Timeline 1984: The bigwigs at Honda Japan were drumming up ideas of shifting from the automaker’s conventional FF front-engine, front-wheel-drive format to a more interesting one. But with Honda being Honda, it wasn’t ready to compromise interior room and everyday usability in the name of almighty performance. So, the engineers at Honda’s Wako R&D center came up with an underfloor, midship-engine rear-wheel drive (UMR) architecture combining the best of both worlds. The same philosophy rings true in the second-generation NSX sports hybrid.
True, the NSX hybrid is not as straightforward or basic as the legendary first-gen model with its three electric motors and Super Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD). However, it still has 500 to 600 horsepower from its electrified twin-turbo V6 powertrain, and it’s the sort of supercar you can live with every single day: It has a roomy interior, plenty of hi-tech connectivity options, modest boot space, and all-weather traction from its hybrid AWD system.
Plus, it’s not as thirsty as a Ferrari or Lamborghini. As SlashGear’s Chris Davies pointed out in his Acura NSX test drive in 2017, “the computer bashfully admitted it was still returning 19 mpg after bashing it all day,” so you have your cake and eat it, too – if you can live with the NSX’s price tag, of course.