This Ultra-Rare Honda NSX-R Just Hit The Market, And The Price Is Wild

We frequently discuss the ever-increasing price of Japanese cars here at Drifted. ‘JDM tax’ and ‘scene tax’ have become common gripes in the drifting world in recent years. However, drift cars aren’t the only vehicles from Japan experiencing this crazy inflation.

An incredibly rare Honda NSX has just popped up for sale at Classic Driver in the UK, sold by ‘The Octane Collection’, and its price tag will blow your mind.

Yup, that’s right, £729,995 of your finest British pounds. If you’re not aware of the current exchange rate, that’s a whopping $980,998 today – just shy of $1 million – for a 2002 Honda.

That’s because it’s a super rare Honda NSX-R. Only 140 were ever built, exclusively for the JDM market, and this is one of just 10 NA2 R variants ever produced in the most desirable ‘New Formula Red’ colorway. Unfortunately, being the facelifted version, it means you don’t get the pop-up headlights.

Dubbed the ‘Ferrari killer’ in its early days, the mid-engine NSX-R produces ‘just’ 290 horsepower in stock form, to meet Japan’s ‘gentleman’s agreement’, agreeing that all cars are required to be under 300 horsepower. Many of which aren’t, of course. All of the NSX-R race-bred 3.2-litre VTEC (yo!) V6 engines are hand-built by two Honda master techs who typically worked on their race engines.

The NSX-R also features significant weight savings, weighing 100 kilograms less than the standard NSX – a total kerb weight of just 1,270 kilograms. This was helped by replacing the hood, deck lid, and rear wing with carbon fiber parts. You also get carbon kevlar Recaro buckets in the cabin, and they even went to the extent of making the glass thinner to shave a few additional pounds.

While the stock NSX-R usually has the air conditioning and stereo removed for additional weight saving, the original owner of this model wanted a few creature comforts. This means you get the ‘optional upgrade’ A/C and BOSE stereo system.

Having made its way to the United Kingdom in 2016, with just one owner since, we’re pleased to see that it has a total of 50,447 miles and has clearly been enjoyed (and hopefully driven properly) along the way. This is backed up by the “small isolated stone chips”, which seem to be the only negative on the otherwise-pristine example.

Despite the stereo upgrade, they also clearly appreciated the NSX-R’s acoustics, too, opting for an aftermarket TUBI exhaust system – the only non-stock mod on the car. But don’t panic, you’ll also get the OEM exhaust when you part with your million bucks!

Given that we now live in a world where an Integra is worth $204,204, it could be argued that this stunning, rare, JDM masterpiece is actually quite the bargain.