Top Car

70 TOPCAR.CO.ZA|January 2016

HENAME MAYbe the same and

the remit similar – an everyday

supercar with a ro ad focus – but

that’s where the similarities end, as

they must for two cars developed a

quarter of acentury apart. NSX 2.0

is a hybrid two-seat sports car set to cost in the region

of R2.6million. The ba ld figures are 422kW from a car

weighing 1 725kg, a topspeed of 307kph and a 0-100kph

time of less than 3 seconds. Unlike the (less expensive)

BMW i8 and (significantly more expensive) Porsche

918, the NSX is not a plug-in hybrid. The ba ttery is small

(1kWh for an EV range of about2km) and, li ke the three

e-motors it feeds, exists only to enhance performance.

Aluminium with strategic use of carbonfibre (a single

large floor panel) and high-strength steel, Honda claims

the car’s structure sets class standards for rigidity, bu t

then the NSX has beenso long in development it’s been

variously benchmarked against the (now defunct) Ferrari

458 Italia and the long-in-the-tooth Porsche 911 Turbo.

Suspension is by doublewishbones at the front and

multi-link at the rear, controlled by magnetic dampers.

Honda’s worked to reduce the front motors’ corrupting

effect on the steering through clevergeometry and

doubleball-joints on the lower suspension arms.

The engine’s a 3.5-litre, dry-sumped twin-

turbochargedV6. There’s variable timing on the intake

and exhaust cams but full VTEC, with variable lift,

does not feature. With twin turbos and e-boosting (the

148Nm rear e-motor works todeliver torquewhere the

single-scroll tu rbos fall short), Ho nda deemed the system

surplus to requirements. The engine drives the rear

wheels througha home-growntwin-clutch 9-speed DCT

transmission, with the e-motors calibrated tosmooth the

dips between gears with momentary power surges– all

part of the NSX’s ‘zero-delay’ philosophy.

PriceTBA

Engine3 493cc twin-turboV6

plus 3 xe-motors, 422kW @ 6 50 0rpm-

7 500rpm, 64 4Nm@ 2000rpm

TransmissionNine-speed paddleshift

DCT, four-wheeldrive

PerformanceSub 3sec0-100kph,

30 7kph, 9.4ℓ/100km(est), n/a g/kmCO 2

Weight1 725kg

Length/width/height

4 470/1 940/1 215mm

OnsaleLate 2016

On paperthe NSX

weighs too much,

but you wouldn’t

know it when you

hit the throttle

HONDA NSX

TECH-LADEN NSX

WILL BRING BRAINS

AND BRAWN TO

THE 911/AUDI R8/

McLAREN 570S

BATTLEGROUND

10

HE NAME MAY

the remit similar – an everyday

supercar with a r oad focus – but

that’s where the similarities end, as

they must for two cars developed a

quarter of acentury apart. NSX 2.0

is a h ybrid two-seat sports car set to cost in the region

of R2.6million. The ba ld figures are 422kW from a car