Information please

[aj5pt0]

Hi, a friend of mine is thinking about buying a 1992-1994 NSX. What he really needs is a daily driver, something reliable. I was wondering if any of you could give me any advice. How reliable are the NSXs, how much on average is maintenence. Are parts easy/hard to find, expensive/cheap?? Any and all information is greatly appreciated. I keep saying hold off, get something cheap, that you don't mind beating into the ground... But he is kinda set on buying a NSX, he says he doesn't want to get a car he will regret....

thanks!
Amanda

[jinny]

Although the NSX is a great car and they have proven to be great daily drivers when put into service as one, I would be a little worried about this particular choice, because, although it can be a great daily diriver, it is not always the most practical choice for a car, especially if it is going to be your only car...

I assume that your friend is looking into the early years because of price considerations, and if so, there is more to be concerned with then just the price of the car... insurance, maintenence, gas, etc. all cost more on this car than a newer car in the same price range... if you are looking at performance... then there is definitely decent performing vehicles in that price range as well...
and as with any used car of that age, there will be some $$ to put into the car once he buys it.

My opinion is that NSX's of that era have been driven hard and it will be tough to find a decent condition pre-targa example... of course, that contributes to the lower price... but If trouble free is what he is looking for, then I would be very carefull.

and parts are not cheap for the NSX... he's gonna want to cry when it comes time to replace the tires... even the "lesser" named korean or chinese brand tires are expensive at this size and speed rating... and ironically these expensive softer compund performance tires tend to wear faster than their more civilian grade sedan size counterparts... so a fortune and a half will be easy to spend in just tires alone... I'd drive slow to save on tread.

and that's just tires... every other part is more expensive than it's stablemate's... and a car of that age is probably needing a lot of replacements... brake rotors, timing belt, water pump, shocks, etc, etc, etc...

I'd say it's a bit of a gamble, just cause its has a reputation for reliability, doesn't mean he will find a good one. It is one thing to have to work on a second car to get it running properly, but quite another to have to work on your only car to get it working properly.


that was my 2 cents...


I wish your friend luck in his quest and I offer you a warm welcome to acuraworld!!!

[ChrisK]

Well, it really depends how he is intending to use the vehicle as a daily driver if it is practical or not. If he needs storage space it really isn't that practical. If he just needs it as transportation, to carry a few things, then it could very well be practical enough for him.

Insurance also depends on him and his are/state. My 92 NSX cost only about $12 more than my previous Acura Legend. That comes out to about $1050 a year for full coverage, $500 deductable through State Farm.

Routine maintenance on my NSX seems to be only a little higher than other V6 Acura cars like my previous Legend. Parts are a bit more, but not that much more. The problem is if you damage major components like suspension parts or major engine parts. That will cost you some big dallars. Otherwise just to keep the car well maintained is not that much more than other V6 Acuras like the RL/TL/MDX. Some dealers will try to rip you off when you brind in the NSX saying the NSX needs this and that special thing, or oil changes on an NSX is harder and we need to charge you more, but the reality is that routine maintenance is basically the same as any other car. Oil changes are probably even easier on the NSX than other comparable Honda/Acura cars as well.

There are a lot of really good 91-94 examples out there, but there are a lot of trash as well. You just have to do your research and I would have him check out www.nsxprime.com and get to know the members there. Eventually if he finds a NSX he wants to check out, many members would be willing to check it out for him if it is in there area. That is why it is a good idea to post on the forums respectfully and start getting to know the members.

91-92 years do have some problems that could end up costing you a lot of money to repair, but if preventative maintenance is done before it breaks you are okay. For example, the 91-92 and some 93 models suffer from a weak window regulator component contruction. This part is is a metal tab that holds a plastic part that the window cables attach to. The metal tabs will bend and break off causing failure of the plastic part resulting in the release of the cable causing the window to fall down. If this happens to you te fix is an entirely new windoe regulator at a cost of a hundres of dollars. On the otherhand, if you buy a $16 aftermarket part developed by NSX vendors and replace that plastic part with this new billet aluminum part the regulator will not suffer from that problem and will NOT fail. Installation can be a DIY project as well. The problem was fixed by Honda mid way through the 93 years, so if you buy a 94+ you don't have to worry. If you buy a 93, you may or may not have the problem so you have to check it yourself.

