Honda/Acura NSX: The Computer on Wheels

The original NSX, which debuted in 1990, is widely credited with changing how Ferrari and Lamborghini built their cars. Its combination of a mid-mounted VTEC V6, all-aluminum construction, and genuine everyday usability demonstrated that a mid-engine supercar did not need to be temperamental, fragile, or allergic to rain. Ferrari’s engineering team famously requested examples of the original NSX to study its reliability and manufacturing standards. Ayrton Senna drove development prototypes and contributed feedback directly to its chassis tuning. It was a car that arrived with a genuine engineering statement.

When Honda announced a second-generation NSX in the early 2010s, the expectation was enormous—and the criticism, when the car finally launched in 2016, was immediate and unrelenting. Critics called it “soulless.” They complained about the absence of a naturally aspirated engine and the weight of its hybrid system. Some dismissed it as a technology showcase rather than a supercar.

With the benefit of years and historical perspective, that criticism looks increasingly short-sighted. Every major supercar manufacturer—Ferrari, McLaren, Lamborghini, Porsche—has since embraced the exact hybrid architecture that Honda pioneered in the NC1 NSX. The second-generation NSX was not soulless. It was simply ahead of its time.

The Development Story: Ohio Meets Tochigi

The second-generation NSX’s development was a genuinely unusual chapter in Honda’s corporate history. Unlike the first-generation car, which was developed entirely in Japan, the NC1 was a joint project between Honda’s North American R&D center in Raymond, Ohio, and the parent company’s facilities in Tochigi, Japan.

This decision reflected the reality of the supercar market: North America, and specifically the United States, was Honda’s most significant supercar customer base. The car would be sold as the Acura NSX in America and as the Honda NSX everywhere else, and positioning it as an American-Japanese collaboration gave it cultural resonance in its most important market.

The Ohio facility handled much of the chassis development, body structure engineering, and vehicle dynamics calibration. The powertrain, including the revolutionary SH-AWD hybrid system, was developed primarily in Japan. The final assembly plant was built in Marysville, Ohio—the same facility that produces Honda’s US-market vehicles—making the NSX one of the very few mid-engine supercars assembled in the United States.

The Powertrain: SH-AWD and the Triple Motor System

The Sport Hybrid Super Handling All-Wheel Drive system is the most complex powertrain in the second-generation NSX’s competitive class, and arguably the most sophisticated drivetrain arrangement in any road car of its era when it launched.

The system integrates three distinct electric motors with a twin-turbocharged internal combustion engine:

The ICE: A bespoke 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged V6 (Honda designation JNC1) mounted longitudinally behind the driver, angled at 75 degrees and equipped with a dry-sump lubrication system. The engine is positioned low and central within the chassis to minimize its contribution to the center of mass height.

The Direct Drive Motor (DDM): This motor is attached directly to the engine’s crankshaft. Its primary function is to fill the gaps in torque delivery between turbocharger spool events—essentially eliminating turbo lag entirely. When the throttle is pressed from rest, the DDM provides immediate electric torque while the turbos are building boost. The transition between electric and combustion torque is essentially imperceptible. The DDM also drives the 9-speed dual-clutch gearbox through the crankshaft connection, meaning engine speed can be manipulated to speed up downshifts with a precision no human could achieve with a conventional clutch.

The Twin Motor Unit (TMU): Two completely independent electric motors sit on the front axle—one driving each front wheel with no mechanical connection between them. This is the architectural detail that makes the NSX genuinely special.

Total system power: 573 horsepower (600 hp in the Type S).

Torque Vectoring: Physics Manipulated in Real Time

The TMU is the NSX’s defining innovation. Because the two front motors are mechanically independent, the car’s control systems can apply positive torque (accelerating) to one wheel and negative torque (regenerative braking) to the other simultaneously, at any proportion up to maximum motor output.

The implications for vehicle dynamics are profound.

