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NSX is one of the worst handling cars ever.

Joined
2 March 2005
Messages
352
Location
Redmond WA USA
The NSX is one of the worst handling cars ever built IMHO.
I expect that someone may disagree with me?
If so let us discuss in a calm manor.

Regards,

Patrick
 
Dude, are you bored? :smile:
 
MiamieNeSeX said:
Please tell us what you drive, that way we can tell you which is the best handling car.

Armadno
From the profile:

NSX Details:
94 Black 5 speed all stock
 
SoCalDude said:
From the profile:

NSX Details:
94 Black 5 speed all stock


Must be the Black POS NSXs that dont handle then :)




PS You should be getting the certificate from Chris soon, he just emailed me about it.

Armando
 
MiamieNeSeX said:
Must be the Black POS NSXs that dont handle then :)




PS You should be getting the certificate from Chris soon, he just emailed me about it.

Armando

Hey! I heard that! :tongue:
 
"Around turns, the Acura NSX still has the goods to hang with just about any other new car sold today. Well-balanced, perfectly poised, easy to drive, powerful, graceful -- the NSX is a precision instrument that is forgiving enough to make drivers of varying skill feel like pros. The midengine design provides excellent weight distribution, keeping the wheels securely planted around turns. Braking and steering are also NSX strong points." - Edmunds 2005 NSX review



-sounds pretty good to me
 
SugrueNSX said:
The NSX is one of the worst handling cars ever built IMHO.
I expect that someone may disagree with me?
If so let us discuss in a calm manor.

Regards,

Patrick

Patrick,

Are there roads were you live?
Are the roads paved in your area?
Are you driving on mud, snow or ice?
In those particular conditions certin other vehicals would outhandle the NSX; but given a clear dry paved road not many can or have.
 
Patrick,

Next time you buy an NSX, don't forget to use Carfax. They generally report totaled NSX's.:smile:
 
Yes I am bored and I wanted to start a discussion that is bordering on the philosophical.
So here we go.
Handling is subjective.
Handling is many things but when I think about handling I am mostly thinking about how the car reacts just before it’s about to kill me as I am cornering.
Because I think that most cars handle well at 5 mph. There is not too much to talk about at these speeds. It’s when the car is on the limit is it not?
And if you have an NSX (or any high performance car) on the limit at say 50 mph in a curve. Then unless you are a very experienced race car driver you are not going to be very relaxed at this point.
In fact you are somewhat screwed because the NSX has fabulous grip and it very neutral.
So by definition you are going very fast for the curve and because the car is neutral there is no grip left on the front or the back and because it’s mid engine, which is very nice for slalom situations it’s probably about to spin out on you and you will need super human reflexes to catch it and it’s possible that nothing you do will help if you entry speed was too high.
However if you are in a car like lets say an old Renault 5 then the situation is much different. You will be going much slower because of the skinny little tires and the thing will be under steering like hell and the front tires will be squealing because they are at 99% but the back tires will only be at 50% because the car is not neutral. So when you lift off, the front will start to grip again and tuck in and the rear will come around a bit.Which is what you want and because it was only at 50% it can now do it’s share of the work and go up to 75% and the front will go down to 75% and you get to make the curve and look like a hero!

The point I am trying to make is that performance and handling are mutually exclusive to some degree. If you want a car that an amateur like me can throttle steer easily then it must not be neutral and you will give up a lot of performance. And if you want maximum performance you will need a neutral car like the NSX so that all 4 tires are doing their share of the work but it will handle like a bitch!

Regards,

Patrick
 
Last edited:
MiamieNeSeX said:
Must be the Black POS NSXs that dont handle then :)


PS You should be getting the certificate from Chris soon, he just emailed me about it.

Armando
Thanks. Maybe I'll use the certificate towards an upgrade to help my black NSX handle better!:biggrin:
 
You obviously are in need of some therapy. One of the worst handling cars ever??? Starting a thread like this is up there with the ranks of some of the worst trolls ever. If you want attention, go to a strip bar!
 
I steped out of a modified Type-R that could pull just over a G on the skid pad into my NSX. At first I didn't quite know what to think. I always felt like the backend was going to break lose and I was going to die. lol

Now after a few months of SLOWLY finding where the limits are, what it does at the limit, how to kick the back end around with my right foot, etc, I'm in love. This thing is WICKED. The back has soooooo much more grip then I would have though from my first drive. I found I can nail the gas coming off an offramp and it just plain sticks. Even in the wet the back just sticks amazingly.

