Mini Acura NSX Back on the Table

Shrunken Supercar Rumored to Get AWD, Mid-Engine Layout

September 21, 2012

While the stillborn, V-10-powered NSX was being developed, Honda was also working on a related and obscure project referred to internally as the Small NSX. At the time it was just one of several advanced R&D ideas sitting in the design room. Then the financial crisis hit, causing Honda to kill the NSX and shelve all other sports car projects. But Honda has since rebounded, and as we know, the NSX has been reborn as an all-wheel drive hybrid. Now we're hearing the Small NSX may be back on the drawing board as well.

While the words "Small NSX" may conjure up visions of a successor to the S2000, our inside source tells us this is not the case, and that it will look much like a shrunken version of the big-boy NSX, something along the lines of the car you see in this artist's impression. Our source also tells us that like the NSX, it will be equipped with a version of Honda's SH-AWD system.

Power will likely be provided by a turbocharged direct-injection engine. Honda currently has a number of engines that could fit the bill, including the 3.5-liter V-6, 2.4-liter I-4, and 2.0-liter I-4 already offered in several of its American-market products. Given Honda's America-focused development, overseas engines such as its 660cc and 1.0-liter mills are unlikely to be considered. Of the possible three, the 2.4-liter is the most likely candidate. There's also the possibility that it will be fitted with some kind of hybrid drivetrain.

Our source also tells us the Small NSX will make use of a number of parts from the NSX to help recoup development costs. Given that both cars will be developed at Honda of America's R&D center in Ohio (we're told that in July Honda HQ assigned several of its top test drivers and engineers to the facility for a five-year stint), it's a logical move.

The NSX remains on track to return for the 2015 model year. If it's indeed green-lit, the Small NSX could follow a year or two afterward, before the drivers and engineers head home in 2017. Don't expect it to be a bargain sports car, however. Given the amount of DNA it's likely to share with the NSX, the Small NSX would likely cost between $50,000 and $60,000.

Cheaper baby NSX back under consideration at Acura

Sep 24th 2012

Back in the salad days before the financial upheaval of 2008, Honda's Acura division was reportedly planning to build not one, but two new NSX models. The first was/is the on again off again heir to the NSX throne (then a V10 rear-drive supercar, now the much ballyhooed hybrid all-wheel-drive affair revealed at January's Detroit Auto Show). The second was to be a smaller, less expensive version, creatively dubbed by Honda internals as the "Small NSX." Never let engineers name your pets, folks.

In any event, the Small NSX that was said to be cancelled before we even knew it existed is reportedly back on the table. Unnamed sources tell Motor Trend that the sports car will really be a scaled-back version of the NSX, too, with a mid-engine layout and potentially a version the same hybrid SH-AWD system.

It is really anyone's guess as to which corporate powertrain will offer motivation, should this baby NSX see the light of day, though turbocharging one of the company's four-cylinder mills seems like a good bet.

With the full-boat NSX still on track for a debut in 2015, expect to wait quite a while before the junior version is available – 2017 is a reasonable guess. When the car is ready, pending another once-in-a-lifetime financial system meltdown, we are told to expect sticker prices in the realm of $50,000 to $60,000.