It's weird you mention the NSX. I saw three on the road the other day. Hell, I had not seen one in months. Then all of a sudden they were everywhere. To me the looks don't hold up over time. I remember when they first came out and Willie Brown had one. I kinda liked it. Now that I have my 911, I kinda don't.

 

i don't think you can call them "sleepers".

 

I have educated myself enough to know that I will be purchasing a Porsche Turbo over a GTR since Porsche stands behind their products. I think the GTR is a tremendous car and fell in love with it after driving one back to back with a few other exotics a year ago. However, after reading NAGTROC and seeing how owners that paid a significant amount of money for a premium car are treated when a component (usually transmission related) fails, I cannot justify such a purchase.

 

Well, they are both good cars... You can't go wrong. But I haven't abused the car, and I had an issue with my transmission (I've posted about this quite a few times).

I've tracked/auto-x'd/drag raced/launched my car, and Nissan doesn't have a problem with my warranty (Nissan GT-R HQ).

They stand behind their product. Not only do they stand behind it, they want it to be seen doing well. My dealer helped me with an issue so I wouldn't miss my upcoming track event. And I get treated well (especially because I paid a significant amount of money for a premium car.

I'd rather not get hung up on a few experiences out of the almost (over) 10,000 GT-R's in circulation. I seriously doubt that is the only reason you opted for the Turbo.

 

Don't go drag race a new Caddy CTS-V either...0-60 3.6 sec.

 

^ You serious????

That is INSANE!!!

 

The 4 doors make it a sleeper IMO.

 

Yes I am serious. I know it will do 3.8 for sure but 3.6 is being reported. Even the new M3 is doing 4 sec 0-60. A 997S 2009-10 with PDK will do 4 sec but they 2005-08 guys better pplay cool calm and collective if one on these cars pulls up on you.

 

+1 Nice post.

 

That is some awesome performance from ANY car, much less a 4-door Caddy!
+1. Quite the sleeper, indeed.
Thanks.

 

$32B and wiping out the bondholders, it better fly too

ok, i'm done. sorry about that.

 

The NSX is an interesting piece of Motoring and Japanese engineering history. Drawing on Honda's experience in the F1 "Turbo" dynasty, they came up with an amazing piece of automotive genius & art. Chassis dynamics was tuned by Ayrton Senna himself, with the modus operandi to show the world what an 'exotic' sports car should be like: Sexy, fast (not just in a straight line) and a new one no one saw coming... easy to live with.

That last one... I really think that was the one thing that Porsche took on board so well. The 911 after becoming water-cooled became a truly tractable piece of kit, being stupendously fun being fast, and truly versatile whilst slow.

I'm trying to remember now from memory, but I can reliably say that whilst every other manufacturer continued to evolve their chassis, the Honda NSX remained virtually unchanged from 1989 to 2006. That's an impressive chassis to remain in good form for so long. Aesthetics change with the years, but we can ignore that because it's too fleeting and fickle.

I believe the NSX was the first to employ a full aluminum monocoque in a mass-production vehicle, whilst employing other firsts such as Drive-by-wire throttle (remember this is 1989!).

They also went on to make their NA1R (NSX-R) and it's second iteration in 2002 (NA2R). That car, being powered by a TINY 3.2L V6, still took on heavyweights such as the Lambo Murcielago & Gallardo as well as the F360CS. While it can't outrun them on fast circuits, I've seen it give a good run for the money on slower and tighter ones.

Here's a video of the NA2R (Honda NSX-R) take on the 'Ring by and old fogey at the wheel. He's not a bad steerer too; for a retiree pushing his 70s with a time of 7:56 in a totally stock vehicle (OEM tyres but Japanese speed limiter 180kph removed). Not bad for a 20+ year old design. A true driver's car; no PDK, no traction control, no stability control, no air-bags, just mid-engined rear wheel drive goodness!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdGoFhs1pf4

 

I don't think the M3 does 0-60 in 4 seconds flat. I had a 2010 E90 M3 with the DCT right before I bought the GT-R and it felt considerably slower than the Nissan. I'm not saying the M3 is a slow car, but it doesn't feel like it is within a 1/2 second of the GT-R's 0-60 time.