European days of reigning supreme in the sportscar segment are officially over.

I love it.

we have our domestic muscle car wars and now its time for the japanese to start their own car wars…………. nice

Until Toyota and/or Honda are leading the constructors championship in F1 you can hold in the reigns, mayer_ray.

Who cares I need more articles about Acuras resale value and JD Power ratings.
Class of ‘11

Rubens is already asking them to take the fenders off the NSX so it will meet F1 regs. He has given up on the F1 car.

LOL shaver. It is a bit of a mystery why Honda sucks so much. Both their guys can drive.

Yeah, the Japanese have a long way at becoming “kings” of the sportscar segment, they are coming out with some pretty impressive stuff, just like the Domestics have some pretty decent sportscars, but just like I’d never pay over 100k for a Corvette ZR1, I’d never pay 100k+ for a Honda/Acura, Toyota/Lexus, and Nissan/Infiniti car like I would if I had the money for something out of Europe…

Who gives a **** if the LF-A beats the GT-R … at nearly triple the price, it should smoke it. And if the lines on this NSX are any indication, this car will look pussified … nothing like the stunning NSX of old.

GT-R is a monster.

And Ferrari is working on a new Enzo too. this should get interesting.

Will they be bragging about gas mileage? Will they have a hybrid version? What about the environment? Wouldn’t this car be considered (dare I say) irresponsible?? Honda should be ashamed of themselves. Who would support such a company of hooligans? What’s next, a V-12 Honda pickup?

Noname, Fukui doesn’t give a **** about Amedeo Felisa. This is a jap war, you dumb****.

Buhbye, Honda did want a V8 for the Ridgeline, though they might not want it now, though it might get a diesel.

The Ferrari Enzo is about 1 million I think the NSX would be competition to the 360 Modena (however its pronounced) I think the original concept of this car ended up looking too similar to the Enzo.

True enough tripleonefive.

But I always viewed cars like these as trying to match the Italians and Germans, but under-cut them on price.

Is the NSX going to have an AWD setup? The turbo-engine + AWD is what makes the GT-R such a monster in the ring. It can beat the Corvette Z06, a car that’s both more powerful AND lighter. The ring really lends itself to the GT-R. If the NSX doesn’t have AWD it doesn’t have a prayer at challenging the GT-R.

I personally am sick of the ring being the only standard used. Use it to tune a suspension fine, but maybe the best car should be one that’s consistently good at all tracks like Laguna, etc.

@Buhbye,
Haven’t you heard? Honda’s buying hummer and putting a 10L V28 under the hood.

Haven’t you heard, Buhbye, when Honda (or Toyota) makes a gas-guzzling polluting beast it is for the public good and is embraced by environmentalists everywhere as hunman advancement.

tripleonefive (#13),

FERRARI is working a new “top” car. Its emphasis in on light weight not more power. The car is said to weigh as little as 2200lbs, but still have the same engine as the Enzo making 650hp.

The overall formula sounds like the McLaren F1; weighing next to nothing, more horsepower that horse sense, and shaved and striped to rip. The McLaren F1 could do 240mph in “only” 650hp. It could be interesting to say the least.

The 1990s NSX would have gone up against the F355 (as both were new cars then), not the F360 Modena, and would have had it hat handed to it anyway. the NSX simply did not have the power to match the F355, 360, or the up coming 430, nor had the ability to handle the power needed. The NSX sufferes the same problem most higher level Japanese performance cars suffer: they are a closed product.

That is, these cars are so tuned and tightened to what they ship with it is nearly impossible to improve the machine in any way without breaking something else. Increase horsepower and you sacrifice handing. Improve handling and you sac agility and/or top speed. The GT-R35 Vspec? a most 60hp increase and shaving 300-400 lbs (i forget the actual numbers), but if you ask NISSAN engineers, they will likely say the Vspec is what the GT-R35 was supposed to be. I wouldn’t doubt it.

But HONDA more than any other Japanese automaker can make a great car but typically makes the car so focused that upgrading it it a very tricky thing (CIVICs not withstanding). The car will pass of fail went it ships. There really isn’t going to be much of a second chance.

Frylock350 I think the reason they test cars at the ring is not only because it is a challenging course but because it is a highway used by the public on the off days. If you don’t get me then what I am saying is that it does not make sense to tune a street car on a purebred race track because those conditions will never be recreated on the road. Now what would be very cool is if the car had different driving modes like all these other newer cars because then they could combine both of our ideas Frylock. Tune the sport and/or supersport settings on the ring where it’s streetstyle for insane mountain driving, and then tune the race setting on a track like Laguna for when you want to take it on a weekender to the track, boom you’d have a car ready for just about anything thrown at it.

frylock350 (#16),

I dont think it will be so simple to write off RWD against the GT-R35.

