cont...
In 2006, Honda eventually put the sweet and high revving 200 horsepower (actually 197 but what's 2 horsepower between friends?) engine from the RSX Type S in the Civic Si. Then, as part of what seems to be a company wide sleep induction campaign, the 2012 Si got a shocking 200 horsepower, but out of a 2.4 liter engine that revved to 7400rpm's. From an objective standpoint, the new engine was probably "better" but from a subjective standpoint, it was a step down. The car's soul had been removed. I don't know what Honda's engineers were doing during those 6 years, but they surely weren't working on the Civic Si's powertrain considering that some of Honda's competitors made over 240 horsepower at the time. Thus, the Si now not only makes less power than its rivals, it also has less soul. Not a good combination.
Another Honda great, the S2000, suffered a similar fate until it was discontinued in 2009. When the S2000 howled its way onto the scene in 1999 it squeezed 240 horsepower from a 2.0 liter engine at a stratospheric 9000rpm's. The engine made no torque but the horsepower and redline made it an
extremely exciting and unique car. In 2004 Honda replaced the 2.0 liter with a 2.2 litre that made the same horsepower but produced more torque. Seemingly, this was a good thing, but once again, like with the SI, the S2000 lost its soul.
Honda killed the S2000 in 2009, by then, it was Honda's only sports car besides the Civic Si, which, let's be honest, isn't a real sports car.
This lack of pushing the performance envelope was endemic throughout Honda. The RSX was killed in 2006. Acura has not had a 2 door model since. The best and saddest example of this performance neglect can be seen in the slow and steady death of the NSX.
The NSX was, at one time, an amazing car. It launched in 1990 with a sweet, smooth and high revving 3.0 liter v6 that produced 270hp and featured a healthy dose of Honda racing technology.
It did 0-60 in about 5.5 seconds. At the time, these were impressive numbers. More importantly, the car didn't break every three hundred feet like other supercars at the time. However, by the mid-90's the NSX was falling behind in the power department. The NSX's competition such as the Dodge Viper and Porsche 911 Turbo produced over 400 horsepower each and were finally reliable. The 911 Turbo was a true "every day supercar." The NSX remained essentially unchanged until 1997 when it received a new engine and 2002 when it received new headlights and tail lights.
The new engine was a step in the right direction. It was a 3.2 liter and produced 290hp. The 2002 NSX did 0-60 in approximately 5 seconds. Unfortunately, 12 years is an eternity in the world of high performance cars. By 2002, the NSX's competition had left it far behind (literally and figuratively). For example, a 2002 BMW M3, made 320 horsepower from a 3.2 liter engine. Keep in mind than an M3 is not a "supercar" and the NSX cost approximately twice as much. The NSX was not even in spitting distance of the supercars at the time. Due to neglect, the NSX went from hero to bottom of the barrel. The NSX fell so far that in 2001, the S2000 accelerated just as actually just as quickly as the NSX and was nearly as fast around a track. Source. The NSX was mercifully put out of its misery in 2005.
As shown by Toyota's success, a low volume supercar and sports cars may not matter to most, especially the mainstream media. However, the importance of so called performance and "halo" cars and should not be forgotten or ignored. I can not sum it up any better than Zora Arkus-Duntov, the "father" of the Corvette:
“THOUGHTS PERTAINING TO YOUTH, HOT RODDERS, AND CHEVROLET”
The Hot Rod movement and interest in things connected with hop-up and speed is still growing. As an indication: the publications devoted to hot rodding and hop-upping, of which some half dozen have a very large circulation and are distributed nationally, did not exist some six years ago.
From cover to cover, they are full of Fords. This is not surprising that the majority of hot rodders are eating, sleeping, and dreaming modified Fords. They know Ford parts from stern to stern better than Ford people themselves.
A young man buying a magazine for the first time immediatly becomes introduced to Ford. It is reasonable to assume that when hot rodders or hot rod-influenced persons buy transportation, they buy Fords. As they progress in age and income, they graduate from jalopies to second-hand Fords, then to new Fords.
Should we consider that it would be desirable to make these youths Chevrolet-minded? I think that we are in a position to carry out a successful attempt. However, there are many factors againt us:
Loyalty and experience with Ford.
Hop-up industry is geared with Ford.
Law of number-thousands are and will be working on Fords for active competition.
Appearance of Ford’s overhead V8, now one year ahead of us.
When a superior line of GM V8’s appeared, there where remarkably few attempts to develop these, and none too successful. Also, the appearance of the V8’s Chrysler was met with reluctance even though the success of Ardun-Fords conditioned them to the acceptance of Firepower.
This year is the first one in which isolated Chrysler development met with succsess. The Bonneville records are divided between Ardun-Fords and Chryslers.
Like all people, hot rodders are attracted by novelty. However, bitter experience has taught them that new development is costly and long, and therefore they are extremely conservative. From my observation, it takes an advanced hot rodder some three years to stumble toward the successful development of a new design. Overhead Fords will be in this stable between 1956 and 1957.
The slide rule potential of our RPO V8 engine is extremely high, but to let things run their natural course will put us one year behind-and then not too many hot rodders will pick Chevrolet for development. One factor which can largely overcome this handicap would be the availability of ready-enginered parts for higher output:
If the use of the Chevrolet engine would be made easy and the very first attempts would be crowned with succsess, the appeal of the new RPO V8 engine will take hold and not have the stigma of expensiveness like the Cadillac or Chrysler, and a swing to Chevrolet may be anticipated.This means the development of a range of special parts-camshafts, valves, springs, manifolds, pistons, and such-should be made available to the public.
To make good in this field, the RPO parts must pertain not only to the engine but to the chassis coponents as well. In fact, the use of light alloys and brake development, such as composite drums and discs, are already on the agenda of the Research and Development group.
These thoughts are offered for what they are worth-one man’s thinking aloud on the subject.
Signed: Z. Arkus-Duntov
dated: 12/16/53
With the death of the NSX, Honda has one "sport" model in its lineup. The Civic Si. Honda's traditional lineup is still made of good, competitive, cars (besides the Ridgeline of course). Acura's lineup, while good, is arguably not competitive. Acura, while ostensibly a "luxury" brand, does not offer an engine with much over 300 horsepower, a V-8 or RWD. The majority of Acura's lineup is simply rebadged Honda's. Luxury consumers are not stupid, for the most part, especially on the high end, they know a pretender when they see one.
I'm sure Honda's sales are fine. As Zora explained above, there are probably lots of buyers from my generation who purchased an Accord, CR-V or Pilot due to their positive experiences with the CRX's, Si's and GS-R's of their youth. The question is, in a few years, when the children of my generation go car shopping for the first time what will they want?
Nobody wants the car their parents drove. Buick and Cadillac learned this the hard way. BMW and Mercedes haven't had to learn this because they, especially BMW, continue to make very exciting performance and performance oriented cars.
I don't think its too late for Honda. Only time will tell, but Honda should should develop more sporty cars and try to regain its reputation as a fun, reliable, and sporty alternative before it is completely lost. It is a lot easier to repair an image (Ford) than it is to rebuild one (Cadillac/Buick).
A woman goes to the doctor to figure out why she is having breathing problems...The doctor tells her she is overweight. She says she wants a second opinion...the doctor says, "your ugly".