tl;dr : OK, guys, the deed is done, scroll down for a couple of pics and avideo.
I want to thank Kevin Gilbertson, the used car manager at DCH Montclair Acura, he was awesome to deal with, even allowing a local friend of mine (and fellow Acurazine moderator) to come by at my request to look at the car. Kevin didn't even drive the car....and I kept ribbing him about it, and offered. He did drive the S2000 I traded, though, and had a blast in it!
So yesterday was a long day. I'd driven six hours from Cleveland to New Jersey the night before, giving my S2000 VTEC so often that it was giving my wife a headache. I got in at about 10:30 Friday night.
My S2000
Bright and early the next morning, it was off to DCH Montclair Acura for the final inspection and a brief test drive. I showed just before the used car part of their lot opened up. Salesman, my bud, and I walked over just as they were backing the car out. I have to say, they did a great job prepping it.
It's in really great shape other than that the seat bolster has minor scuffing (and it's really minor, I don't think I'm going to touch it for now) and the seal of the rear lights is warped, allowing water into the trunk. Fret not, NSX fans, I spent a year researching the NSX before buying and I know this is a common issue, that can be very simple to correct; it was neither a deal-breaker nor indicative of prior body damage in this car's case. It has small paint dings typical of a nearly 60k mile car, and the passenger side mirror has a red mark on it where the prior owner likely had some sort of garage mishap. There was a tiny dent on the front panel that was fixed by an aluminum specialist, then paint blended in that area. I can't even tell anything was done.
The test drive went well, and I am now the owner of a 1999 Kaiser Silver/Onyx NSX-T.
The story of the car is that though CarFax thinks it's a two owner car, it appears to have been one owner going back and forth between New Jersey and Florida. Prior owner was getting on in age, apparently was in his 80's, The car was in storage for two years and it was pulled out in preparation for sale, along with a number of other of this gentleman's vehicles.
No service records, but the Carfax indicates regular service. I plan to call the dealerships in Florida and New Jersey the prior owner used, to verify service and to complete my records for if, or when, I move on from this car.
When it was found, there were NO keys, none at all. The dealer had to make a "red" key, a programming key, which he gave to me in case the brand new keys he cut stopped working. Thankfully, they work fine. Unfortunately, I snapped up the car so fast that the dealer didn't have a chance to source new key fobs. I'll take care of that this week at my local Acura dealer.
In addition, the prior owner had just put on new rear tires.....but both of them were LEFT rear tires. The dealer, therefore, sourced a new RIGHT rear tire and had it installed. They also replaced the spare tire rubber; it arrived Friday night was was installed yesterday morning immediately before my arrival!
In all, the car is a "2-" or strong "3" on Hagerty's scale. My offering price was basically for a "2" car plus much of, but not all, of the work they did. I'm sure they made a tidy profit off this car, but that's America and at least I didn't get soaked paying $60-90k for a 1991 NSX.
NSX swag and the "red" key from the dealer:
Leaving the hotel:
This turned into a nice fall leaves drive for the wife. PS the visibility is AMAZING in this car.
An aside: you know your car is low to the ground when you're looking UP at a Chevy Malibu. The seating position is much lower than in the S2000.
At the Delaware Water Gap
I took this video right after the picture above using my Google Glass. Just a brief acceleration burst in the exit lane before we took a quick meal break.
The popups work! Damn I love the popup lights. While I also like the 2002-05 frog-eyes look, the popups are just freaking AWESOME
I finished the day with a speech in downtown Cleveland honoring a colleague. That's why I didn't respond much yesterday. Here's a view on Ontario Street in downtown Cleveland from the helm of my RLX Sport Hybrid (note the HUD):
Since I drove the S2000 and the NSX back-to-back, a wanted to make a few comparative comments.
The NSX is noticeably longer than the S2000--it fills up the garage bay that the S2000 fit in with no problem.
The NSX has an 8k max rpm, so in moving from my AP1 S2000 I'm not missing that much when I want to rev up.
The NSX clearly has a suspension tuned for its role as a Grand Tourer meant for some track use. It has more understeer and slower steering than the S2000. Of course, the S2000 is a track-tuned car from stock. If I turn the steering wheel in the S2000 slightly, the car turns immediately. It takes more of a turn in the steering wheel of the NSX to achieve the same amount of movement of the car.
Despite the steering and understeer, this car handles very well in the tight mountain turns, at high speed. The car is very stable at high speed. Took a very short time to adjust to the car and before long, I was able to drive at my usual cruising speed of 80-85 mph.
The NSX's seats are much more comfortable than the S2000, and the trunk is larger. While I can easily tolerate the S2000's snug interior for long distances, I won't deny that the trip back to Cleveland was much more comfortable than the drive to New Jersey.
The clutch is trickier than the S2000, definitely not as buttery smooth, though the throws are decently short. The takeup point seems to be a little lower than the S2000 and it really requires adding some gas to make the 1st gear and reverse shifts smooth.
Last, this car attracts attention like none other. It attracts even more attention than the crazy blue on my CTS-V wagon. On I-80, I ran into a guy with an obviously modified BRZ. I passed him up as he was going slower, but he sped up and stayed behind me. I guess they wanted a listen to the exhaust, so I obliged a few times. Wow, that C32B engine can sing.
What a car. i hope to enjoy it for a few years. The only mods I plan for now are a) upgrade the radio for Bluetooth using a stock-looking solution (
http://www.willmanselectronics.com/nsx_sales.htm ), b) maybe wheels.
I WILL have another S2000 in my garage someday. I just didn't want to deal with having five cars and their upkeep right now.
. This was my second choice; while I prefer the color on this one, my first choice car had a lot fewer miles. The offered price on this one is a little high initially, honestly, but read on. 
