Gadgetory

hey what is up guys I'm cabbie HD here and welcome to episode 3 of autofocus I love this series this is like a fun way to explore the coolest tech on the road but here's the thing about reviewing a car that isn't yours you you get it you get to drive it you have a lot of fun with it you push it to its limits and everything and that's great and then it's over it's done you give it back and go back to driving the car you drive every day which is great and everything but as someone who has a deposit in for a 20 20 Tesla Roadster it kind of got me thinking what's it like to drive a supercar everyday what's it like to live with a supercar so this auto focus episode 3 is going to help me figure out exactly that this is the Acura NSX so there's a lot of different cars we could have done this episode with but Acura reached out with the NSX as a sort of a everyday supercar and after having driving it actually agree with them on a lot of those things but plus it also has a lot of similarities or parallels with the Roadster now also I've seen a lot of people questioning whether or not the NSX is a true supercar to me a supercar is anything that makes big trade-offs for maximum driving performance this thing does that so a six-cylinder twin-turbo engine mid-mounted supported by three electric motors doing 0-60 in 2.9 seconds and a top speed of 191 miles an hour makes that a supercar to me and it also has that supercar price tag but obviously people who really like driving who are into the performance and the feel of a race car that happens to have a license plate on it they're willing to pay that but what are you getting well I've spent the last week driving this car everywhere every single day so here are some things I've picked up on driving a supercar every day right off the bat number one is how low you are even if you don't realize it from outside the car as soon as you get in you are way closer to the road and everything about this car is lower and more compact the suspension is stiffer the front and rear bumpers are super close to the ground which means two things one you will now feel every bump and you'll start to notice certain roads because they're just slightly less than ideal pavement and number two clearance it's really really easy to scrape the front bumper or the bottom of this car driveways speed bumps they all become a problem every single little pothole or speed bump or anything like that is a challenge in this car you might as well just drive like a like a crazy person and swerve and avoid all of them because they'll be more important than you think later excuse me sir coming through I'm definitely at the end of visibility for other cars around me if you're in like a minivan or a pickup truck or even a big car and you look out at your window at me next to you you're just gonna see the roof of this car you're not gonna see like the entire car so visibility is important from inside the car but also from the perspective of other people looking at you it's harder to see a car like this that being said I do feel super planted and connected to the road and confident and pretty fast we also pretty quickly noticed there's only really enough room in the car for the driver and whoever sits next to them at best basically storage and space has never really been easy in super cars basically because they're so focused on the whole driving part that storage is basically an afterthought I'm just feeling like this this very much has a cockpit type of feel this big center console in the middle kind of separates the driver from the passenger if you have a passenger if not it's just a backpack and some audio gear but like you feel like everything is that our arms reach and everything is very forward very forward so like I mentioned there's electric motors in this car there are two in the front one in actually at each wheel and one in the back and technically that makes us a hybrid but it doesn't drive like a hybrid for efficiency it drives like a hybrid for performance so it's using those electric motors to fill like torque gap and fill in for turbo lag and really get you going up quickly as soon as you hit that pedal because that's what electric is good at but so then with those electric motors you get a couple different driving modes I think it's four first is Eco mode where you can drive around completely on the electric motors which is quiet and definitely smooth you can't go very fast before it's gonna want to kick the engines in but then you have sport mode which is I'd say the normal driving mode which most people keep it in sport mode is going to basically keep the engine on for the most part but anytime you come to a stop or get down to a really low speed it can go back to silent turn the engine off and go eco again but you might get a little bored of that like me and start to drive it more in Sport Plus mode you switch over to Sport Plus and it's a little more it's a little more responsive it's more willing to downshift and give you more torque and it will never turn the engine off and go into only Evo modes so it's just gonna be a little more sporty of a driving experience you also hit a little bit of a lower efficiency at that number and the last one that least you do have track mode you got to hold down that knob to go into it which will turn the performance basically all the way up and you'll get a little bit less traction control help if you want it to spin the side out a little bit this thing kicks though this thing definitely rips and it's really easy to go fast and not realize that visibility is another thing to consider in this car I'd say it's actually surprisingly good because these a pillars are so thin I feel like my front and side visibility is pretty good the rear is still a little less than a normal car obviously but you do have a glass to look through and on the engines right behind you so it's a little different but it's alright and then I had a couple other quick observations some you might think about some you might not like the amount of carbon fiber here is amazing there's carbon fiber around the outside of the car the front splitter the body skirts along the