The fastest car period at Nurburgring is the Radical SR8 post 6min 55sec. But that it literally a mini race car with a monster engine. But it is a RWD.

The LEXUS LF-A prototype cut 7min 24sec… its not even finished and it aced the Vspec by five seconds. It’s got a stupid fast engine and it made more like a actual race car than the GT-R35, giving it better balance and control. The LF-A is basically a front engine Formula car with a detuned Formula engine under in a full body system.

HONDA could ace the GT-R35 Vspec with “SH-RWD” and a fast “Formula based” engine. I don’t think that HONDA would go through all this trouble only to place behind the “old man” on the block, the R35. AWD sounds like an option but only if HONDA, likely chomping at the bit to get back into international GT racing, does not want to race against the world for more than bragging rights. To compete, in open sanctioned events, they have to have a car that can be stripped for racing easily and that means RWD, easily dropping the clutch packs for a normal limited slip diff.

Besides, despite the GT-R reputation as a high performer, it is still a relative pariah for dialing the driver’s actual ability out and being basically “a great sport coupe with training wheels”. HONDA it known for making cars for High Level drivers to drive at a high levels. Cars that give fairly little help. It is debatable whether or not the HONDA will need AWD as the fastest cars are still RWD only. What is clear, is that the CORVETTE is somewhat upsetting proof that the basics of low weight and high power is not enough anymore, at least, away from the track.

I think AWD is still optional.

The F355 was friggin sweet. I loved the sound of the engine.

All three of these cars will beat 7:30 around the ring.
I’d like the time on the ZR-1, maybe they released that already, but it doesn’t come to mind.
All three companies will sell all that they make.
Competition is good for me!
DrFill

Sweet news indeed. I can now care less about the germans when I get my toy car. It’ll be a lot cheaper but faster.

Money asside….I’ll take a Bugatti or Porsche Carerra GT over any Jap car anyday.

Blakkarr, when the NSX came out in 1990 it’s target was the Ferrari 348. It bested it in every area of performance, and it was substantially cheaper. It also was reliable. As the years went on, Honda didn’t to a whole lot to keep up with the perceived competition. But the NSX was just a test to see if Honda could compete with the exotics. It was successful. We are now about to see the fruits of their labor in the new NSX.

Targeting the LF-A makes sense. Targeting the GT-R sounds ridiculous. If the LF-A isn’t able to trample the GT-R something’s really wrong.

I think the best way to go about achieving this goal is to take a guess at what the V-Spec will do, and crushing that time. (Honda has to assume from Nissan’s past attempts that the V-Spec won’t be the last step) So what Honda really should be doing is hitting a sub-7 minute time! lol …

PLEEEEEAAAASSSEEEE- the 911 GT2 allready beat the GTR around the ring; the only people who care about these ugly, overhyped tin cans are pimply faced 18 yr old losers

I can’t wait to see the LF-A to smoke GT-R. The IS-F super fast, my question is it’s going to be tough for LEXUS to price this car around $200K. Unless it will come with super Technology package just like LS460.

gooch02000 (#26),

My dateline was off. I had forgotten the dates for F348, though I would have to see the outcomes between that car aand the NSX, though I have no doubt the NSX was far less expensive. But then that is what FERRARI does: Extremely overpriced sports cars. The F355 was a major correction and improvement.

But considering that these new car is nothing like the last, this new “NSX” is not the product of any long running work based on the old NSX. It’s a totally new car and needs to be approached as such.

Can’t top the Ford GT

Takeo Fukai deserves a hug.

FOR COMMENT #29

The NSX was a MUCH better car than the 348 ….legend has it
Ferrai actually bought an NSX to check it out and see what
was done with this wonderful car.

Unfortunately - Honda became bored with sports cars and itself
became boring, working on “economy” cars among other things….

Meanwhile Ferrari learned a lesson and created the 355.

The great strength of the NSX was it’s weight, balance, and
overall competence ….i have driven many over the years
and i believe while not the fastest car to drive (it was never intented to be anyway) it is a BLAST….Plus it is wonderfully
made and reliable.

Gotta love that mid engined car …am buying a 2002 NSX soon.

Get the Type-R man. That car is a beauty