Many companies would love to build you an NSX engine, but only Acura has done so as of now. This is not a warmed over Acura Legend powerplant. It travels its own path with variable valve timing (called VTEC by the acronymous folks at Acura), a set of three supplementary magnesium butterfly valves within the intake plenum that control the size of the intake chamber for maximum efficiency at any given engine speed, lovely titanium connecting rods and a direct-ignition system that features an individual coil for each sparkplug. Combined, these classy and no doubt costly pieces add up to an engine that produces a lusty 270 bhp at 7100 screaming rpm. From 3.0 liters, you will remember.
You'll find some of the aforementioned forgings and castings at the NSX's corners, where they comprise the major portion of the suspension hardware. There's nothing special about the basics (unequal-length A-arms and coil springs behind each aluminum wheel), but the way they work together is nothing short of magnificent. On the track, they give crisp, responsive and vice-free handling; on the highway, a smooth ride. Equally effective is the manual steering rack, which displays none of the compromise between effort and feel we've grown accustomed to from Japanese carmakers. This is competition-ready steering, slightly heavy at rest but tack-sharp when you really need precision.
By comparision, the 4-wheel disc brakes (with ABS, of course) and 5-speed manual transaxle seem absolutely mundane. Light metals are used as appropriate in these areas too, but they work no better than the very best from elsewhere.
There's also a comfortable and attractive cabin, featuring the finest in materials, instrumentation, control layouts and seats. Air conditioning and a topnotch sound system are included as well. In this area, the NSX is very like its cousins in the Legend line, which is to say excellent.
So. Within the confines of the NSX body Acura has provided an engine that can be in turn docile and ferocious, a suspension system that revels in high-speed work yet is most comfortable on the street, faultless brakes and a traction-control system to bail you out of over-your-head situations.
As proof, a trip from Fort Stockton, Texas, to California was as uneventful as you could ask. It is possible to do 10 hours behind the NSX's wheel without strain, punctuated only by stops to fill the fuel tank. And with a 21-mpg average, the NSX didn't require that often. In fact, the worst part of the trip was the vigilance necessary to keep the NSX at near legal speeds. Left to its own devices, I suspect the NSX would have gotten me home in something like half the time.
And therein lies the only frustrating facet of the NSX's makeup. It handles the multitudinous tasks of a supercar with such grace and ease that there is seemingly no challenge left for the driver. It has reserves most of us will never be able to exploit, and it will probably never disgrace its owner by spewing oil all over the driveway or expiring in an unlovely lump of molten unobtanium in some far away hamlet.
Acura's people have done their jobs well, creating in the NSX a near-perfect supercar, a sophisticated 2-seat Formula 1 machine with weather protection. Can it be that, like Alexander, they have no worlds left to conquer?