Honda has abandoned Japanese build values and deigned that the NSX should be handbuilt four-times slower than other Hondas. The car took six years to develop — twice as long as more mundane Japanese machinery, and Honda has drawn deeply from its knowledge of race car engineering. The double-wishbone suspension is cast from aluminium instead of the usual steel. And the suspension was fine-tuned by, among others, Ayrton Senna.
But nowhere is the NSX’s engineering more impressive than in the engine, a quad-cam, 3.0-litre, 24-valve transverse V6 with variable valve timing and induction producing 270bhp at 7100rpm and 210lb ft of torque – remarkable for normal aspiration and just 2977cc.
It is a tour de force worthy of the greatest names in motoring. No question at all, this V6 will be remembered as one of the great powerplants.