we've been waiting for seemingly an eternity to drive the acura nsx hybrid
supercar and driving is exactly what we're doing on the roads outside palm
springs california with a little track time to now and nsx live up to the hype
and anticipation and creating a new sports experience like the name suggests
the hardware underneath the NSX is just as wild as the exterior looks with three
electric motors a lithium-ion battery pack and a twin-turbocharged v6 make a
combined 573 horsepower now the twin-turbo v6 pairs with that 9 speed
dual clutch automatic transmission and those are just the basics from when you
first sit in the nsx it's absolutely clear this is a comfortable car
the visibility is great has very thin a pillars and a relatively low beltline so
you can actually drive with your arm hanging out the window and not look like
a complete fool and a lot of that is also because there are no goofy gullwing
doors or any kind of special access here or tubs you have to climb over to get
and like a BMW i8 it's a pretty normal experience stepping in and once you get
in the interior it's nice i wouldn't say that it's ultra high-end luxury it's
very accurate like and there's technical styling and there's a very nice
Alcantara suede highlights throughout the entire interior and this one has the
optional Alcantara headliner but up front here what we have is the drive
mode selector and this little piece here is really key in unlocking the various
driving characteristics of the nsx in quiet mode nsx drives more like a sporty
coupe than a supercar with the suspension steering and accelerator all
toned down to create a very livable experience when you first start in quiet
mode and get going from a stop sign or stuff like the cars actually using
the two electric motors and the front wheels to drive the car and then as you
pick up speed the engine and rear motor will kick in to provide acceleration
quite load may be great when you want to drive home with a pounding headache but
it's the Sport+ and track modes with cars working madness awakens and on
potential of nsx the engine wakes up and let you know because the active sound
devices let more the engine noise inside car adjustable sound passageways right
off engines air intake snake up to behind your head and let you hear the
screaming engine turbo whistles and wonderful mechanical noises this
advanced powertrain makes there's some electronic augmentation here but the end
result of what speaks for itself on the exhaust side there's an active exhaust
that bypasses silencer and
more aggressive modes creating one heck of a noise that's enjoyable
you're not a problem Sport+ and track modes are where you want to be to
extract maximum capability of the nsx acceleration is seamless which is a
surprising characteristic considering the two electric motors at the front of
the car are independent of the rear electric motor and turbo charged engine
in the rear the technological end of this car looks complicated enough power
space shuttle but on the road all the systems working together very well
power comes on strong and is accessible at nearly any speed thanks to the
electric systems instant torque forward and lower speeds while the engine pull
strong airspeeds to provide power anywhere
the end result is the thrill of being pushed back in your seat especially so
with the NSX is launch control using the all-wheel drive and five hundreds of new
polls NSX is an all-wheel-drive is truly showcased on the track that's where it's
torque vectoring capability shines the independent motors up front
power separately
wheels which
our corner under stairs built into the car for safety reasons prevent notices
from spinning the nsx and it's a notable characteristic on the track even with
the optional track tires you kind of have to drive around the understeer by
slowing up that corner entry but the extremely smart all-wheel-drive an
instant power and work means you can apply throttle sooner than expected and
let the car do the work of finding traction while rocketing off a corner
the highlight of the track experiences the optional carbon ceramic brakes now
the brake system as a whole is just astonishing with how linear the pedal
feels because not only are these carbon ceramic brakes but it's also a
regenerative braking system you know attached to this wheel here in board you
have an electric motor and so you channel the brake pedal through all of
this stuff and it still feels natural
now there are a number of electronics assist the help that but the end result
bolt on the street and the track is unbelievable breaking experience
that your work with continental to develop the standard tire on the nsx
which is the Conte sport contact but there are two optional track tires the
prolly p0 trofeo are in the Michelin sport cup 2 now a cure is saying both
these track tires are acceptable to run on the nsx and are giving you two
options just in be case one model isn't available that a sec starts at around
$MONEY hundred fifty seven thousand dollars with destination it's not hard
to wrap that up to around 200 thousand dollars with some of the pricey optional
equipment including the $10,000 carbon-ceramic brakes like this one as
well as the six thousand dollar optional red valencia paint accurate may not be
positioning itself to sell many of the nsx but it's absolutely a showcase of
what's possible with this kind of technology you know sometimes you just
don't want to be in a rough riding loud ultra-sensitive car all the time and the
nsx has the adjustable driving modes to dial that down and drive it everyday