Honda NSX

nails1

It’s one of my dream cars but are there any of these in Ireland?

Wibbs

I presume you mean the original of the species N? I know of three out there. All series one. I don't know of any of the second series ones(non pop up headlights) in Ireland.

Don't know of any of the latest "NSX" in Ireland.

CJhaughey

I have never seen one here, no doubt the joyless individuals who decide transport policy have made it nigh on impossible to drive one here at reasonable cost, its likely that it would be prohibitively expensive to tax and insure and most people with the money to drive such a car would be more likely to go for an Italian or German brand.
When I picked my last car up in the UK the dealer had an Orange one in the showroom.
Fantastic looking car for sure, and I am sure the performance would not disappoint.

delly

I remember I saw one on a few occasions going through the M50 toll before it was expanded. It was always my dream car following my Gran Turismo days.

PCeeeee

I saw one 10+ years back when I was getting an alarm fitted in Galway. Red and v clean.

PsychoPete

I'm sure Icetronix had 2 or 3 of them at one stage

eljono

I know someone with an NSX in Ireland. I had the good fortune to borrow it for a day a few years back. Fantastic car to drive. It's quick but not really that fast compared to modern standards. It's the driving experience that makes it special, all the controls are so well weighted and intuitive, great balance and feel, a real driver's car.

mondeo

I saw a silver one in Rathfarnham a few months ago, it was a 90's one.

Muppet Man

I’m pretty sure I saw an irish reg one on show at the jap fest car show show outside Belfast about 2 years back. I’ll have a look to see if I can find a photo. Gorgeous looking thing to stand beside.

passatman86

Seen a red one in a garage parked up gathering dust, epic cars

NIMAN

I sat in one back in the day, a young lad in Derry got bought one by his Da.
He was the friend of a friend of my wee brothers.

Didn't actually get a run in it, probably glad as I wouldn't have trusted the young fella!

Wibbs

eljono wrote: »

Fantastic car to drive. It's quick but not really that fast compared to modern standards. It's the driving experience that makes it special, all the controls are so well weighted and intuitive, great balance and feel, a real driver's car.

+1. It's no slouch, but it's not a particularly "fast" car. I found it more of a two seater "GT" car rather than a "supercar" aimed at the US market, if you know what I mean. Very well bolted together and with 90's Honda/Japanese utter reliability on top. Compared to Italian equivalents of the time and for a time after it was leagues ahead in reliability, repairability and build quality(though a pretty car, it didn't have that extra Italian flair). The NSX R is another beast entirely mind you. More a track car with a tax disk and developed on the back of some criticism of the base car's softer handling and general feel.

Cee-Jay-Cee

A friend of mine has one, white with black roof. His has a wide arch kit which cost an absolute him fortune to ship from Japan. Also fitted with a full titanium exhaust which sounds mental on full chat. Like everyone says, they’re not staggeringly fast but they are a lot of fun to drive and by no means slow.

TheBoyConor

Forget about it. You won't get insurance for it.

Wibbs

Depends on a few factors, for a start your age and whether it's a second car under a classic policy. There are a few in Ireland on the road so clearly they're insurable.

Henry Ford III

Easily insured if you meet the criteria.

zilog_jones

Wibbs wrote: »

...repairability...

I have no idea how it compares to the Italian equivalents, but the fact it's got a transverse V6 amidships in what looks like a very densely-packed engine bay, I can only imagine it is an absolute pain in the balls to work on.

tdf7187

I saw one parked outside a building in the Sandyford Industrial Estate on a few occasions. This is 20 years ago or so. There were never more than two or three in Ireland is my understanding.

Mac 3

There is one that comes to the cars and coffee meets in Limerick. I have a pic of one that was in Lambe and O Connor years ago somewhere.

I've only ever seen 2 red and 1 silver one in Ireland.

