Cars

30 years of the Acura NSX in photos

The concept Acura NS-X was introduced 30 years ago at the Chicago Auto Show, so let's take a look back at three decades of the game-changing sports car.

Manuel Carrillo III

A Porsche 911 S brought Manuel Carrillo III home from the hospital after he was born, so it's no surprise his lifelong trajectory has centered on cars, leading him to a robust career creating rich automotive media for publications prior to joining CNET.

The Southern California native briefly lived in Sydney, and is proud to have developed a barely passable Aussie accent. He also serves on the board of directors of the Motor Press Guild. When not reviewing cars or nerding out on OEM premium audio, you can find manual-labor-averse Manuel doing his best to convince his closest friends to fix the very Porsche that delivered him home.

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Manuel Carrillo III

Feb. 6, 2019 7:00 a.m. PT

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30 years ago at the Chicago Auto Show, Acura debuted its NS-X concept car, which faithfully previewed its eventual NSX production car for 1991.

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Note the Pontiac Fiero-looking rear fascia of this early design sketch. Thank goodness that didn't make production.

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The production-looking prototype was handsome, especially from this angle.

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See? You can barely tell the difference between prototype and production. The production car is the longer one.

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The 1991 Acura NSX came with a 3.0-liter V6 good for 270 horsepower and 210 pound-feet of torque.

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The comfy interior boasted a Bose sound system with a tape player and a CD changer.

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The 2019 Acura NSX features a 7-inch touchscreen, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and a nine-speaker ELS Studio premium audio system.

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Both generations of the NSX are attractive, but the original has a magnetism that seems to be missing with the current car.

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The 2019 NSX makes up for that with much more grunt: 573 horsepower and 476 pound-feet of torque, specifically, which is doled out though a nine-speed, dual-clutch transmission.