Hello. For the third time today. It's always rather fascinating to look back at the cars that might have been - the prototypes, concepts, and development mules that never quite made it to production. In the automotive world's alternate timeline, we might have had flying cars by now, or perhaps everyone would be driving rotary-engined hatchbacks. But there's one particular automotive "what if" that I find especially intriguing - the front-engined V10 Acura NSX that got tantalisingly close to reality. Back in 2007, Honda seemed quite set on taking the NSX in a completely different direction. The original NSX, if you remember, was a mid-engined masterpiece - an aluminum wonder that showed Ferrari how to build a reliable supercar. It was precise, beautifully engineered, and rather wonderful to drive. For its successor, however, Honda appeared to be contemplating something altogether more... grand. The Acura Advanced Sports Car Concept, revealed at the 2007 North American International Auto Show, was our first glimpse of this new direction. It was a striking thing - low, wide, and distinctly front-engined. Under that long bonnet was to be a naturally aspirated VTEC V10, displacing somewhere between 4.5 and 5.5 liters, and producing at least 500 horsepower. Power would go to all four wheels, making it less of a delicate mid-engined scalpel and more of a GT-R-rivaling sledgehammer. This wasn't just idle speculation or a design exercise, mind you. Honda got properly serious about it. Prototypes were built and tested extensively, including at the Nürburgring, where spy photographers captured footage of the V10 monster absolutely howling around the circuit. The sound, I must say, was rather glorious - like a Formula 1 car from that era but with better manners. And then... the world economy imploded. The financial crisis of 2008 changed everything, and suddenly, a front-engined V10 grand tourer seemed about as sensible as using a solid gold bathtub during a water shortage. Honda, quite understandably, pulled the plug on the project at the end of 2008, pivoting to focus on more fuel-efficient vehicles. The V10 NSX wasn't completely forgotten, though. Its platform became the basis for the HSV-010 GT race car that competed in Japan's Super GT series. And some of the styling elements, like those distinctive fender vents and taillights, eventually made their way onto the hybrid NSX we know today. Image Sourced from Carbuzz.com. Link What's particularly interesting about this automotive footnote is how it reveals Honda's thinking about the NSX nameplate. They weren't interested in simply creating a modern interpretation of the original car; they were contemplating something fundamentally different - less of a mid-engined Ferrari rival and more of a Lexus LFA-style grand tourer. When Honda eventually revived the NSX project years later, they did return to the mid-engine layout, but with a very different powertrain philosophy: a twin-turbocharged V6 hybrid system. It was still a departure from the original, just in a different direction than initially planned. Looking back, I can't help but wonder what that front-engined V10 NSX might have been like to drive. Would it have captured the magic of the original, or would it have been something entirely different but equally special in its own way? Might it have been Honda's LFA moment - a glorious, high-revving celebration of internal combustion before the electric transition?We'll never know, of course. But there's something rather poignant about these automotive might-have-beens. They remind us that car development isn't a straight line but a winding road with many possible directions, some taken and others left unexplored.