Mac 3

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=355712241974529&set=ms.c.eJxFVdmtZTEI62jEDum%7E%3BsdHDx9xPi92YxDNbxWoq1J%7E%3B%7E%3Bc%7E_AGtsPpMpKPuBaXfNgTdiWOjZ88u76O1iFGvWG98MVdh%7E_Evhzd%7E%3BnH%7E_vXeiftnaPw5uvmjj%7E_%7E%3BOu9w%7E%3BDnfPkWG%7E%3B37rX8zX8Hf7PDah%7E%3Blq1n7zNfIJ85Wgvp8%7E%3B4slPG7AeRj7Wb%7E%3BB9fDT4VvoP%7E%3BCUO7%7E%3BzO%7E_oN4kcOws58n6dLvkc%7E%3BB%7E%3BMV8L2C3w2s%7E%3BPbwC7sPw%7E%3B%7E_qpYD7qQ8XWPkG8%7E_qiYw9sf51fV9e88DH8jxrzkW9VhZ33DfFWH18751dCf6%7E_G%7E%3BfPaYz2bjcw7Dfv4PmPUc9ZL1HPGcz6BPpT7Nlt%7E_pbx7T5TO5P%7E%3BXVe%7E_mXz2L5T3ln3%7E%3Bpjh1GP9sD%7E_jq8A33L9bL54P%7E%3B%7E%3BNd3yjXrGeOfpT9pd7v3b8JurxvjQTmHwl9OHkq3Zf%7E_X547cb94N6S96aVwNxHy9a%7E%3BeVtg98Ob7%7E%3BjT1ZfxXrShx9Nb733mzd%7E%3BYL%7E%3BVksfNM6Nk3nvozhb1pH0U%7E_8jHQz%7E%3BExGz%7E_nt0E98mNa6JfzPIX%7E%3B158J%7E_g32%7E_4DzMPTB90vfgz0YD77SicGPnn33NcN%7E_pFGPfOL%7E_I0%7E%3BP2Of175tPee9mqxfle2MO%7E%3BSf1b9i3nd6wb76v9hBvjO%7E_dT6lvwz7m9gE9BPXgeE%7E_a%7E_3XffDLMh%7E%3BdR%7E%3Bee%7E%3B%7E_Hcvq5fhf2OD%7E_XnPrnvvXZ%7E_%7E%3By%7E_q5Wd%7E%3BG0R%7E%3Bz2%7E_4rjPt8inycB%7E%3Bc7nM9V0M9j%7E%3BEN80A4%7E_hP6yelL%7E_Hy4BfPVWr833zG3nlcd5a%7E_9nyLcr8snlw3vG98ACuPvqbX9x%7E%3BRby3%7E%3Bzgz25f4Pf0l%7E_CffNqAr2L%7E%3BBX87%7E%3B4G%7E%3B0o57OX4L%7E_z29F%7E%3Bg7feL%7E_g%7E%3BowvB9z7wf%7E_v8j3HwCj3yk%7E-.bps.a.355710231974730&type=3&size=799%2C534

Midnight_EG

I personally know of 5 in Ireland, the latest one to be imported is a factory black, manual NA1. €30k VRT.

PrettyBoy

tdf7187 wrote: »

I saw one parked outside a building in the Sandyford Industrial Estate on a few occasions. This is 20 years ago or so. There were never more than two or three in Ireland is my understanding.

There were far more than that. How many remain is anyone's guess. I know the building you're talking about in Sandyford and there were often two NSX's parked there side by side. I remember the first time I saw them both there but NSX's weren't nearly as coveted as they are now so I didn't truly appreciate what was in front of me. This was at a time when they could be bought for well under €20k.

One of them was red - may or may not have been one of these.







There were two silver/grey ones around the Rathfarnham area - a 1992 and a 1993. One of them I saw regularly driven in school run traffic and it was never clean - it was someone's daily for a few years.



The other one is still around, it was at Terenure this year and I saw it on the road a few weeks after that.



