What If… Acura Said 'To Hell With It' and Threw an NSX SUV at the Lamborghini Urus?

Here’s an example: you’ll have a much better time driving something like a Porsche 718 Cayman around a race track than you would a Tesla Model 3 Performance, yet the latter is generally viewed as the faster car, capable of putting a much larger grin on your face whenever you floor the throttle.

High-performance SUVs have been taking full advantage of this phenomenon, giving people in need of practicality all the performance they believe they would ever require. Again, we’re talking about straight-line performance, and to be fair, that’s all that matters during everyday driving.

There are also levels when it comes to this stuff, because some random compact sports SUV with a single turbocharger might feel zippy, but it’s not going to push your stomach into your spine, so to speak.

What we’re talking about today is flagship-spec ultra high-performance SUVs, like the Lamborghini Urus Performante, Ferrari Purosangue, Mercedes-AMG GLE 63 S Coupe, BMW X5/X6 M, Audi RS Q8, Bentley Bentayga Speed, Aston Martin DBX/DBX 707, Cayenne Turbo/Turbo S/GT, Durango SRT Hellcat, Tesla Model X Plaid, plus a couple of others.

There are a whole bunch of carmakers missing from this list, and not because I’m forgetting any names, but because they don’t believe there would be demand for such a product coming from them. I’m talking about the likes of Nissan/Infiniti, Honda/Acura, Toyota/Lexus, all the Korean brands, plus a few American ones too, obviously.

We’ve already shown you what a potential Nissan GT-R SUV might look like, so now it’s time to consider what Acura could do with a blank check in this particular segment.

First off, using the NSX moniker would make sense for them, seen as how its origins trace back to 1984 and there’s not a car enthusiast on Earth that doesn’t know how well these three letters play together.

In terms of styling, we obviously decided to use the second-generation NSX as a starting point for our exclusive renderings, which I must say, look absolutely amazing. I’m actually surprised at how smooth the transition was in taking this design language and applying it to something the size of an SUV.

The end result looks like it belongs anywhere, from the local country club all the way to the famous Monaco casino. This design translates so well... I mean, look, we’re more than ready to talk if Acura want to give us a call. Kidding, but not really.

As for how quick this hypothetical SUV might be, let’s just say acceleration wouldn’t be an issue. We could see it using the same twin turbo V6 hybrid unit found in the 2022 Acura NSX Type S, meaning it would have 602 hp (610 ps) and 492 lb-ft (667 Nm) of torque. However, in order for the NSX SUV to really challenge something like the Urus Performante or the DBX 707, it would need not so much more horsepower, but definitely a lot more torque.

Think about it, the DBX 707’s tuned AMG engine produces 664 lb-ft (900 Nm) of torque, so we’re talking about a great deal more pulling power. It’s why the Aston Martin is quicker to 60 mph than the Ferrari Purosangue, which on paper has more horsepower than the flagship DBX.

Ideally, I’d like to “see” the NSX SUV with somewhere around 680 hp and maybe close to 600 lb-ft (813 Nm) of torque. That’ll probably suffice, don’t you think?