The first-generation Acura NSX was a giant killer. It showed you could make a sports car that rivaled the Italians with performance, but also had the reliability to make sure that it actually worked when you wanted it to. So it’s no surprise that these early NSXs are highly sought after on the used market with high values to match. Imagine being able to buy one for $30,000 at CarMax. That’s what happened to one CarMax employee, who struck probably one of the best automotive deals around.
Now, you don’t have to be an industry expert to know that being able to buy an NSX for $30,000 is wild. But you’re also probably wondering what the catch is. That there had to be something wrong with it for it to be that cheap. You’ll be surprised to find out that nothing major was wrong with the car. I reached out to the employee, who first posted his story about it on Reddit, to get more info about he came about the car and the car itself.
Now the employee, whose name is Zachary, wouldn’t say how CarMax came about the NSX. Whether it was through an auction or trade-in we’ll never know. But in his own write-up sent to me through email, he did say it took over four months to actually buy the car. That included inspections and repairs. And as I mentioned, nothing major was wrong with the car. Impressive for a vehicle that’s 30 years old with 147,000 miles on it. Normal wear and tear things needed to be fixed or replaced. Things like the power driver’s seat motor, a door handle, wiper jets, and the driver’s door window rail. This being an NSX, those kinds of parts can be expensive. But Zachary said he was able to source cheap alternatives to OEM parts and, amazingly, was able to fix everything on the car for about $900.
I did have to side-eye the price. While KBB couldn’t give me an accurate estimate for the cars price for some reason, my own research using sites like Cars & Bids, Hagerty, and Bring a Trailer showed that Zachary bought this car for about $35,000 to $ 40,000 less than what similar examples on the market were going for. Even with all those miles. This car was worth between the high $50,000s to the low to mid $60,000 range. For instance, on June 18th, a ‘92 manual NSX with 165,000 miles on it sold for $57,500 on Bring A Trailer.
Zachary was able to buy the car for so cheap because he’s a CarMax employee. Their employees are able to buy vehicles from the company for whatever price CarMax purchased the vehicle for. So, because CarMax paid $30,000 for the NSX, Zachary was able to buy it for the same price.
I asked Zachary why CarMax didn’t pay more for the NSX? While he couldn’t get into specifics of CarMax’s vehicle purchase process, he did say that he thinks the repairs the car needed influenced the price which, if true, is wild considering that there were no major mechanical issues with it.
Zachary is satisfied with the car, though. Aside from an ABS module, he hasn’t had any problems with the car. Says it gets a lot of attention. Respectful attention. As it should. Zachary scored a hell of a deal on this car. Even though some may knock it for being an auto, at the end of the day who the hell cares? It’s an NSX. Even if it was a CVT, it still would make out for one of the greatest car bargain buys ever.