Drive Wire: February 26, 2016
Building yourself an Acura supercar, F1 safety updates, hybrid pickups, a portable Spotify player, and two-wheeled craziness.
Hey guys it's Christina Thompson and this is Drive Wire for Friday, February 26th.
Brace yourselves, the Acura NSX Configurator, which allows you to customize your future supercar, has gone live. Prepare to waste countless hours building your perfect NSX. Just $157,800 will get you the base supercar, which makes 573 horsepower from its hybrid all-wheel-drive system. But the fun is of course in the details – carbon-ceramic brakes run at a cool $10,000, the carbon fiber roof rings up at $6,000 and the wheels are yours for another $1,500. For the select few that can afford it, place your orders, and for the rest of us... Enjoy that online configurator! Production of the 2017 NSX begins this spring with cars to be delivered soon after.
In Formula One news, the FIA has announced that, in the interest of driver safety, some form of closed cockpit will be in use for its race cars during the 2017 season. Although the exact design of the enclosure is not yet clear, a frontrunner seems to be a halo-style ring around the driver's head, which would limit obstruction of the driver's view while allowing for easy extraction after a crash. We'll miss the open-cockpit cars, but romantic posturing aside, more safety is always a good thing.
GM has launched hybrid models of the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, but you'll probably never see them. Only 700 pickups with GM’s "E-Assist" hybrid system will be built – that's 500 Silverados and 200 Sierras -- and they'll only be sold in California, only at top trim levels, and only in 2-wheel-drive models. General Motors is saying that they will monitor the market closely going forward... So, is this a test balloon? Maybe, but we'd love to see a nationwide release of a full-size hybrid pick-up.
Today's gear features the first Spotify player that doesn't need a phone. Mighty, a 1.5 inch streaming audio player, is a square-shaped device that can hold up to 48 hours of music after wirelessly syncing to your account and doesn't have to be tethered to anything but your headphones – and it even has Bluetooth support for that. The 5-button design allows for easy operation, and 45 minutes of charge time will give you 5 hours of playback – all for under $80. For more details, check out Mighty Audio's Kickstarter page.
What are you and your buddies up to this weekend? Whatever it is, we're guessing it's not this. In today's ridiculous video, check out Farm Jam 2016's big-aired, two-wheeled debauchery.... All on a revamped New Zealand farm. It's okay if this puts your weekend plans to shame.
That's it for today's edition of Drive Wire. For more, be sure to come back to thedrive.com, and follow us @thedrive on all your favorite social media platforms.
