• Protip: Profile posts are public! Use Conversations to message other members privately. Everyone can see the content of a profile post.

Should I buy an NSX?

How much longer are we going to beat this dead horse?
 
It's your choice either way. But the wrong nsx can land you in the poor house very, very quickly....
Just some words of advice. I'm not going to give you a 4 paragraph outlining of why. You do what you want. Just be weary of what your buying, a 90's era supercar. This is not a Supra or a rx-7...
A good thing to do is browse Acura parts lists on the web and see just how quickly you can spend a few grand on plastic parts.

Yep. A couple years ago the original A/C compressor on my 91 seized causing metal shaving to be spread throughout the system. So I opted to have all new OEM A/C parts (i.e. compressor, clutch, condensers, evaporator, expansion valve, new lines, etc). Since some of the parts were out of stock, my car was down for 4 months while we waited for Japan to do another manufacturing run. The total cost for parts and labor was $7900. While a 25 year old Honda can be a reliable enough car, it's at an age that failures like this are likely to become more common.
 
Hello nsx owners, I apologize in advance if this thread is in the wrong section. But for a while now I've been thinking about buying an nsx. I'm 18 and currently drive a 2003 berlina black s2000 that I've had for a little over a year and I would love to pair it with a nsx. Lately I've came up with a plan on how I could actually own one, It's very far fetched but certainly doable. I'll be graduating high school mid June and will be attending a local community college while working full time with my stepdad at his business temple heating and air doing hvac as a technician, which I've done since I was 16 except just recently I've learned service. Since my grades are decent, 3.0gpa, my dad has agreed that if I work full time, go to college, and put down 20k he will cosign a 20k loan as my graduation gift for me to get an nsx for roughy 40-45k. I'm looking at earlier nsxs with clean titles and 75k miles or less. As of now I have no bills besides gas, maintance to my s, insurance, registration, and I also have to pay taxes on it too but pretty much hardly any bills. I'll be living at home for the next 4 years while attending college and as long as I continue to do well in school and work full time no other bills with come up. all I would be paying is extra insurance and the monthly payment of a 4 year loan on 20k. It'd be a lot of money, pretty much everything I have, but by the time I graduate college I will have a fully paid off nsx with a little bit of credit history as well. I'm really considering pulling the trigger in the next 6 months or so if I can find the right one. But let me know how you nsx guys feel about this one. Good idea or completely idiotic? I don't know and I don't really care either way but I want an nsx and I will own one. So shoot me straight and tell me some opinions on this. Have fun (;

If you're planning to take out a loan for only $20K then I'll assume that you could never manage to pay for a $7900 repair bill.
 
My 2 cents, probably not welcome but here it goes anyway.

Never buy something you can't afford. What I mean by afford - a steady job making enough to support your hobby, food, family (children), roof over your head and I don't mean rent but own and enough money in the bank that can support you for 5 years work free. I understand life is short but there are things that must be attend to and something that's not suitable at times (the NSX). I'm from old school though consider myself still young, I've sold NSX for a few years when they first came out in 91 (here's the thread when I made my purchased http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showthread.php/180272-Finally-a-NSX-owner-after-23-years!) Owning an NSX but having to worry about if I can maintain the car for the next 5 years because I might not have enough money to do so is not what I call enjoying life, well, the NSX. We work very hard to get to where we are, living in the suburb of NY Long Island is very expensive, just taxes alone is over $13k! And with two kids, one going to private college this Sept and the other in 4 years will cost me over half a million dollars in cash! Now, I would never, ever buy this NSX if I don't have all these upcoming expense in the bank set aside. Bottom line, enjoy life but spend wisely, you never know when you really need that money. Good luck!
 
One additional "Cost" thought

Should you buy an NSX. Yes!...The joy, the smiles, the pleasure of tactile feedback, all buttery smooth, the bliss of a perfect 6K rev-match downshift on a winding corner with no gizmos to interfere.....but, I have to agree with all the excellent advice above-buy it later.

1) Don't take you're father's generosity for granted- always take less than is offered.
2) Calculate ALL of the costs. There is much wisdom in the advice above, but I would also add that in addition to the cost of loans, insurance, and repairs, you will be missing the compounding interest of investing.
I considered buying an NSX in 1991 as a self-present after selling my home and finishing grad school (my trusty beater 1984 Honda Accord covered the 8 years of education). I also considered buying BRK-A, Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock. I had 40K to burn, just about enough to "afford" taking out a loan on a new NSX, or enough to buy 5 shares of Berkshire Class A stock. Should I save the money? Invest it? buy the car? Spend it on a big screen TV and a trip to Thailand?
You may wish to check the current price of Class A shares. There is cost not just in the loan and maintenance costs, but also in lost generated revenue from SAVING.

I purchased my NSX 20+ years later-- after I bought my wife a piano, and saved money for my kids education (remember the Dad part). Berkshire Hathaway pays for all the NSX costs, leaving nothing but the smiles.

Ok. I'll come down off my horse. There is another route. Live it up! Sell the S2000. Buy the NSX. Get a stock one with meticulous service records and recent service. Drive it all summer with a huge delirious grin on your face while working an extra job on the side to pay for expenses. The car isn't depreciating, so you can drive it for free all summer. Come fall, sell it. Pay off your loan, you dad, and invest the rest. However---
Walk or take the bus to school until next summer. Finish school, and work 90 hours a week for the next 6 years while living in your parents home. Invest absolutely everything. Repeat the summer NSX gig once or twice in the interim if sanity requires. If need be, work some 100 hour weeks to make up for the summer splurges. At the $60/hour our HVAC guy charges, working 48 weeks per year, accounting for taxes, and a modest 6.75% rate of return on your investments, I come up with (assuming your parents let you live with them and feed you for free); $1.26 Million. THEN you can afford to make the NSX purchase permanent, and find another S200 for track days. You will never get a better chance to save.
 
Last edited:
Primal that was a great response. I think everyone can learn from your thought process. Do you know anything about Berkshire Hathaway class B, BRK-B ? It is much more affordable for the masses. Thank you in advance.
 
Be sure if you buy an nsx not to blow the motor. My rebuild just costed me probably more than your entire S2000.... All from a tiny little gasket....
 
Primal that was a great response. I think everyone can learn from your thought process. Do you know anything about Berkshire Hathaway class B, BRK-B ? It is much more affordable for the masses. Thank you in advance.

Class B= 1/1500 the cost of class A. Class A can be converted to 1500 class B shares, but not the other way around, and Class A will never split. Both move the same with the overall value of the company. My daughter bought her first share of BRK-B, (current price about $165 per share) with babysitting money, but I suppose she figures if she's just patient, I'll die off and she can have my NSX for free....
 
Back
Top