Interesting review of the previous NSX here.

https://www.whatcar.com/news/honda-n...ource=20171101

I never knew this:

"...the NSX can trace its roots back to an experimental car based on the Honda City hatchback. Rather than having the engine under the bonnet powering the front wheels, the dinky motor was moved to the middle of the car and drove the rear wheels...​​​​​​Although no real advantage could be found over the regular City, Honda's engineers loved driving it so much that they decided to concentrate their research on the dynamic advantages of a mid-engined layout."

The S2000 is included in the 10 best alternative (proper) sportscars (after the main article) too.

 

Mid-engined CRXs and Preludes were also used as prototypes.

One option they looked at was a front-engined car powered by a 2.0 V8! That sort-of made production a decade later, minus four of the pots.