The Detroit News runs a weekly auto evaluation of various cars under the heading of "HE DROVE, SHE DROVE." The husband wife team of Paul & Anita Lienert do the evaluations. In the Wednesday July 28, 2004 edition, they did an evaluation of the '04 NSX. The title reads, "Acura NSX turns heads," but the subtitle reads, "But 2004 Honda coupe has $90,000 price tag.
Their collective evaluation was that the NSX had more flaws than assets--"especially for $90K."
The quality and intelligence of most of the Lienerts evaluations border on the comedic as they bring little if anything to the table in terms of a typical automotive evaluation; as such, they are like fish out of water even attempting to evaluate the NSX. Their profound ignorance of the car and its "assets," is self-evident when their evaluation is read. Here are a couple of their pearls of wisdom about the car:
"Would you rather have one NSX or a pair of His & Hers Corvettes for about the same price?"
"...the NSX no longer looks or feels quite so special--not when you can buy a 400-horsepower Chevrolet Corvette for well under $50,000 or, for that matter, a Dodge Neon SRT-4 for not much more than $20,000. That little Neon, by the way, makes considerably more torque than the NSX. Embarrasingly for Acura, so does a Chevrolet Impala sedan with the 3.8 liter V-6."
"....she immediately zeroed in on two of its flaws--no lighted vanity mirrors and a new trunk mounted CD changer."
"Needless to say, while the mid-mounted engine makes a pleasant enough noise as it revs up to redline, not much is happening in terms of actual velocity. In other words, I don't believe an SRT-4 would have much trouble blowing the NSX into the weeds."
"But even though the trunk is surprisingly roomy, there's not enough space to stow the top there." (can you say total moron at this point!)
"If you really feel compelled to shell out that kind of silly money, it would be better spent on a Dodge Viper or a Porsche 911. Or, better still, those mom and pop Corvettes."
"Removable roof panel is not heavy, but where do you stow it?"
(ditto on the moron comment)
"Pretty civilized for an exotic wannabe."
and the final insult:
"Cramped cabin, especially passenger side. No side air bags. Disappointing acceleration and power. Chevy Impala has more torque. Not nearly as entertaining as a Corvette or a Viper. Ridiculously overpriced. An anachronism. Looks and feels like a poor man's, generic Ferrari."
Now in fairness to these two goofs they made several "positive" comments:
"In our estimation, the mid-engine NSX is a riot to take out on a Friday night..."
"...so what do you get for your 90 grand? I know what I got. The coveted front of the restaurant valet spot at Giovanni's on a Friday night....and a constant parade of people coming up to our table and wanting to talk about the car. So it still is special and you have to give it credit for turning heads and prompting lots of chatter."
"I'll give Honda credit for this--they made a high performance car that's extremely civilized and extremely easy to drive, unlike the mid-engine Italian exotics that inspired the NSX."
"Even after 13 years, the chasis still feels beautifully balanced, and the car is really a pleasure to drive on twisty, two-lane roads out in the country."
Their overall rating of the car was a 3 out of 5 which stands for "acceptable." Unfortunately, a fair evaluation of the quality of their article is only a 1, "unacceptable."
Their collective evaluation was that the NSX had more flaws than assets--"especially for $90K."
The quality and intelligence of most of the Lienerts evaluations border on the comedic as they bring little if anything to the table in terms of a typical automotive evaluation; as such, they are like fish out of water even attempting to evaluate the NSX. Their profound ignorance of the car and its "assets," is self-evident when their evaluation is read. Here are a couple of their pearls of wisdom about the car:
"Would you rather have one NSX or a pair of His & Hers Corvettes for about the same price?"
"...the NSX no longer looks or feels quite so special--not when you can buy a 400-horsepower Chevrolet Corvette for well under $50,000 or, for that matter, a Dodge Neon SRT-4 for not much more than $20,000. That little Neon, by the way, makes considerably more torque than the NSX. Embarrasingly for Acura, so does a Chevrolet Impala sedan with the 3.8 liter V-6."
"....she immediately zeroed in on two of its flaws--no lighted vanity mirrors and a new trunk mounted CD changer."
"Needless to say, while the mid-mounted engine makes a pleasant enough noise as it revs up to redline, not much is happening in terms of actual velocity. In other words, I don't believe an SRT-4 would have much trouble blowing the NSX into the weeds."
"But even though the trunk is surprisingly roomy, there's not enough space to stow the top there." (can you say total moron at this point!)
"If you really feel compelled to shell out that kind of silly money, it would be better spent on a Dodge Viper or a Porsche 911. Or, better still, those mom and pop Corvettes."
"Removable roof panel is not heavy, but where do you stow it?"
(ditto on the moron comment)
"Pretty civilized for an exotic wannabe."
and the final insult:
"Cramped cabin, especially passenger side. No side air bags. Disappointing acceleration and power. Chevy Impala has more torque. Not nearly as entertaining as a Corvette or a Viper. Ridiculously overpriced. An anachronism. Looks and feels like a poor man's, generic Ferrari."
Now in fairness to these two goofs they made several "positive" comments:
"In our estimation, the mid-engine NSX is a riot to take out on a Friday night..."
"...so what do you get for your 90 grand? I know what I got. The coveted front of the restaurant valet spot at Giovanni's on a Friday night....and a constant parade of people coming up to our table and wanting to talk about the car. So it still is special and you have to give it credit for turning heads and prompting lots of chatter."
"I'll give Honda credit for this--they made a high performance car that's extremely civilized and extremely easy to drive, unlike the mid-engine Italian exotics that inspired the NSX."
"Even after 13 years, the chasis still feels beautifully balanced, and the car is really a pleasure to drive on twisty, two-lane roads out in the country."
Their overall rating of the car was a 3 out of 5 which stands for "acceptable." Unfortunately, a fair evaluation of the quality of their article is only a 1, "unacceptable."
