Value of a second hand NSX or swap for a Porsche

[Deano]

Gentlemen,

I am looking to change my 911 Carerra 2 Cab for a Honda NSX and would appreciate a little help from the NSX forum.

I have found a few cars I am interested in and one is a N reg targa automatic with 14,000 miles on the clock and in excellent condition. On the downside it is purple and has a few marks on the wheels.

The price is £29,995 which I feel is very Top heavy and I would appreciate any comments you may have with regard to the price.

Is the automatic a big difference to the manual in terms of price and performance?

I have also found a 2002 car in silver again automatic with the targa roof and 19,000 miles at £38,995 I have not seen the car but the pictures look very good. Again I think it's too much money. Any views or advise would be much appreciate or indeed anybody interested in a deal with a Porsche could get in touch.

Merry Xmas to one and all and I look forward to the millions of replies!!!!


Regards


Dean

deanward@btinternet.com

[Nick Graves]

Downside? Midnight Purple?

Rare colour, not just 'me too' boring silver!

Actually, nearly bought a silver one myself, but I do think the colour's appropriate to the NSX.

If it's the car I think it is, it's been sat at the dealers at that price for over two years (SP cars IIRC?). That's the downside.

[Deano]

Nick,

Thanks so much for the quick reply and yes that is the same car. Do you think the purple is a good colour, would it have an effect on the resale at a later date. It's been for sale for 2 years so I guess that kind of answers that question.

In silver it looks very good and I think matches the NSX very well, red apprears to be the most popular colour and I have seen a few around the Surrey area.

Sorry to be a pain but I am so in the middle and can not make up my mind about keeping the Porsche or making the jump to the NSX. Is the auto a lot slower than the manual? My last 911 was a tiptronic and made no difference to the performance.

The figure of £29,000 for a 1994/5 car requires a lot of thought specialy if I could not sell it for 2 years.

Appreciate you time sir!

regards

Dean

[sportyking]

There are no bad NSX colours but if your personal taste is not midnight purple then get ready for a wait. A number of us had to wait 6 months plus for the right car for us to come along and I would say avoid rushing in on one deal because no other cars are out there. I would also advise you to sell the porker and be ready to pounce when the right car appears.

The auto is much slower in accelaration than the manual and as a consequence less desireable and usually cheaper . If you expect to use supercar performance the manual is the only one to have but if that is not a priority I would imagine the auto is a fine car (not for me though). The cars and prices you have mentioned should eventually find you a manual car of similar age/mileage.

The targa/tin top debate is a lively one on here with a mix of for against and not bothereds, I think there is little or no difference in desireability of targa against coupe.

I'm close (Wallington) to you but unfortunately I had to part with the NSX because a change in circumstances meant I could not give it the attention it deserved, but I would be than happy to be an extra pair of eyes should you want them when viewing.
I looked at a number and restricted myself to Honda dealers to reduce the risks involved but I was still surprised by the massive difference in quality within the dealers and even between cars in one dealership. It appeared to me that the prices were still largely based on the basic Age/mileage approach used on more "normal cars" rather than their condition and history.
There are at least 2 really nice examples nearby and I am confident the owners will be along to offer you a nose around soon enough.

Merry Chrimbo

[sportyking]

It's not the colour that has stopped that one selling for two years.

I would guess it's the price/Auto combination.
I have no idea if this is the one i saw over a year ago but that one was showing signs of lack of use and attention back then.

[jaytip]

Wanna buy mine
http://www.nsxcb.co.uk/testvb/showthread.php?t=1928

[Papalazarou]

All good advice. If you want a good later car, there are a few on Autotrader for around the £40K mark, all in good resaleable colours i.e; red or blue.

Cheers,

James.

[cas]

I have one - it is a fantastic colour. At first I wasn't sure - now I wouldn't have any other. Every time I go and fill up some one comes and tells me how much they like the car!

Targa v coupe - in a Targa you can hear the engine properly - screaming down a country lane at 8k rpm with the roof off- the coupe does not even come close. However, it is not as rigid as the coupe, so you will never get around a track as quick. The choice is yours!

Try this - drive down a lane with the roof on and windows down - then take it off - I noticed a difference.

30k for a Targa? The NSX is complex and expensive to maintain, so, a proplerly looked after car is always going to cost. My ABS modulator has packed up it will cost 3k for Honda to replace, that is 10% of 30k. The NSX has many crippling expensive parts so if it has only done 15k miles you might be able to enjoy it for a while before it goes wrong. If you can get a 2/3 year mechanical warranty then....

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

[simonprelude]

The Silver Auto I would say is a better buy than the other one at the prices quoted, however it all depends on your budget, if you want an auto and if you prefer the facelift or a conventional pop up head light version.

The best bet I would say is to drive a few NSX's, auto's, manuals, 5 speed, 6 speed and targa.

Is the Yellow auto still for sale in Cambridge ??

[Martin]

Dean

The easiest NSXs to sell are manual coupes.

Autos are considerably slower and considerably less desirable than manuals, and SP Cars Auto NSX seems overpriced to me. I assume they are looking for this high price due to the low mileage, but high mileage is not an issue with the NSX as it has a bulletproof Honda engine.

Whether targas have much difference in handling/performance versus coupes is hotly debated here, but there is no doubt coupes hold their values better than targas due to the type of high performance car the NSX is.

Hold out for the right one. I don't think you have found it yet.

If targa is not an issue for you personally then I'd go for Jaytips as it is a well-known car in NSX circles....

Just my 2p...

Cheers
Martin