torque vectoring at the front, using the twin independent motors.

Managing these all these powertrain elements is the Integrated Dynamics System (IDS), operable via a knob on the centre console. Four driving modes are available, these being Quiet (which prioritises electric-only driving), Sport, Sport+ and Track – the latter offering up Launch Mode Control too.

Elsewhere, the front double wishbone and rear multilink suspension is fitted with active magnetorheological (MR) dampers, and the front lower arms get double ball joints to reduce feedback from the front TMU system. Forged aluminium wheels – measuring 19 inches at the front, 20 inches at the rear – hide steel brakes with six-piston callipers at the front and four-piston items at the rear; carbon ceramic discs are optional.

A Multi-Material Body utilises an aluminium-intensive space frame, which features ultra-high-tensile steel as well, while carbon fibre has been used on the front floor panels. In all, the NSX – which measures at 4,490 mm long, 1,940 mm wide and 1,215 mm tall – weighs in at 1,780 kg.

Oddly, Honda doesn’t quote performance figures (its American luxury offshoot Acura published an approximate top speed of 307 km/h), but it has released a fuel consumption figure of 12.4 km per litre on the Japanese JC08 cycle.

And the price for all this? The new Honda NSX will set you back 23,700,000 yen (RM951,300), inclusive of an 8% consumption tax but excluding insurance, vehicle registration fees and other taxes. You can add to the cost even further by specifying options such as carbon fibre trim outside, inside and in the engine bay, four-way power-adjustable seats with a driver’s memory function and the aforementioned ceramic brakes.

We’ve driven the new Honda NSX already, albeit briefly – read our review here.

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