Ice Tronix had a few that they heavily modified in the late 2000's. From what I can remember most of them were early cars that had the whole front end replaced with new bumpers, headlights, bonnets, wheels etc.

http://www.icetronix.com/gallery/project-nsx-3-0-v1-na1-honda-nsx-with-a-full-facelift-front-end-conversion-along-with-nsx-r-wheels-a-car-with-many-looks-over-the-years-this-car-was-one-of-the-best-looking-cars-to-pass-through-the-garage-doors-at-icetronix





There's a red 1991 NSX in Limerick that is a regular at the Cars and Coffee meetings there. It could well be an original Irish car sold new here.



If anyone used the Pistonheads forum back in the day they might have come across a user named 'Sudesh'. This guy lived in Northern Ireland and I used to spend hours reading threads he created because not only did he owns a number of different NSX's, he restored and serviced a ton of them. I'm not sure if that was his main gig or a hobby but his expertise seemed second to none. He posted pictures of the cars he was working on but in the yard next to his house/garage there always seemed to be plenty of different NSX's, many of them with Irish plates like this 1996 dark green one.











The detailed (picture-heavy) thread of his restorations can be found here: http://www.nsxcb.co.uk/showthread.php?6702-NSX-Refresh

Ryan's bodyshop posted a couple of pictures of a red NSX they had in for work last year - note that this car is solid red, unlike the four I mentioned previously which all have black roofs. It could be one of those, but it's impossible to be sure with only those pictures to go by.



https://www.ryansautomotive.ie/news/repairs-servicing/2-cool-cars-tlc-ryans-automotive/

An Irish guy named Ciaran wrote this short article about his silver NSX. His one has aftermarket alloy wheels. The article was published in 2015 and he said it's possible that there's as few as five left in Ireland. Few more than that I'd guess.

https://www.sheridan.ie/2015/10/20/how-ayrton-senna-inspired-ciaran-sheridan/



There are/were more that I'm not remembering. A few of them are definitely still hidden away in my opinion.

Cee-Jay-Cee

A picture of my mates car (he used it as his wedding car)

Wibbs

zilog_jones wrote: »

I have no idea how it compares to the Italian equivalents, but the fact it's got a transverse V6 amidships in what looks like a very densely-packed engine bay, I can only imagine it is an absolute pain in the balls to work on.

Apparently not Z. Sure it's packed in there, but compared to a lot of current cars out there where the engine bay is stuffed it wouldn't be so difficult. The timing belt would be a bastid alright. Solely because of access, the belt routing itself is straightforward. Compared to Ferraris of its era it would be much easier to work on. Much cheaper parts too(quite a lot are shared with other Honda models of the period). Unless you're an American, they'll often pay multiples of the parts price because it comes in an Acura bag, rather than a Honda one.

Plus because they're a 90's Japanese car they simply break down far less often than equivalents of that era(and after actually). I knew a Japanese guy on another forum years back who had the Type R version and he had 180,000Kms on it and beyond servicing and cam belt replacements IIRC his only issues had been a leaking brake master cylinder(cheap as chips, same one in the 90's Integra and Civic), a wheel bearing and a VTEC solenoid.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

A picture of my mates car (he used it as his wedding car)

Is he single ?:pac:

DelBoy Trotter

tdf7187 wrote: »

I saw one parked outside a building in the Sandyford Industrial Estate on a few occasions. This is 20 years ago or so.

I used to work in Sandyford and see that NSX almost daily.

I also used to see the silver one around Rathfarnham a lot

PrettyBoy wrote: »

The detailed (picture-heavy) thread of his restorations can be found here: http://www.nsxcb.co.uk/showthread.php?6702-NSX-Refresh

Just flicked through all 78 pages of that thread! Some fantastic work done

tdf7187

Great photos PrettyBoy. I had no idea there were as many in Ireland. Surprised I only ever saw that one in Sandyford. I consider myself to have a keen eye for exotic stuff. The car might have gone for only 30k or so back in the early 2000s but any buyer would have been aware of the expense of running one, hence the rarity. But yeah there/are were more around than I thought. Great to see one being used as a daily driver too.