NSXplained: Key Technology on the 2016 Acura NSX Supercar

We’ve seen the upcoming 2016 Acura NSX supercar spinning on turntables at the world’s major auto shows for months now, and we’ve known that a twin-turbo V-6 and a trio of electric motors would provide the motivation, and power would go to all four wheels. Now, at the 2016 SAE World Congress, Acura filled in many more details about the car’s technology, all of which is making us look even more forward to driving it.

For starters, Acura has confirmed that the V-6’s displacement is 3.5 liters, and that the engine is an all-new, clean-sheet design with a 75-degree V angle, dry sump design and both direct and port injection systems. (Most V-6s, like those used in other Hondas, are 60-degree Vs; the wider angle in the NSX block helps lower the center of gravity.) The gas engine drives the rear wheels only, and is longitudinally mounted, twin-turbocharged and mated to a 9-speed dual-clutch transmission with an electric motor that applies its torque directly to the crankshaft. The front wheels are held to the car via a double wishbone suspension with double lower arms and are powered by a twin-motor electric unit that allowing for front-axle torque vectoring even at low road and engine speeds.

Interestingly, Acura says that the front “TPI” can be “decoupled from the driver’s experience” at the steering wheel, allowing for what Acura describes as “timeless sports car steering communication” from its variable ratio steering system.

While Acura says it considered every material for its structure—you may remember that the original NSX was all-aluminum—Acura settled on a combo of aluminum and high-strength steel “because it offers the lowest weight and best rigidity, precision and hybrid powertrain packaging capability of any design.”

While there’s much that makes us nostalgic for the original NSX, one of the most significant is its incredible outward vision thatmakes you feel like there’s nothing between you and the road. Making that possible are 1) an extremely low cowl and 2) extremely thin A-pillars. This is something Acura misses as well, and so as part of its overall body design strategy, it developed thin, three-dimensionally formed, ultra-high-strength steel A-pillars that Acura says provides sufficiently stiffness for performance and enough support to help the car pass modern roof crush tests (which the original car would surely fail). With so many of the world’s automobiles, supercars and otherwise, using thicker and thicker window pillars these days, we hope Acura and Honda are able to spread this technology around to its other products.

As for the rest of that gorgeous body, Acura says that its design and shape were honed by many years’ worth of computational fluid dynamics, wind-tunnel and real-world testing. Six vortices over the rear of the car afford the sort of downforce to help keep it planted at extremely high speeds without the use of active aerodynamic elements. (Sorry posers: no parking your $150,000 exotic at the mall with the spoiler up cuz you think you’re badass.) “Meticulously optimized” rear diffuser fins also help, and are not parallel but rather flare toward the rear to create an area of low pressure that helps suck the rear of the car to the ground.

Thermal management properties were also handled by CFD, while no fewer than 10 heat exchangers keep the aforementioned powertrain components cool. Among them is a trio of radiators for the engine alone, as well as condenser and power drive unit coolers, air-cooled front power unit complimented with a heat exchanger near the right-side engine radiator, and twin intercoolers in the side strakes to cool intake air.

For all that we now know about the 2016 NSX, much remains to be learned, including overall power and torque output, specific style and output of each electric motor, as well as details about brake hardware, turbocharger technology, and the overall drag coefficient. And of course, Acura remains mum on any promises of acceleration times, lateral g’s and top speed. The good news is that we won’t have to wait too much longer to find most of that out; all shall be revealed by the time the NSX goes on sale this fall.