Yahoo Autos The Acura NSX Type S Got It Right at the Last Minute
A car that redeems itself at the last possible moment can really pull at your heartstrings. You’ll wonder why the car wasn’t this great all along — maybe if it had been, it wouldn’t be going away. For me, that car is the Acura NSX Type S. It’s so good it makes me forgive the standard NSX’s prior wrongs.
Disclaimer: Honda offered to let me drive the NSX on a whim. It caught me off guard since the NSX is essentially out of production at this point, but how could I turn down an opportunity like this?
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I have to admit, I wasn’t hyped about the NSX initially. When the car was relaunched and made its debut in 2015, it was so far removed from Acura’s original supercar that it really felt like an NSX in name only. Sure, it had a mid-engine layout, but it seemed to have too much going on with the hybrid tech and all-wheel-drive system. It all added complexity and weight, to the tune of nearly 4,000 pounds.
What I didn’t realize at the time was that this was the original NSX formula, just with a tie to the future. Here was a supercar that you could genuinely live with every day, getting decent gas mileage while doing so.
Still, the NSX’s performance left many wanting more, and as the years went on, it looked as if this supercar’s luster was wearing off. Sales weren’t looking too good either and despite a minor update in 2019, official word came that the NSX would go away. Not without a proper sendoff, however.
Acura’s swan song was the NSX Type S, the car Acura should’ve built all along. The automaker took lessons learned on the track with the NSX GT3 race car and applied them to the road car. Turbochargers lifted directly from the GT3, better intercoolers and bigger injectors resulted in an increase of 27 hp and 16 lb-ft of torque over the regular NSX, for a final output of 600 hp and 492 lb-ft.
Acura estimates a 0-to-60-mph time of less than 3 seconds, and I believe it. Even in its tamest drive modes, the NSX Type S is quick.
The NSX comes with four driving modes, accessed through a huge knob on the center console. The default setting for the Type S is Sport, which offers a nice balance of efficiency and performance. Quiet mode is directly under Sport and softens the engine and throttle response, engaging the hybrid’s pure EV mode more often. Sport Plus, meanwhile, sits above Sport and livens things up a bit with improved throttle response and a louder exhaust note. In Track mode, which is activated by holding the Dynamic knob to the right for a few seconds, the gauges and screens turn red and things get serious.