I would say a huge part of it is knowing where the limit is, and knowing how to drive a MR car with LSD.
 
SugrueNSX said:
The NSX is one of the worst handling cars ever built IMHO.
I expect that someone may disagree with me?
If so let us discuss in a calm manor.

Regards,

Patrick

SugrueNSX,

I think that we need a little more info here. What was your mental/physical condition when you made this determination? Was there possibly drugs or alcohol involved? Possibly large quantitys of either or both? You do know that this automobile has limitations that if exceded will appear to be a design fault, but in reality are limitations that in order to be exceeded would have increased the design and production cost of the NSX to a point that a lot of us would not be able to afford the car.

Now, tell us, why did you buy the NSX in the first place? Did you drive it before you purchased it? What was the mechanical condition of the car? Was there previous structural or suspension damage? What is your knowledge and experience level with maintaining mechanical equipment, such as an NSX?

What kind of tires are you running on your NSX? How old are they? Are you using the factory specs for the alignment? Has your car had a 4 wheel alignment? Have you inspected to see if you have a failed shock strut? Have you ever attended a professional driving course? Have you had an experienced driver familiar with the characteristics of the NSX drive your car for a second opinion?

As you can see there a lot of unanswered questions here before we can get to the actual core of this statement. Please fill us in. I am sure that there will be some light shed on this if you can do that for us.

We really are here to help you with this problem.

Brad
 
SugrueNSX said:
Yes I am bored and I wanted to start a discussion that is bordering on the philosophical.
So here we go.
Handling is subjective.
Handling is many things but when I think about handling I am mostly thinking about how the car reacts just before it’s about to kill me as I am cornering.
Because I think that most cars handle well at 5 mph. There is not too much to talk about at these speeds. It’s when the car is on the limit is it not?
And if you have an NSX (or any high performance car) on the limit at say 50 mph in a curve. Then unless you are a very experienced race car driver you are not going to be very relaxed at this point.
In fact you are somewhat screwed because the NSX has fabulous grip and it very neutral.
So by definition you are going very fast for the curve and because the car is neutral there is no grip left on the front or the back and because it’s mid engine, which is very nice for slalom situations it’s probably about to spin out on you and you will need super human reflexes to catch it and it’s possible that nothing you do will help if you entry speed was too high.
However if you are in a car like lets say an old Renault 5 then the situation is much different. You will be going much slower because of the skinny little tires and the thing will be under steering like hell and the front tires will be squealing because they are at 99% but the back tires will only be at 50% because the car is not neutral. So when you lift off, the front will start to grip again and tuck in and the rear will come around a bit.Which is what you want and because it was only at 50% it can now do it’s share of the work and go up to 75% and the front will go down to 75% and you get to make the curve and look like a hero!

The point I am trying to make is that performance and handling are mutually exclusive to some degree. If you want a car that an amateur like me can throttle steer easily then it must not be neutral and you will give up a lot of performance. And if you want maximum performance you will need a neutral car like the NSX so that all 4 tires are doing their share of the work but it will handle like a bitch!

Regards,

Patrick

No offense... But what you have written makes no sense at all! In fact you are showing a total ignorance to the laws of physics!

What (I understand) you are saying is that an old Renault 5 handles better than an NSX because it looses traction at a much lower speed and therefore you are not as scared to do what it takes to regain control of the car!

Basically, you have it totally wrong

I am going to send you home today with a prescription to go and take some HPDE driving lessons and a couple of skid pan sessions... You'll be back to normal in no time! :smile:
 
AU_NSX said:
No offense... But what you have written makes no sense at all! In fact you are showing a total ignorance to the laws of physics!

What (I understand) you are saying is that an old Renault 5 handles better than an NSX because it looses traction at a much lower speed and therefore you are not as scared to do what it takes to regain control of the car!

