Hello all,
I am a longtime lurker on these threads and a first-time poster as a new 1991 NSX owner. I’ve wanted an NSX as my dream car ever since high school and have recently been able to finally get my hands on one for a good price, albeit an automatic rather than a manual. I was able to find an auto NSX that was virtually all stock and still runs relatively great despite its age and about 100k mileage (there was a mileage/odometer discrepancy, which also contributed to the low price). Nevertheless, it is a great car and driving it has been incredibly fun, even with the auto transmission. After driving it though, I have come to the realization that I would ultimately like to have a manual NSX and I now have a dilemma that I would like to ask for advice from those with experience in this forum.
Should I keep my existing auto NSX and eventually swap the transmission to a manual when the auto transmission starts to fail/need maintenance? Or should I sell my auto NSX and try to buy a manual NSX down the road in a few years? Let me preface this with the fact that I was able to get my auto NSX for a great price; at least $15-20k+ lower than a comparable manual (though at the prices I have been seeing lately, probably closer to $25-30k+ less). I also plan to keep and enjoy driving this car as an automatic for the next couple of years or so as it runs relatively great and is a lot of fun, so this would be a future project that I could save up for/work on a little at a time. Since I am planning on keeping it for a while, I will perform any maintenance/upgrades that it may need, so this would also seem to be more of a sunk cost to me and incentivize me to swap the transmission since I will be already investing time/money into the car (TB/WP service was already done, but the car needs new wheels/tires, ABS/power-steering light is on, would change out stereo/lights eventually, maybe change the paint color, etc.) I probably would not touch the power-steering though, as it isn’t that much of an issue for me.
From those of you who have swapped your automatic to a manual, how was the process (length, difficulty, total price, etc.) and how well has it held up after the swap? Does it drive the same as a stock manual? How would the value of the car hold up, if I needed to sell the car in the future(this is my dream car so I have no plans to ever sell, but would still like to make sure that I am not bringing down the value too much)? Would the fact that it was swapped to a manual still allow it to retain the market value of a manual NSX, or would that bring it down significantly?
I am located in the Bay Area (East Bay) and would also like to know some reputable NSX shops close by to get maintenance/work done (preferably near Fremont/San Jose if possible). Also, would any of these shops be able to properly take on the task of performing a transmission swap?
Thank you all in advance!
I am a longtime lurker on these threads and a first-time poster as a new 1991 NSX owner. I’ve wanted an NSX as my dream car ever since high school and have recently been able to finally get my hands on one for a good price, albeit an automatic rather than a manual. I was able to find an auto NSX that was virtually all stock and still runs relatively great despite its age and about 100k mileage (there was a mileage/odometer discrepancy, which also contributed to the low price). Nevertheless, it is a great car and driving it has been incredibly fun, even with the auto transmission. After driving it though, I have come to the realization that I would ultimately like to have a manual NSX and I now have a dilemma that I would like to ask for advice from those with experience in this forum.
Should I keep my existing auto NSX and eventually swap the transmission to a manual when the auto transmission starts to fail/need maintenance? Or should I sell my auto NSX and try to buy a manual NSX down the road in a few years? Let me preface this with the fact that I was able to get my auto NSX for a great price; at least $15-20k+ lower than a comparable manual (though at the prices I have been seeing lately, probably closer to $25-30k+ less). I also plan to keep and enjoy driving this car as an automatic for the next couple of years or so as it runs relatively great and is a lot of fun, so this would be a future project that I could save up for/work on a little at a time. Since I am planning on keeping it for a while, I will perform any maintenance/upgrades that it may need, so this would also seem to be more of a sunk cost to me and incentivize me to swap the transmission since I will be already investing time/money into the car (TB/WP service was already done, but the car needs new wheels/tires, ABS/power-steering light is on, would change out stereo/lights eventually, maybe change the paint color, etc.) I probably would not touch the power-steering though, as it isn’t that much of an issue for me.
From those of you who have swapped your automatic to a manual, how was the process (length, difficulty, total price, etc.) and how well has it held up after the swap? Does it drive the same as a stock manual? How would the value of the car hold up, if I needed to sell the car in the future(this is my dream car so I have no plans to ever sell, but would still like to make sure that I am not bringing down the value too much)? Would the fact that it was swapped to a manual still allow it to retain the market value of a manual NSX, or would that bring it down significantly?
I am located in the Bay Area (East Bay) and would also like to know some reputable NSX shops close by to get maintenance/work done (preferably near Fremont/San Jose if possible). Also, would any of these shops be able to properly take on the task of performing a transmission swap?
Thank you all in advance!
Short version: just get a manual NSX.
