What’s the long-term ownership experience been like with one of Japan’s mid-engined sports cars from the 1990s? To be honest, it’s been drama-free. And that’s just the way I like it.
At its core, my 1992 Acura NSX was engineered with Honda reliability in mind, with power coming from a relatively simple, 270-horsepower 3.0-liter V6 mated to a five-speed manual transaxle. The car remains bone-stock, much to the chagrin of my fellow NSX Club of America colleagues who are constantly tempting me to modify it.
I was lucky enough to get ahold of service records on the car back to its first oil change, which took place at Acura of Concord, California on March 11, 1993, at 3,489 miles. When I bought the car in December 2011, I became its fourth owner, and it had just over 80,000 miles on the odometer. Today, it has about 124,000. I’ve taken it on road trips all over the western region.
For example, check out my road trip to Seligman, Arizona from last summer.
Over the last 44,000 miles and 15 years, what has been done to the car? Maintenance expenditures have come out to about $11,000 under my ownership. Some of the key highlights are as follows:
- Timing belt, water pump, tensioner, cam sensor, outer belts, valve cover gaskets and cam seals, VTEC solenoid seals, coolant hoses, and rear brake pads/rotors: $2,462
- Brake system overhaul (modulator, proportioning valve, pipes, flanges, and custom electrical harness): $2,195
- Passenger-side window regulator: $989
- 18 oil changes (Castrol GTX 10W30 conventional)
- 3 battery replacements
- 5 A/C recharges (definitely need to troubleshoot a refrigerant leak)
- Replacement of: coolant expansion tank, ignition switch, and tires
Currently, I am midway through an audio system overhaul. The factory Bose sound system is notorious for having head unit, speaker, or amplifier issues (and sometimes, it’s a combination of all of the above). Lately, the only “music” I’ve been getting consists of crackles and pops. Luckily, I found a vendor in Texas willing to disassemble and refurb the head unit with all modern internals. Fingers are crossed that I’ll be rocking out in due time. As you’ll see in the image below, the console is currently radio-less.
For me, the “return on investment” for the NSX has been well worth it – not just as far as the market value of the car in comparison to what I paid, but also in terms of what it’s cost to keep on the road. I would trust the for a car from coast-to-coast drive at a moment’s notice, and the sense of community in the NSX enthusiast network is second to none.
