The original Acura NSX and the modern NSX celebrate 30 years

Acura is celebrating 30 years since the debut of the original NSX with a video that highlights its 1989 Chicago Auto Show reveal. It opens with the show floor but quickly transitions to showcase the mid-engine machine doing what it does best, carving corners. The video is chock full of synthesizer, drum machine, and ‘90s guitar riffs with some chromatic aberration thrown in for a hint of vaporwave aesthetic. The tone changes when a second-generation NSX arrives and the two run side-by-side through the curves as a drone follows. It shows just how far the car has come in 30 years and how much the two generations differ.

The original NSX was a game-changer that proved a car with great handling didn’t have to come with a Ferrari-sized price tag or Lamborghini-sized maintenance bills. Although the NSX was never a big seller, it served as a halo car for Acura and Honda, and received several performance and style upgrades through its long first-generation run. Its long-awaited second generation carries the mantle with the same driver focus, albeit with new technology, vastly improved performance, and a dazzling design, but maybe not all the charm of the three-pedal, pop-up headlight original.