side the rear diffuser even the roof you don't really see the roof of your car too often but if it's that small this one you'll notice on the carbon fiber is to reduce weight and then when you get in the car the carbon fiber that surrounds you is awesome especially on the steering wheel this is honestly probably my favorite steering wheel I've ever held out of the trunk like I said storage is an afterthought on super cars like that Aventador I drove a couple weeks ago had this little front trunk which is alright but with all the electronics on the front of the NSX there is no front trunk but there is a rear trunk in the very back which is actually surprisingly usable so you can toss a couple backpacks back here like I usually did you can go grocery shopping for one or two people I actually did this or you could theoretically get a whole set of golf clubs back here that would be a pretty serious challenge but it's been done now you'd probably still hate this trunk after a while but it's better than the average supercar the one weird thing about it is you got to think about it's so close to the engine that it gets hot like the inside of the trunk gets really physically hot so you got to make sure you're cool with anything in your trunk being 100-plus degrees at any time you may have also noticed that there are no cupholders in this cabin wait for it all right now there are two cupholders in this cabin classic supercar but overall the question most people have about a car like this is just basically how does it drive and this NSX is I would say actually much easier to drive than something like the Aventador that car was believe it or not sometimes really harsh in a lot of ways the NSX here is still stiff and super responsive and low the brakes are huge - people don't talk about the brakes as much but it still kind of keeps a lot of the things that make it feel like the everyman supercar or at least make it more daily usable a lot of stuff in this car feels like it came from a normal accurate I forget the paddle shifters on the carbon-fiber steering wheel for a second but like the blinkers the hazards the window trim like the flippers for actually putting up and down the window a lot of things feel like comfortable and familiar which is good if you're driving a lot and it's also kind of adds to that everyday supercar feel the infotainment system is easily the worst part of this car probably not something you want to feel like it came for another accurate but it still does that and the backup camera it looks like it came straight from 1994 but the upside is it does have both Android auto and apple carplay so you never have to use the garbage built-in maps plus it has a slot in the middle console for your phone that happens to be really snug and actually the exact dimensions of an iPhone 10 so possibly to snow also you can't forget about gas mileage this cars not electric after all then again if you can't afford a car like this you probably don't drive it every day or care very much about paying a lot for gas but it is the most expensive gas every single time to fill up but you know what speaking of modes track mode that's not something you ever really get to turn on during everyday driving at least I wouldn't recommend it there's only one place I'd recommend using track mode and if you own a supercar this is one of those unique things that you can do is taking your car to the track all right so this is my first time ever on a track we're gonna do a sort of tutorial modes and figure it out the first time and then we'll put the helmets on and go fast later but let's let's see what this is made of we're in track mode the fun begins so for this tutorial mode we're doing a couple laps around the track it's empty it's just me and re one of the owners and a quality driver himself and he's showing me all the turns the race lines now I'm gonna follow him and get to know it a little bit then once I'm comfortable I'll signal to him that I'm good and then he'll really move this thing it's a pretty tame it's pretty tame start up and around the turn hugging the inside coming back out wide breaking 200 feet breaking 100 feet break a little okay I feel like I'm getting it I'm getting it I can't tell if I'm a good driver not here we go he's moving now the one thing I love about the track road obviously not only are there no potholes but it is super super smooth you get a different sort of confidence knowing exactly what the car will do at any point in any turn unlike New Jersey roads top with a turn big sweeper keeping the outside alright I think I'm thinking I'm getting a hang of it right now we've completed our tutorial laps we're gonna move over get the helmets on and actually go more than 65 miles an hour like way way more than 65 miles an hour first laughs just get warmed up get back into it yeah remember your lines and doing got a good sound to it yeah and yeah use all the track as you would want your hands the rain quick like left and a quick right just roll through no need for break there same thing use all the track there you go mining cops let it coast they feel start around again all right yep eyes up be patient be patient oh yeah you say you feel a certain slot around now and the tires are getting warmer too so it'll start to get a little more slippery maybe break a little sooner yeah protect guy you're not afraid of rock our own all right I think it's time for me to give this thing back it's been a good week I want to give a shout out to Acura for forgiving us the NSX for letting me drive it for a whole week sorry about the noise and I want to give a shout out to Monticello Motor Club in New York who is awesome enough to let us use the track for the day learned a lot of things this week but bottom line I do think I do think it's possible to live with a supercar I think a lot of people who might not be a fan of those trade offs might not do it but people who really love driving and people who really love performance and who want to race or drive like a race car that happens to have a license plate they're gonna they're gonna make those trade-offs and I feel like I'm one of those people thanks for watching