Editorial: Does Acura Need to Fix the 2016 NSX?

Image courtesy of Road & Track

When the Acura NSX made its debut back in 1990, people were skeptical that a manufacturer like Honda could build a super car. "What is a Japanese company that builds people movers for a living doing trying to building a mid-engined super car?" But rather than some tepid, boring, wannabe sports car, the NSX stunned the automotive world. This was a car that performed as well as, or some times better than, super cars from Europe. In fact, the NSX's performance was so stunning, that it actually made manufacturers like Ferrari and Lamborghini worry. "These guys from Japan built a car that rivals the performance of our cars, costs half the price, and starts every time!" If you own a modern European super car, you can thank Honda for the fact that your car will start most of the time.

Brand Profile: Acura

This post marks the start of our brand profile series of articles. Each post takes an in-depth look at a single brand that sells vehicles in the US market and shares not only some of the history of the brand's vehicles, but also the brand's current standing through the lenses of enthusiasts. We start with a brand that is near and dear to our hearts and, as they recently reminded us for April Fools, alphabetically first. Our family has owned 16 Acura cars since 1992 with everything ranging from the smallest 2-door Integra to the 7-passenger MDX. Our relationship with the brand has long been based on the value proposition of excellent, well-equipped cars for significantly less than the competition. However, as the years have progressed, our own impression of the brand have also changed.

In March of 1986, Acura sprung forth from the minds of Honda's executives and became the first Japanese luxury marque to be introduced in North America. Acura started with two vehicles: the Legend sedan, and the Integra, which was available as both a five-door and three-door hatchback. Eventually, that grew into a full line-up of cars and a few SUVs. Over time, the brand evolved from a distinct premium brand into what felt increasingly like upscale Honda vehicles, especially as the engines and platforms were shared across the two brands.

Image courtesy of Drive to Five

Always taking a different approach to engineering than their competitors, Acura focused on cars that were fun to drive, even if they did not fit the definition of a traditional performance car. The Acura Integra, a small front wheel drive hatchback that also spawned a sedan, quickly gained a following among the tuner crowd for its easy tunability and surprisingly capable chassis right out of the box. The Legend, especially the second generation coupe, showed that a luxury car did not have to give up any driving dynamics to coddle its passengers in total comfort. To demonstrate just how capable their cars were, they also introduced the world to the NSX, the first all-aluminum supercar that could be daily driven with the reliability and ease of repair of a Honda Accord.

Editorial: Does Honda need to find their Bob Lutz?

Image courtesy of Acura.com

Honda has lost its soul.

As a long-time owner of Honda and Acura vehicles, it brings me no pleasure to have to point this out, but as an enthusiast, I feel it is my duty to do just that. Nothing that either brand has introduced of late inspires much enthusiasm and the upcoming 2015 NSX has yet to hit dealerships, so I am not counting that chicken until it hatches. After all, we all saw what happened with the vaporware that was the last supposed NSX successor. In fact, the rest of the automotive market does not seem the least worried by the 2015 Acura NSX, prompting Audi to start a Twitter war with Acura and calling the 2015 NSX vaporware just like its V10 powered predecessor. And even if it does materialize, that still only leaves a single car with any serious performance profile in the entire line-up, which is nothing to be proud of.

Looking back through Honda's history, there have almost always been a number of more performance oriented models in their line-up, either in the form of nearly race-spec versions of conventional models, a la the Integra Type-R, or dedicated models such as the S2000 and Honda Prelude. Light weight, sharp handling, and an engaging driving experience were characteristics that spread to all models and the company's racing lineage shone through in the continued use of double-wishbone suspensions front and rear to provide chassis dynamics that were exceptional. However, as the years went on, the Prelude and all Type-R models disappeared from the American market, the Integra was replaced with a strut suspension based RSX, and both the S2000 and NSX were allowed to fade away without successors. Now, we are left with only a very mediocre Civic Si to carry on the Honda performance car banner in North America, with the rest of the global market having absolutely nothing performance oriented coming out of Honda's factories.

Exclusive: Visiting the Honda/Acura collection

Both my brother and I have been fans of Honda and Acura vehicles for an incredibly long time. Nearly every car we both have owned has been a Honda or Acura product. Our parents are also big fans of Acura vehicles, owning 10 Acura vehicles in the past 22 years. To give you a sense of just how much we are fans, here is a list of all of the different Honda/Acura vehicles we have collectively owned as a family:

1991 Acura Vigor
1998 Acura 3.2 TL
1997 Acura Integra LS 5MT
2002 Acura 3.2 TL
2004 Acura TSX 5AT
2005 Acura RL
1997 Honda Accord LX
2005 Acura MDX
2006 Acura TSX 6MT
2008 Acura TL Type-S 6MT
2008 Acura TL Type-S 5AT
2008 Acura MDX Base
2007 Honda S2000
2011 Acura RL Tech
2011 Honda Fit Sport
2011 Acura MDX Tech
2012 Acura TSX SE 6MT

Suffice it to say, we are loyal customers.

Beginning this year, Acura's social media division began giving tours of the private Honda/Acura car collection in Torrance, CA. In order to become part of the waiting list for tours, fans of the official Acura Facebook page could post a story on the Acura owner's site with the title "My Historic Acura." Being such a huge fan of Honda and Acura products, I jumped on the opportunity as fast as I could. And so, on May 8 of this year, I joined the second group of Honda and Acura enthusiasts in touring this amazing facility.