If there's been a car we've all wanted at least once in our lives, it's this car. It's the car that gets
confused with a Ferrari by pretty much everyone. It's the car that, for some reason, has appreciated an astronomical amount in the past five years because that's just what cars
are doing this season. It's almost the only car you'll see with a 100,000 miles or more because you could actually drive
these things religiously and they wouldn't break. They are the car. That was, like, the
flippy floppy headlights. It had a reliable motor. A proper exhaust zone. And it's still considered one of the best cars you can buy, even
though they're 30 years old. That's sad. I'm Alex, AlexFI on Instagram, and today, ladies and gentlemen, we're gonna be talking about my high school sweetheart of a car, the Honda NSX. (hip hop music) (revving engine) If you're just jumping in, don't forget to subscribe and hit the little bell button, so we can take the YouTube
algorithm into our own hands. That's all I got, actually. Thank you very much. And if you're looking for aftermarket wheels, tires, or suspension, be sure to hit up fitmentindustries.com. Where we've got it all. For your newly acquired NSX. Or, if you just got an MR2 because those are the closest thing that you can get to at the time. Which is okay. We don't judge. The Honda NSX or as it's
name here in the U.S.A, the Acura NSX is a two
seater, mid engine sports car that was manufactured by Honda. It's origins takes us
back to the year of 1984, where Honda was being a little bit curious like most kids in college and wanted to try a way to compete with the VN V8 Ferrari engine brilliance, exotic thing that was
happening at the time. There was all sorts of battles going on between Ferrari and
Lamborghini and Porsche and pretty much everybody overseas. The small thing is, though, is that Honda really didn't wanna have their car just
randomly start on fire. They wanted it to be weird. Like, they want it reliable, and they didn't wanna
charge an arm and a leg. They just wanted to charge an arm. They started by introducing
something called the HPX, which was the Honda
Pininfarina Experimental. But that acronym didn't
really make the cut. The NSX would hit the showroom floor and featured some beautiful design work done by chief designer Masahito
Nakano and Shigeru Uehara. It had all the good good,
with interior styling from like an F-16 fighter jet. Like pew, pew, pew, pew, pew. It had influence and changes from the one and only Ayrton Senna. - You don't feel the speed, in a way. You just don't feel the speed. The car is so stable and so comfortable. - When it was going through
it's final development stages, which ultimately resulted in the car actually being shipped
it's happy ass back. It's reproduction sent more rigid because he said the initial test run felt a little bit, and I quote, "fragile". - Ah, Fra-gile, that must be Italian. - Soichiro Honda was personally involved in the execution of this car as the supreme advisor for Honda. Pushing the company to become the technological champion
like it was in decades past. He would get as detailed
to stop a shipment of NSX's on the U.S. port
because he didn't like the variation of the Acura logo that was on the car at the time. He would then have them replaced,
the old emblem's destroyed so that the car can meet his expectations on how he wanted the car to be perceived. Which is, in fact, pretty gnarly. In terms of going all out, Honda wasn't really pulling any punches. They'd invest in over 25
billion dollars into this car. Actually they didn't. They only invested about 140 million. Not so impressive now, is it? Kind of a let down. Doesn't seem like as much money anymore. Let that sink in. The car would be introduced with an all aluminum body, a three
liter V-sick engine, V-tech. What?! It was awesome. And an optional manual or
automatic transmission. It had pretty much everything an everyday driver car
could possibly want. I mean, have you ever actually been in a legitimate super car before? Let me explain to you how actually painful it is to do just about
anything in one of those cars. This is really neat. However, it's not easy to get in if you're anything bigger than me which is pretty much
like a 14 year old boy. So, like, you get in and
you got, let me just, you gotta, okay, hold on, let me just. Oh God, my hair. Okay, and... Now, you're in. Awesome. I have about five inches of clearance through the front windshield,
which is fantastic. I can see absolutely nothing through the six inches of side window that I have. But I look really cool. Now, if I wanna look behind me, the great news is I can't see a thing because there's glass
in the way and a wing. Which means if I wanted to
look behind me, I can't. The good news is, though, is
that if I'm looking to pass, I can just look here, great. I see a control module for the hood. And over here, I have what looks like the free version of a window, and if I wanna get an
actual window that works, I have to pay an additional DLC. So, in terms of driving
this, you can't see a thing. Now let's get out. So I can just, let me just,
don't wanna scratch the head. Oh, God. Okay, let me just get out, watch the head. We're good. And then after all of
that, you have to do it all like it wasn't painstakingly
difficult to get in and out. Because if it looks like
you're having a tough time, you're gonna look like
that one guy that was trying to get out of a
Lamborghini in a gas station; it was really hilarious and it went viral. The NSX on the other hand
had practicality in mind. With the vehicle's
ergonomics being built around the driver being actually able
to see where it was going. How awesome. Even the long tail and the short nose, the NSX would maintain a
beautiful weight distribution with an all aluminum frame that would have never seen before in the
world of cars, at the time. Yokohama would even make over 6,000 tires specifically for the
application of the NSX. And a whole bunch of different models to make sure it was what we wanted. The double wishbone suspension would grace the NSX for the fact that
it was perfectly paired for the specifications Honda needed to make a banger of a car. This car was pretty much
perfectly crafted from the get go. From the shifter to the iconic motor that outpaced the Ferrari 328 at the time in terms of displacement,
horse power ratios. It had it's own quality control on having a plant specifically built for the production of the
NSX at the Tochigi Plant. The 200 plant workers
could take as much time as necessary to assemble
these state of the art cars. Which, unlike most factory jobs out there, if you've worked at one,
that just doesn't exist. And NSX was the only car that
was really getting built. Even through, like, the
