His 700 hp R34 Was Stolen. He Bought an NSX — and Has Kept It for 16 Years

Motor Fan has published one of those owner interviews that maps an entire era of Japanese car culture onto a single garage. The subject spent years deep in top-speed tuning with a JZA80 Supra, a BCNR33 and finally a BNR34 Skyline GT-R — the last built to 700 hp on a 2.7-liter, TD05 twin-turbo specification. Then the R34 was stolen.

What he bought next was not another turbo missile. It was a first-generation NA1 Honda NSX — and sixteen and a half years later, it has become his long-term keeper.

From peak power to peak feel

By his own account in the feature, the timing shaped the choice: he had been considering retiring from the top-speed world anyway as he got married, and the theft forced the decision. The NSX was the experiment.

The first impression was what you would expect from someone stepping out of a 700 hp GT-R: the naturally aspirated 3.0-liter V6 felt underpowered. What kept him in the car was everything else — the chassis. The mid-engined Honda's handling won him over completely.

The car has evolved along the way without changing its character: a "Hornet" body kit from Route KS, 18- and 19-inch wheels, upgraded brakes, TEIN MonoFlex suspension and ECU tuning — modifications that sharpen the car's appearance and chassis while retaining its naturally aspirated character.

The theft that sits underneath the story

The stolen BNR34 is mentioned almost in passing, and the feature discloses little about when or how it was taken — which gives the story a darker undertone without turning it into a crime report. What can be said: the theft happened over sixteen years ago, long before the R34's export-driven price surge made GT-R security a defining anxiety of ownership in Japan. Reading it today, with that context, is what makes the detail land differently for overseas readers than it may have for the original audience.

Two icons, one lesson

The JDM canon usually frames the GT-R and the NSX as rivals; this garage frames them as sequential answers to different questions. His move from a 700 hp GT-R to an NSX suggests a shift in priorities — from outright speed toward steering, balance and feel — and in this owner's case, the slower car proved to be the lasting one. It is a trajectory that echoes through the long-term owner features we keep covering: what keeps a car in the garage for sixteen years is rarely the number on the dyno sheet.