Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Auto Eroticism: Acura NSX


Looking at this car, I had vaguely the same psychological reaction that I have seeing a glistening model in a bikini climb out of a pool in a music video.

And I'm not ashamed to say it.

From Top Gear:
The seat bolsters, grab rails and transmission tunnel seem to pounce forward, as if they’re making a break for the windscreen. But where most concept cockpits are works of fantasy with nowhere to put your cup of coffee, this one has a traditional rear-view mirror and storage compartments. You can see out quite easily. There’s an oblong screen in the middle of the dash, under which is a straightforward cluster of buttons for the gearbox, handbrake and sport modes. The steering wheel is round-ish, with three spokes. The seats are thin and beautifully sculpted. Actually, the whole thing feels very much like the inside of the McLaren 12C.

You could imagine it going on sale looking just like this, when it reaches showrooms in about two years from now. Honda’s people weren’t giving much else away, but we’ll eat our origami swans if it doesn’t have the petrol-electric powertrain and 4WD we speculated on last year. The petrol engine, mostly likely a 3.5-litre V6 with 400bhp, will be correctly placed in the middle of the car and power the rear wheels. Then there are two electric motors up front: one for each wheel, operating independently to sniff out grip and see-off understeer, plus another one in the transmission at the rear to boost engine power when asked. Together, the electric motors will most probably add about 100bhp to the powertrain, bringing the new NSX to 500bhp overall.
I wasn't always the biggest fan of the original NSX. The designed seemed too bulky, too clumsy to make you take it seriously alongside a Ferrari or Lamborghini. It was like dressing Jennifer Lopez up in mom jeans and Crocs.

The design of this generation of NSX, though, seems like it will more than make up for the previous one's flaws.


No comments: