Top Car

70 TOPCAR.CO.ZA|January 2016HENAME MAYbe the same andthe remit similar – an everydaysupercar with a ro ad focus – butthat’s where the similarities end, asthey must for two cars developed aquarter of acentury apart. NSX 2.0is a hybrid two-seat sports car set to cost in the regionof R2.6million. The ba ld figures are 422kW from a carweighing 1 725kg, a topspeed of 307kph and a 0-100kphtime of less than 3 seconds. Unlike the (less expensive)BMW i8 and (significantly more expensive) Porsche918, the NSX is not a plug-in hybrid. The ba ttery is small(1kWh for an EV range of about2km) and, li ke the threee-motors it feeds, exists only to enhance performance.Aluminium with strategic use of carbonfibre (a singlelarge floor panel) and high-strength steel, Honda claimsthe car’s structure sets class standards for rigidity, bu tthen the NSX has beenso long in development it’s beenvariously benchmarked against the (now defunct) Ferrari458 Italia and the long-in-the-tooth Porsche 911 Turbo.Suspension is by doublewishbones at the front andmulti-link at the rear, controlled by magnetic dampers.Honda’s worked to reduce the front motors’ corruptingeffect on the steering through clevergeometry anddoubleball-joints on the lower suspension arms.The engine’s a 3.5-litre, dry-sumped twin-turbochargedV6. There’s variable timing on the intakeand exhaust cams but full VTEC, with variable lift,does not feature. With twin turbos and e-boosting (the148Nm rear e-motor works todeliver torquewhere thesingle-scroll tu rbos fall short), Ho nda deemed the systemsurplus to requirements. The engine drives the rearwheels througha home-growntwin-clutch 9-speed DCTtransmission, with the e-motors calibrated tosmooth thedips between gears with momentary power surges– allpart of the NSX’s ‘zero-delay’ philosophy.``````PriceTBAEngine3 493cc twin-turboV6plus 3 xe-motors, 422kW @ 6 50 0rpm-7 500rpm, 64 4Nm@ 2000rpmTransmissionNine-speed paddleshiftDCT, four-wheeldrivePerformanceSub 3sec0-100kph,30 7kph, 9.4ℓ/100km(est), n/a g/kmCO 2Weight1 725kgLength/width/height4 470/1 940/1 215mmOnsaleLate 2016``````On paperthe NSXweighs too much,but you wouldn’tknow it when youhit the throttleHONDA NSXTECH-LADEN NSXWILL BRING BRAINSAND BRAWN TOTHE 911/AUDI R8/McLAREN 570SBATTLEGROUND10HE NAME MAYthe remit similar – an everydaysupercar with a r oad focus – butthat’s where the similarities end, asthey must for two cars developed aquarter of acentury apart. NSX 2.0is a h ybrid two-seat sports car set to cost in the regionof R2.6million. The ba ld figures are 422kW from a car