It’s impossible to build a new car like the
NSX today, and therein lies a lot of its appeal. The driving position is akin to sitting on a skateboard. You’re low and exposed, and the road is so close that 30 mph feels like 50. The instrument panel is also low, and the vast windshield seems to end at your shins. The low-slung cowl means that the steering wheel, even when tilted and telescoped, sits down at stomach level. Your forward view in traffic looks squarely into the license plate of the vehicle ahead. Pull up to a crosswalk and you’ll see pedestrians’ ankles as they walk by.
In the Boxster, on the other hand, it feels as if you’re sitting in a Jacuzzi and peeking over the sides. Thanks to current safety regulations, the cowl and the tops of the doors are high and visibility is thus impeded.
There’s less difference in the way each car sounds, and we’re not talking about their stereo systems (which, in the NSX, plays cassettes). Each six-cylinder engine emits a snarl. Step into the NSX’s throttle above 2500 rpm and the engine grows an extra set of you-know-whats as it pulls hard to its 8000-rpm redline. There’s not much exhaust noise in the NSX; it’s almost all induction racket played just for the occupants. In the Boxster, you hear the pops and whines of a water-cooled flat-six trying its hardest to sound air-cooled. Twirl the tachometer and the Porsche’s metallic noises gather into a chorus.
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| 2005 Acura NSX |
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| 2005 Acura NSX |
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| 2005 Acura NSX |
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| 2005 Acura NSX |
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| 2005 Acura NSX |
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| 2005 Acura NSX |
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| 2005 Acura NSX |
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| 2005 Acura NSX |
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| 2005 Acura NSX |