When the NSX enters a right-hand corner, the system can apply drive torque to the left front wheel (the outside wheel in a right-hand corner) while simultaneously applying regenerative braking torque to the right front wheel. The result is a yaw moment—the nose of the car is physically pulled toward the apex of the corner by differential front wheel torque. Understeer, the chronic plague of front-heavy sports cars, becomes essentially a non-issue. The NSX uses physics to pull itself into corners rather than fighting against them.

The system operates up to approximately 50 times per second, responding to sensor inputs from the steering angle, yaw rate, lateral acceleration, individual wheel speeds, and throttle position before most drivers’ nervous systems have registered that a correction was needed.

The on-road effect is described consistently by drivers as uncanny. The car rotates into corners with an immediacy that feels almost like telepathy. It tracks through changes in road camber and surface texture with a planted confidence that cars weighing substantially less with simpler drivetrains cannot match. The NSX does not create drama; it eliminates it—and this is precisely the characteristic that its critics labeled “soulless.”

Those critics were comparing it to naturally aspirated V10s and flat-plane V8s. The NSX was not trying to be those cars. It was trying to be the most capable, most competent, most transparent tool for covering ground quickly. It succeeded.

Daily Usability: Honda’s Founding Principle

Like the original NSX, the second-generation car was designed to function as a daily driver. Honda’s engineers viewed usability not as a luxury but as a philosophical statement: a supercar that can only be used on track days is an incomplete machine.

The hybrid architecture supports this directly. In low-speed urban conditions, the TMU front motors can drive the car electrically for short distances—sufficient to exit a residential garage or navigate a parking structure in near-silence. The magnetic dampers (supplied by Showa, Honda’s suspension company) operate in “Comfort” mode with a compliance that rivals a Honda Accord; the same driver who uses the car for morning commutes can adjust the damping rate, switch to Track mode, and find a completely different vehicle on the next corner.

The NSX’s visibility—a persistent criticism of many mid-engine cars—is notably good, a deliberate consequence of Honda’s decision to use thin A-pillars made possible by ultra-high-strength steel formed in a three-dimensional bending process. The outward sightlines are better than most sports cars in this class.

The Type S: The Swan Song

In 2021, Honda announced the end of NC1 NSX production. Rather than simply closing the factory and moving on, they chose to end the car’s run with the Type S—a comprehensively upgraded, limited-production final edition.

The Type S addressed every legitimate criticism of the base car simultaneously. Higher-flow turbochargers (sourced directly from the NSX GT3 Evo race car) plus upgraded fuel injectors and a 20% increase in battery output raised total system power to a rounded 600 horsepower. The SH-AWD calibration was substantially revised to be more aggressive, enabling higher cornering limits and faster front axle torque vectoring responses. The 9-speed dual-clutch transmission was reprogrammed to shift 50% faster, with a new “Rapid Downshift” function allowing instant kickdown to the lowest viable gear from a single long paddle pull.

Aesthetically, the Type S received a completely revised front fascia with a dramatically larger grille, more aggressive dive planes, and a carbon-fiber front splitter derived from the GT3 race car’s aerodynamic package. A new carbon-fiber diffuser at the rear completed a styling transformation that gave the Type S visual drama that the base car had always lacked.

Production was limited to 350 units globally—300 for North America (as Acuras) and 50 for the rest of the world (as Hondas). The entire allocation sold within minutes of the announcement going public.

Collector Value and Historical Significance

The NSX Type S has already begun appreciating substantially. Standard NC1 NSX values remain modest relative to comparable performance from European manufacturers—a reflection of both the original critical reception and Honda’s reputation for mainstream rather than exotic products.

The Type S, however, is different. Rarity (350 units globally), end-of-production significance, and substantially improved performance create the conditions for appreciation. Low-mileage examples will likely prove to be sound collector cars.

More broadly, the second-generation NSX will be remembered as a car that was correct before the industry was ready to acknowledge it. When Lamborghini’s Revuelto launched with three electric motors and a V12, virtually every automotive journalist praised its torque vectoring as a revolutionary advancement. Honda had done it with a V6 six years earlier, at less than half the price, and been criticized for lacking soul.

The NSX’s soul was always there. It was just expressed through engineering precision rather than exhaust note. Future generations will understand this distinction more clearly than contemporaries did.