Supercars. Difficult to drive, park, and live with. Usually. Not Honda's - they not only made their supercar as friendly as a Civic, but also as exciting as any Ferrari. As you might have guessed, this week's Car of the Week is the evergreen Honda NSX.

The NSX was released in 1992 - the first supercar to have an airbag and climate control and featuring advanced, electronically-assisted power steering. It is powered by a 3.2-litre, 24 valve, four-cam, mid-mounted V6 which is driven by a 6-speed manual gearbox, channelling 280bhp to the rear wheels. The top speed is 170 mph and it sprints to 60mph from rest in 5.5 seconds (pretty impressive, but remember the Impreza does it in 6.3). The NSX is one of the most underrated cars ever built, and has not been looked upon as a serious supercar by potential buyers. One reason for this may be because it is competing directly with cars with perceived heritage, such as Porsche and Ferrari have by the truck-load.

This is a brilliant car. It's just a shame that the all-aluminium NSX hasn't attracted more buyers. Badge snobs - they just don't know what they are missing. One can not ignore the electrifying V6 which howls to a throaty 8000rpm (it is a VTEC remember!). The chassis is just as impressive. The NSX is getting on a bit now and despite it looking like it was designed with a T-square it still has a loyal following amongst enthusiasts (hence its position in the magazine). Honda has scheduled to replace the NSX in 2001. As with any supercar it is expensive to run but not in supercar terms. Reliability and build quality make this a real peace-of-mind, low-maintenance supercar. You will also be pleased to know that the depreciation curve isn't as steep as you might expect from a more popular supercar. Most rounded supercar ever? Probably...
Cian S Hanley