3.2 - pop up or not?

[Ewan]

Do you mind telling me how much your car would have been new as I'm out of touch with what the new prices were?

Honda UK dropped the price by £10k when the facelifted cars came out, so they would be starting from £60k. The 2000 year cars would therefore have started off at £70k.

My point earlier was that mechanically (engine, transmission at least) and more-or-less interior (the dashboard layout and dimensions) went essentially unchanged during the 2002 facelift.

I bought a facelifted car recently because I just prefer the look; sense might have said to get a pre-2001 model because pop-up 3.2s aren't all that plentiful, and like you say, the VED savings might come in handy.

On the plus side of the facelifted model, there are even fewer of them around - Honda sold only 21 cars in EUROPE in 2003, for example, so with 4 years of post-facelift production in the UK, there probably only ever were 50 or 60 "NA2" models (as they're known).

Why not go & see the NSX2000 and jaytip cars for yourself, and figure out which (if either) floats your boat...

[Senninha]

1997 35
1998 10
1999 17
2000 11
2001 8
2002 23

I cant find the numbers for registrations in later years. Both the cars mentioned are owned by keen NSX owners who have owned both versions.

3.2 manual pop ups are a very rare commodity IMO and would certainly fit your 'classic' requirement due to the earlier styling.

It will of course be you who decides but I would encourage you to view both cars that I beleive to be true and honest examples with full Honda history.

Happy shopping and see you in one soon!

regards, Paul

[Ewan]

Paul

According to Brian Long's book, sales figures for Europe were:

1990 6
1991 440
1992 224
1993 152
1994 104
1995 138
1996 84
1997 71
1998 44
1999 34
2000 19
2001 10
2002 26
2003 21

... at which point his data runs out.

[WhyOne?]

I am tempted by the older car as I was looking for a 'classic' car to keep.....

Welcome....and get registered!

I deliberately went for an older car with pop-ups - I prefer the look and feel it was the way Honda intended the car, so in my mind, this is the definitive version of the car.

Having said that, aesthetics are a purely personal thing - whichever way you go, I am sure you wont regret the choice, it really is a tremendous car whatever the lights look like.

[Unregistered]

3.2 manual pop ups are a very rare commodity IMO and would certainly fit your 'classic' requirement due to the earlier styling.

Unless you happen to have one with a wobbly roof!

It is a well known fact that on the road the fastest NSX's are 3.2 manual's in red with roofs as god intended.

[TheQuietOne]

Here's a collage for you which might help. Mine's the 3.2 with Pop-Ups it is a New Formula Red (Ascari) 3.2 Coupe with black roof on a 2000 plate. The other is lifted from Ewan's post and is the same colour but before he had washed it.

For what it's worth I like both, and if you go for a 2000 - 2001 3.2 with pop-ups you get IMO the best bit of the face-lifted interior, the perforated leather seats which do update the interior nicely over the gathered leather.

Paul's (NSX2000) blue 3.2 that is for sale at the money is as good as it gets for a pre-facelift and I think Luke (Lankstarr) could be persuaded to let his '98 3.2 go for the right money too if you go that option. As said above Jaytip's facelift is as good as they come for that money also!

What choice...

[Senninha]

Unless you happen to have one with a wobbly roof!

It is a well known fact that on the road the fastest NSX's are 3.2 manual's in red with roofs as god intended.

Come out, come out whoever you are and lets settle this myth. For those that really know, the Targa is so clearly the better car for the UK

Nice collage Matt, and looking at what you've presented, I would go pop-ups and add the later wheels

[Merlot]

Hi

I've now registered as Merlot - I'm well know over on TSN where I do most of my posting.

Thanks for being so friendly and offering balanced advice. Food for thought. I drove a manual 3.0 targa for about 500 miles a few years ago and really liked it. Now I'm heading more towards older cars to try and save money on depreciation and as new cars get faster and faster its more than I need - I had an E92 M3 briefly last year and it did nothing for me.

The unregistered posts on page 1 were me but the one on page 2 about coupes' vs targas' was not.

[jaytip]

Certainly no need to take it negatively. I was just highlighting that four years equals £8k so £2k pa depreciation. The previous poster had lead me to believe that there was little change in the cars apart from the lights in 02/03/04 (?) when the pop ups went. I wasn't trying to offend.

Do you mind telling me how much your car would have been new as I'm out of touch with what the new prices were?

No worries mate.I just wan't sure which way it was meant to be taken.

[Ewan]

Come out, come out whoever you are and lets settle this myth. For those that really know, the Targa is so clearly the better car for the UK

Nice collage Matt, and looking at what you've presented, I would go pop-ups and add the later wheels

My decision for buying a Targa was that even the coupe isn't all that fast by modern standards - I'd say it's comparable to a Cayman S. Still quick, but a way off modern supercar standards.

As a result, in conjunction with the fact that I'd only plan to use the car in clement weather, it made sense to go T-Top. As Paul says, the suspension on the -T is a bit softer, so is more compliant for rough roads. If you want a track weapon or are particularly keen on getting the max driving performance and experience, then a couple would be a better bet... though if that's your game, maybe an Exige S or Noble M12 would be more appropriate... (dons Asbestos jacket ).

Brian Long's book reckons that the fared-in headlights in the facelift model (along with other aero improvements) are good for an extra 4 mph top speed, so in reality, a facelifted targa could be quicker than a "classic" 3.2 coupe

Ewan