welding and everything and the rivets and all that stuff. Everything was done exactly
how they wanted it to be done. When the first gen got release, it received a massive amount of publicity. And although it never really took off like a proper production car, it really was never Honda's intention. The car would receive a face lift to ditch the pop up headlights. Boo. And also sent some improvements to the engine, aerodynamics, put in a three point two
liter and a few other items. It would be discontinued in 2005 and would die away until it's revival just about two-ish or so years ago. The second generation, while not much of a history behind it, is way completely different. It featured a twin turbo
three and a half liter with some electric motor
goodness, a nine speed automatic and some new materials to
make it a blast of a car. However, just like some
of the other new cars taking on the older legacy
cars, and what we know of them, it didn't really just hit the mark like the first generation NSX. It's kinda like when you go Taco Bell. Like, you're not mad. You still got your tacos, you
still got your burrito box. You just wish you would've spent the extra five bucks and went to the taco joint on the side of the road that smells like exhaust fumes because everything is just better there. And you've gone there since you were five and you know the dudes
that's gonna get you the steak tacos with the cilantro and the onions and the
red sauce is so good. But we're not here to teach
you about the history. Oh no, son. We're here to help you decide on if you actually want a
Honda-slash-Acura NSX and if it's the appropriate
car for you there, bud. So, you want an Acura-slash-Honda NSX. Well set down your Honda hat
and grab your Mountain Dew, because we're about to dive head first on if these cars are actually what you would want to
pick up 30 years later. The first thing to remember is that if you've managed to
snag a Honda NSX, just... (clapping) Good on you. I am proud of you. NSX's are inherently a bit difficult to get your hands on. Especially if you're on a budget. The ones that are available
have a few quirks. Most that you'll find will be affordable are gonna be automatics. There's nothing wrong with that. But the car more
appropriately behaves with the short shift feeling manual. The rest were likely totaled and all the other ones that
are manual and non-totaled are gonna take you at right around that 50,000 dollars mark,
especially right now. That's usually the mark if you want an NSX with about 100,000 miles. Pricing, it's not going down. So if you're on the fence, I would recommend snagging
one now versus later. You might be wondering, "Hey Alex, how come a mediocre owned by" "six previous people, 130,000 NSX is" "going for 90,000 dollars?" "Or 50,000 dollars?" "Or 70,000 dollars?" That is a great question, me. And here's why. The cars were almost
always properly driven. Because of the fact that they were built to be daily drivable, that's
what a lot of enthusiasts did with these things when
they first came out. They drove them. They had no negatives, like a Ferrari that had like the tin can
metal exhausts that fell apart. Or the Lamborghinis that
required 15,000 dollar tune up every other season
you drove it 300 miles. It was a Honda that you could see through while you were driving. You could own it, and it could get maintained relatively easy. Like, it was just a car
that you could drive and it looked like an exotic super car. It was driven like a normal car. The NSX is one of those cars that, if it doesn't have any miles
on it, it'd be a shame. The car itself can handle almost anything. They're reliable. They drive well. They can be taken across the state or country with minimal issues. And everyone is still going to be taking pictures of it. Even if they're not a car person. 'Cause it looks like a Ferrari. It looks like an exotic car, and people think that it is. Take the badge off and
nobody would be the wiser. If you're looking to modify an NSX, it all comes down to the
pockets my good friends. Because you could do anything. You want a super charge it? You can do that. You want a turbo charge it? Sure, why not. Wide body it? Absolutely. Wheels? Yeah. You're usually looking at some Japanese high end wheels
for something like this. Like TE 37s are in tons of these cars. Or Weds Sports for the one pieces. Or even NKS. You may even find some German wheels like BBS is hitting these cars as well because the body style can make pretty much anything look perfect. Tires end up staying around like the Toyo and Falken lineup
versus anything else. So most people are running
moderate staggered setups. But mostly Meaty's kind of boys because they want it to keep
looking aggressive and mean. Although Air Lift and Acura started to get popular in these cars, you'll still see quite
a few people running BC coilovers or the
Fortunato's coilovers as well. Which by the way, if you're looking to pick up a free set of coilovers, we have a t-shirt giveaway
going on right now. You can pick a t-shirt, gets you automatically entered in to win and you get a really cool
shirt that has Godzilla on it. Some of the negatives
of this car are the fact that it's pretty hefty
financial investment to get into one of these cars, and you almost immediately have to throw a bit more to update the look of the car. It is still 30 years old. They can carry quite
a bit of tax with them and parts aren't getting
any easier to find. The V6 isn't inherently speedy, and it doesn't carry the same howl as it's super car equivalent. But it doesn't really need to as long you're not expecting that. The NSX is a car for an enthusiast
that wants a forever car. A car that they've wanted to own forever, and enjoy for more than
the occasional drive. Because the Honda NSX is
a car you have to drive. It's a car that demands your attention. And the history that follows this car is likely one of the most influential stories in automotive history. It was Honda's answer
to telling the world, "Yep, bud, we still got it there." "And if there's ever a time
you need us to come back," "we can give her a shot again." So what would you do for an NSX? Let us know in the comment section below and let's try to keep it PG. Actually, no. The more I think about
that, the more I know that would be a terrible
thing for you to do. Instead, just let us know what you'd like us to talk about next. Also, we'll be heading to SEMA this year. Again, for the third year. It is so much fun. So, let us know what you
want us to talk about. You can drop us a DM or a comment so we can start planning that out. If you're looking for aftermarket wheels, tires, or suspension, be sure to check out fitmentindustries.com I'm Alex, from Fitment Industries and we will see you guys and gals later. I almost lost my coffee. Peace.
