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The 2017 Acura NSX will cost $156,000

Back in October, when our Editor-in-Chief Mike Austin drove the 2017 Acura NSX for the first time in the Bay Area and at Sonoma Raceway, we guessed that the hybrid supercar would start at around the $170,000 price point. We weren't that far off – it starts at $156,000, and tops out around $205,000. But now that we have a solid sense of what Acura thinks this car is worth, and we know what they benchmarked the NSX against, we can compare apples to apples. Let's be clear: we like this car. Austin described it as "makes you giggle" fast, everyday-comfortable, and chock full of impressive party tricks like seamless shifting – with only a few foibles, like numb steering, to spoil the illusion of perfection. Back to the benchmarked cars. Acura says the NSX will compete with the Audi R8, and was developed to compete with the now-superseded 458 Italia. Let's start with the 2017 R8 V10 Plus – pricing hasn't been released, and a direct Euro-to-USD conversion isn't the whole story, but it starts at the equivalent of $179,000 in Europe. For that, the R8 V10 Plus provides 610 horsepower, a seven-speed DCT, and a 3.2-second sprint to 60 mph. The 458's successor, the 488 GTB, should be more expensive than the $243,000 the old model started at, and provides 661 hp, a seven-speed dual-clutch, and a 0-60 time of around three seconds (official numbers haven't been released for acceleration). For less money than either of these cars, the NSX delivers ... less. Total system output is 573 hp. It has a slight edge in gear count, at nine speeds, and should beat the R8 to 60 mph. But there's no V10, let alone Ferrari's feral turbocharged V8. It'll be up to buyers to determine if the compromises involved are worth a few thousand dollars in savings, if no options are selected. It should also be noted that Acura describes this as its first "built-to-order" vehicle, but the limited external color options and interior schemes don't appear to be much different than the extent to which you can customize an Accord. The configurator goes live on February 25th, if you want to see for yourself. Lastly, in what now seems to be a necessary part of a new high-end car launch, Acura will auction off VIN 001, the first production NSX, at Barrett-Jackson in January. All proceeds from that auction will benefit two charities: the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation and Camp Southern Ground. Related Video: Acura Shares Details of Next-Generation Acura NSX Sales Plan - 2017 Acura NSX U.S.

The super-luxury Audi Q8 concept is coming to the Detroit Auto Show

We've known the Q8 was on the way since last May, and now we'll get a better glimpse of the range-topping Audi SUV at the 2017 North American International Auto Show. The Q8 is, according to CEO Rupert Stadler, "a sporty Q derivative." It also has the same phonetic pronunciation at the country of Kuwait. To be clear, the vehicle coming to the Detroit show is the Q8 concept, so expect the standard treatment for thinly-disguised production cars like giant wheels and impossibly-small side mirrors. According to a leaked document from earlier this year, the production Q8 comes sometime in 2018. Like most teasers for auto-show reveals, this one only gives us a rough idea of what the car will look like. In this case, that's big, bold, and imposing. Or, as the press release states: "The octagonal Singleframe is considerably wider than that in Audi's current production Q models. Enhancing the forward positioned stance, is dynamic three-dimensional sculpting." We put the quote there to prove you can't make this stuff up. The next sentence in the release says there are design elements reminiscent of the 1980's Audi Quattro, which we consider a positive. According to the latest press conference schedule, expect the Q8 concept to debut at 8:00 AM on Monday, January 9.Related Video: Image Credit: Audi Detroit Auto Show Audi Crossover SUV Concept Cars Luxury 2017 Detroit Auto Show

New Transporter 4 Refueled prequel trailer comes with new lead, new Audi S8

Frank Martin returns in a new installment of the franchise that helped make Jason Statham that guy, this one called Transporter 4: Refueled. But ugh, what's happened to all the decent car movies? The problem here isn't that Statham left this series to play the baddie in Fast & Furious 7, but that the trailer makes it appear the director just combined the unused footage from a rap video and a Michael Bay movie, only forgot to include any rappers or input from Michael Bay. The trailer gives no clue as to what the movie's about, but it's not like we don't know – actor Ed Skrein has to take something somewhere while people try to kill him. Skrein does his best (we assume) to fill Statham's large shoes, helped and hindered by the entire line-up of Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue, a second reserve alternate Bond villain, gigatons of CGI, and more fireballs than the Milky Way. Oh, and this is a prequel to the series, so just like you did with Darth Maul's double-sided light saber, ignore the extreme newness of Skrein's current generation Audi S8. Related Video: