Largely revered, worshipped and hankered after, the original Acura NSX sports car was a rude awakening to the supercar makers. It was also a blatant showcase of what Acura/Honda can do when it decides to make a proper fast car. The styling was inspired by a fighter jet and it had inputs from none other than F1 World Champion, Ayrton Senna himself. Endorsements do not come much higher than this.
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Hence, the original NSX was a pure supercar with a wonderful V6 motor along with a slick manual stick shift gearbox. The characteristic pop-up headlamps and that shape still remains a bona-fide design classic. The NSX lived a long life when it continued onto the naughties but it took Acura many years to come up with a replacement. The new NSX hasn’t had the same recall or the love but its more complicated power train set-up made it an all weather supercar with hybrid power.
Harder, faster and more aggressive, and they sold out fast
That said, just when Acura were closing the chapters to this particular NSX, it chose to give it a fitting farewell with the Type S. This is a harder, faster and more aggressive looking NSX with a sense of conviction similar to the original model. With only 350 of them being made and 300 units destined for the U.S., the Type S quickly sold out after a debut at the Monterey Car Week.
The rarity, enhanced power and its sharper styling seems to have rekindled the magic into the NSX name yet again. The 2022 NSX Type S gets a more powerful twin-turbo V6 coupled with a three-motor hybrid system. Total power stands at 600 bhp (around 608 HP). Add in a myriad of lightweight upgrades like carbon ceramic brakes, interior, engine cover and you get a proper hardened supercar with no slack.
The rarity, enhanced power and its sharper styling seems to have rekindled the magic into the NSX name yet again.
The Acura NSX Type S belongs on a track
A 9-speed DCT does the shifting for you while it has a complicated all-wheel drive system. That said, there is an all new “Rapid Downshift Mode” where you can downshift aggressively and hold revs. A lot of aerodynamics also have been applied while the altered design does remove the bulbous GT car pretensions of the standard car.
The new nose is sharper with angular air-intakes along with the fact that a larger rear diffuser, bespoke tires all hint that it something which belongs to a track. The interior is festooned with Alcantara and Type S logos everywhere — just to remind you what you’re driving.
The $170,000 base price is largely irrelevant since you cannot buy one anyways. But the Type S reinforces that Acura still can make a hard edged 911 fighter. And it evokes the spirit of the original NSX which gave the likes of Ferrari and Porsche a bit of a fright.
What we like
Sharper styling and an enhanced sense of purpose towards being a hard-edged supercar. More power and lightweight trickery helps as well.
What we do not like
It is a limited edition that would most likely be locked away in a temperature controlled garage. Also still has a lot of complication which is unlike the original NSX.
Overall
This is the NSX that it should have been all along. And at least this model is going away being recognized as somewhat of a true successor to the iconic first gen model.
Somnath Chatterjee grew up around cars and most of his childhood was spent obsessing over supercars. Years later he decided to start writing about them and hasn’t looked back since. While he has had his fair share of cars, the world of automobiles never ceases to amaze him. Travelling all over the world to drive them along with sharing that experience is what ultimately keeps him going. He hopes to drive a Ferrari 288 GTO someday because, well, do you really need a reason?
