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NYIAS: High Tech Reboots as Horsepower Rules

[Allan Brewer Photo]

by Allan Brewer

Connectivity and autonomy is the perception auto makers have promoted this week at the New York International Auto Show (NYIAS), with one very prominent automotive chief officer predicting his global brand will sell 20 different kinds of driverless cars in 2020. A representative from Google described the 1.5 million autonomous vehicle miles the company has logged and how its database will bring safer driving, less tedious driving and new jobs maintaining self-driving cars. However, after a day of new-car introductions and announcements of updates and refinements to existing models it is high (and in some cases preposterous) performance that is the 2016 reality.

At the top of the list of “cars I want in my driveway” is the gutsy, muscular Nissan GT-R. The GT-R name has a long and fabled history of winning on the track and in the showroom to follow, and make no mistake this new iteration is seriously in pursuit of past glory. The car was introduced alongside its human engine-makers (or in Japanese, the “takumi”—which means “master, trusted engine-maker”) who labor with their hands individually to create their 565 horsepower twin-turbo V6 power plants. Each engine bears the name of its “takumi” on the block, an acknowledgement of the personal attention paid to its manufacture. A recitative of specs would be pointless here, because to truly appreciate the car is to see it (and hear it) in the flesh, at a dealer, at a show, in your neighbor’s driveway or underneath your right foot. People do not refer to commanding automotive machinery as “supercar” the way they used to; but if they did, this would be a “supercar.”

The long-missed and about-to-be reincarnated Acura NSX continues to make news, this time with the announcement that Honda Performance Development (HPD) has gotten their mitts on several copies and filed for International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) certification to go racing as a GT3 entrant. HPD’s Art St Cyr, who oversees the Honda IndyCar engine program, was on hand to deliver the good news. Obviously, this is not a hybrid and it is not front-wheel drive; thus the entry of HPD and its twin-turbo V6 as a collaborator in the effort. A hugely grinning St Cyr, who stands maybe six-foot five, towered over the white prototype posing for photos with the car. The smile was probably as much in relief that he will not face a gaggle of Penske-bred Chevrolets in IMSA as it was in bona fide pride of ownership of the NSX racer.

We have to pause for a moment to congratulate Acura not only on the beautifully redone NSX, but also for its 30th anniversary as the world’s first Japanese luxury car brand. It is mind-boggling to imagine the little two-seater cars Acura’s daddy Honda, who had no public profile beyond that of a motorcycle-maker, brought to America fifty years ago have morphed into some of the most desirable four-wheeled vehicles on the planet. Here is a remarkable factoid about Acura that should be pondered by everyone who thinks of it as a “foreign-made” brand: over half the cars Acura has sold in this country since 1986 were made in this country. In fact, the only 2016 Acura that you can buy in America that is not made in America is the RLX. All of the scrupulously overseen NSX output is made in or near Marysville, Ohio where Honda makes the Accord.

Maserati followed the lead of the Geneva Auto Show by introducing its American-bound SUV called Levante (or “fresh wind”) between two stunningly dressed models both of whom worthily threatened to divert gaze from the car. A 360 horsepower made-by-Ferrari twin-turbo V6 power plant drives all four wheels while in glorious song, a note the maker could not help broadcasting at high volume throughout its introductory video. With an astonishingly low price of $72,000, this triton-wielding mudslinger will be the most talked-about vehicle in the neighborhood or at the clubhouse, once the bourgeois class discovers it (and its exhaust note, like all Maser’s, guarantees it will be discovered wherever it goes).

Walking around the show floor there are a number of interesting if not entirely new models to consider. Audi introduced the beautifully done R8 Spyder accompanied by a cadre’ of stunningly turned-out R8 coupes, including one in British racing green with tan interior that would bring tears to Her Majesty’s eyes. Mercedes popped the cork on a superlatively refined AMG E43 whose digital dashboard alone could win an Academy Award for best picture. Mazda brought the new MX5 and re-upped its claim to the title of champion “cute car” of them all by adding a clam-top. Camaro arrived in its fire-breathing dragon, the ZL1, complete with 640 horsepower and 10 forward gears in the automatic drivetrain, 6 in the manual.

As an exclamation point on this celebration of horsepower at the 2016 NYIAS, there were a few introductions by the makers of the cars mortals may lustfully dream of but only the gods can afford to keep serenely at bay. The “usual suspects” (Bugatti and its Chiron, Lotus with the new Evora) were on hand; as well as rarely-seen marques Spyker with its C8 Preliator and Koenigsegg with a Regera, the latter a 1500 horsepower, battery-driven vehicle that approaches a top speed of 250 mph.

A final observation before the sun falls on the Hudson River. It is worthwhile to consider that all of the cars that appeared at the New York International Auto Show that hold significant interest to the enthusiast make 500-plus horsepower and take less than four seconds to reach 60 mph. Think about that: these street cars make as much horsepower as an Indy Lights car. Yes, sports fan, you can own a car and drive it on the street where you live that has as much power and accelerative force as the one the next Mario Andretti is driving in the final stage of his preparation to reach the “big time.” If this trend continues, there will have to be a total rethinking of where the “mundane” drive crosses paths with and occurs in the wake of the “satisfying” drive, such will be the closing-speeds from behind and approaching, as well as split-second decisions required by both parties. It’s no overstatement to say that driver education and licensure in America will have a tremendous transition ahead of it, too.

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