Some 91-92 years suffer from a faulty transmission case holding the snap ring. This is what is called as tbeing within "Snap Ring Range" failure. Just because you are in the range, it doesn't mean the snap ring will fail. If it does fail, onnce you replace it with a new trans case it wil not happen again. This problem was due to a drifting tolorance no a certain machine during manufacturing. When the machine wa in tolorance you didn't have a problem, but as it did its job it drifted and then had a problem. The best Honda could do was determine a time zone of when the machine started to develope this problem and thus the range of trans cases affected. That can't determine which cases where machined in tolorance though. Anyway, it has been said that just drive it until it breaks and then get it fixed. My 92 was in snap ring range and it did break on the previous owner, but he had it fixed and had some NSX-R gears put in at the same time

As for tires, it does seem to vary among owners. Some are barely getting 5-6K miles from the stock rear tires and even some aftermarket tires, however, others are getting 10K+ on the rear tires. The fronts seem to last about 2X the rear. I myself bought cheap Kumho Ecsta Supra 712 tires to use on my stock rims for commuting and haev put on about 3-4Kmiles and the tires still look to have about 85-90% left. My car is a 92, but it is aligned to the 94+ alignment specs which has less toe in than the orignial 91-93 spec that Honda no longer uses. This helps reduce tire wear at the expense of absolute handling. By the way, the cheap Kumho tires I bought were $98 each for the front and $78 each for the rear. These tires are not really good performance tires but serves it purpose for commuting. I have another set of rims for sprited driving. If you need better tires the Potenza S03 tires seem to last fairly long (Some members are getting 10K miles on the rear) and are a great performance tire as well.

Anyway, the NSX can be very expensive, but it also can be quite affordable. It really depends on the car itself and how you drive and care for it. Luck also plays a role as well. So far I have only done routine maintenance. The only thing that has gone bad on my car was a cracked collant tank which I replaced with an aftermarket aluminum one (So I will never have that problem again) and a shrinking upper windshield molding which I had replaced for about $130 at the dealer. This new part is supposed to be the updated one that does not shink. So far so good on that part. Oh, the Bose amps suck and will die on ALL year NSX's. I decided to go with a full aftermarket system anyway.

Whatever you do just don't get into any kind of accident. Easier said than done, but that is when the NSX can and will get very costly.

[jinny]

Damn, I thought I wrote a lot

sounds like great advice to me...

and I will agree that compared to other "exotics" the NSX is probably downright cheap to own and maintain... so If I led anyone to believe that it would be cost prohibitive, then I should appoligize... in actuallity, I don't really have much room to argue considering that I do not own one myself... most of my NSX information comes from an attemped bid at ownership just before I purchased the RL... I got infatuated with the idea of getting an NSX-T six speed... I even got a quote from my insurance to find out how much it would be to add the vehicle... ultimately, I decided that I couldn't afford it... woe is me.

maybe someday.

[ChrisK]

I think it really is the dealers that are trying to take advantage of the "NSX" name and bump of the cost of its servicing that can make it seem like the NSX cost so much to upkeep. There are members on NSX Prime that mention some rediculous prices that particular dealers quote them for things. For example, a few will claim the NSX takes some special tools to change oil and want to charge you $70 for an oil change. That is simple BS as the diameter of the NSX oil filter is the same as the Legend and I assume RL. It is just a little longer. In fact, removing the right side rear tire will allow access to the oil filter making removal a snap. You don't even need to get under the car. Another example is some dealers want to charge $1500 to maybe $2000 for a timing belt and water pump change. The more honest dealers will charge the normal $1200 or so which is a couple hundred more than my Legend. Like I mentioned, routine maintenance should be just a little higher than other V6 Acuras. Another good thing is if you are a NSXCA member (Cost about $40 a year) you can get 30% discounts on all OEM parts for various participating dealers.

Now, if you have some major engine trouble or other majoy part go out then it can get real costly.