Basically, you have it totally wrong

I am going to send you home today with a prescription to go and take some HPDE driving lessons and a couple of skid pan sessions... You'll be back to normal in no time! :smile:

No offense taken. Thanks for your reply.
It’s not just that the Renault looses grip at a lower speed. It’s the way it looses grip. And the fact that you can throttle steer it with ease.
It does not have to be a Renault and it does not have to be an NSX
We could just as easily be talking about a Ford Escort Mk 1 (rear wheel drive) and a Boxter.
The Boxter is much quicker than the Escort but IMHO the Escort is more fun in some ways because you can hang the back way out and recover it with relative ease. You, or I should say I can’t do that with a Boxter. Once it starts to spin out it’s very hard to catch on the skidpan and I certainly would not want to try it on a public road.
So IMHO the Escort Mk 1 handles better than the Boxter. That does not mean that there is anything wrong with the design of the Boxter. The Boxter is well designed. That’s why it will out corner the Escort.

Btw it was the DE days and the skidpan sessions at skills days that helped me come to these conclusions so I don’t think that will help :smile: .

Regards,

Patrick
 
Are you running low profile tires? this may attribute to the car breaking loose with no warning, as opposed to the characteristics of the other cars you are mentioning. Plus these cars also have more body roll than a nsx which would also give warning. I think what you are reffering to is not the handeling capabilites of a car but the feedback that certain setups will give you allowing you to more comfortably push a car to its limits. Higher profile tires definatly give a number of diffrent diffent warnings before letting go. Also thinner tires also give more warning. Some cars may feel faster or react more comfortably than others. but that does not actually relate to the actual numers or speed a car can go through a track given the appropriate professional driver.
 
I need to go sell my NSX and buy a Renault 5...

250px-Renault5.jpg
 
Based on your logic it sounds like you should sell your NSX immediately and buy a Dodge Viper! I hear those cars are amazing in the twisties...as you twist yourself right into a ditch!!! And handling is not subjective, it is the limit at which the physics of the car it to remain on the road, curve, track, etc. Not the cars fault if you don't understand physics and like to do things such as hit the brakes in the middle of a drift! :cool:
 
i don't care.. i love my car.. :smile:

unless you road race and had driven many cars than you might be able to compare these machines..
 
OLDMNSX said:
SugrueNSX,

I think that we need a little more info here. What was your mental/physical condition when you made this determination? Was there possibly drugs or alcohol involved? Possibly large quantitys of either or both? You do know that this automobile has limitations that if exceded will appear to be a design fault, but in reality are limitations that in order to be exceeded would have increased the design and production cost of the NSX to a point that a lot of us would not be able to afford the car.

Now, tell us, why did you buy the NSX in the first place? Did you drive it before you purchased it? What was the mechanical condition of the car? Was there previous structural or suspension damage? What is your knowledge and experience level with maintaining mechanical equipment, such as an NSX?

What kind of tires are you running on your NSX? How old are they? Are you using the factory specs for the alignment? Has your car had a 4 wheel alignment? Have you inspected to see if you have a failed shock strut? Have you ever attended a professional driving course? Have you had an experienced driver familiar with the characteristics of the NSX drive your car for a second opinion?

As you can see there a lot of unanswered questions here before we can get to the actual core of this statement. Please fill us in. I am sure that there will be some light shed on this if you can do that for us.

We really are here to help you with this problem.

Brad

I have not had a drink since last night, honest.
I don’t do drugs. Drugs are bad mmk.
I’m not saying there is anything wrong with the NSX.
I probably bought an NSX for the same reasons you did.
1. it looks fabulous
2. it’s aluminum
3. Great brakes, shifter, steering, visibility, power, grip, traction, reliability, and low cost of ownership. Also very comfortable ride for this level of performance. It is as you know one of the best sport cars ever built.
I have had two 4 wheel laser alignments this year. I usually do them before I go to the track. The tires are OEM and brand new. I have driven other NSXs.
The point I am trying to make does not really have anything to do with the NSX. It’s all high performance cars.
I have never driven an Enzo but I would be very surprised if it’s not a complete pig on the limit.

In my opinion people often bandy about terms without really thinking about what they are saying.
A few months back I overheard a middle aged grossly overweight lady at a Porsche social event talking about how in her opinion one Porsche model handles differently from another and I wondered, had she really driven both cars on the limit to make that determination?
It’s easy to let it slip out. Why do you like your NSX? Well the acceleration and the steering is very precise. And the car puts down the power in the corners. OK.. OK… And it handles well. WRONG! High Performance cars do not handle. They perform. And if you ever get one sideways (and I know many of you have) you might end up agreeing with me if you survive it.

Regards,

Patrick
 
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