A gorgeous Valencia Red Pearl 2017 Acura NSX sat in the shade next to the clubhouse garage at the Monticello Motor Club in upstate New York. We were there last week for International Motor Press Association’s (IMPA) annual Test Days event—and to get an opportunity to experience the NSX for ourselves.
The fall weather could not have been better and the collection of cars was marvelous, including: a Ford Focus RS, Ford Fusion Sport, Fiat 124 Abarth, the Final Edition Mitsubishi Evolution, and a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited equipped with BF Goodrich All-Terrain KO2 tires.
But approaching the NSX stopped us in our tracks. We lingered for a few moments to gaze upon the car’s exquisite lines. The hatch was open, exposing the optional $3,600 carbon-fiber engine cover. You can’t fully appreciate the exterior design of a car until you’ve seen it in person.
2017 Acura NSX.
I pulled on a balaclava and a helmet. The professional driver popped the door handle. I opened the door and climbed into the NSX’s cabin. It was tough getting into the cockpit with a helmet on so I adjusted the semi-aniline orchard leather power seats—a $2,500 option.
Off we went. As the car launched into the first turn, I felt the g-force pushing my shoulders into the seat bolster, the foam giving way to my weight under force. I flashed back to my conversation with Johnathan Norman, the NSX’s lead interior designer, at last year’s New York Auto Show. “The designers of the original NSX tried to create a seamless connection between man and machine,” Norman said. He talked in New York about taking the original 1990 NSX on canyon roads. “It was transcendent moment,” he said. “It was like flying over the road, where you were only left with your intention and how to move along the road.”
2017 Acura NSX.
That experience inspired Norman—when it came time to design the interior of the 2017 NSX—to minimize the height of the dashboard and reduce the thickness of the pillars to prioritize the outward view of the road. The resulting design gave me full view of the track, as we made a sharp left and then climbed a hill in the course. We swung around the cones into an intense curve that demonstrated the car’s incredible grip on the Continental ContiSport Contact 5Ps.
A mash of the throttle and it all became one big beautiful blur.
The all-wheel-drive NSX drivetrain delivers 573 horsepower and 476 pound-feet of torque via a midship-mounted twin-turbocharged V6 engine mated to a 9-speed DCT and an electric motor driving the rear wheels, along with a pair of electric motors driving the front wheels. All that power readily finds its way to the ground. The exhaust note was splendid.
2017 Acura NSX.
Monticello’s course was coned to maximize the cornering experience—and break up the mile-long straight. What followed was four miles of being pinned back in the seat on acceleration, forward on intense braking, into the seat bolsters in the corners, and back into the seat again. The NSX at Monticello was equipped with optional $10,600 carbon-ceramic brake rotors. On this lap, braking was even more intense than acceleration.
The 2017 NSX has a base price of $156,000. The version that Acura brought to the IMPA event was optioned to $207,700. I’ve driven and had rides in many expensive cars over the years, but this was the first time I climbed out of the cabin exclaiming, “Holy cow, that was totally worth $200,000.”
See eBay’s inventory of Acura NSXs for sale.
See Acura NSX 2017 Coupe Cars & Trucks for sale on eBay.
