The NSX is back at last, and thrillingly updated. All you need to own it is R2-million. What goes through your mind when you read "Honda" followed by the letters "NSX"? If your answer is "not a great deal", it's best that you and I have a little chat.Back in the 1980s Honda was a force to be reckoned with, particularly in Formula One, where its engines were helping drivers like Ayrton Senna win championships. Its everyday road cars were good - but it needed an aspirational conduit that could deliver this glamorous, race-bred know-how to the man in the street. It needed a halo product. Something like a Ferrari 348, a steel posterboy that would compete for bedroom-wall real estate the world over.story_article_left1So the engineers built Japan's first supercar. Unveiled in 1989, the NSX was the manifestation of Honda's motorsport acumen, a road rocket that could be all things to all men. It had a silhouette inspired by the F-16 fighter jet. To be as light and rigid as possible, it boasted all-aluminium construction, an industry first. And to make sure it handled, Honda employed the services of Senna himself. Finished off with a boot, a comfy cabin and an engine that fused an 8,000rpm redline with bulletproof reliability, the NSX recipe was a revelation.During its 15-year life span, not many ingredients changed. Eventually it was outgunned by more modern rivals that offered more thrills for less money. So three years before the 2008 financial crisis, Honda pulled the plug.So you see, the NSX is a big deal. Of course, ever since the first one disappeared a new one had been promised. And every year, as with Guns N' Roses' infamous Chinese Democracy album, there was another excuse as to why the project was once again delayed. Some, including myself, believed a next-generation NSX would never happen.Cue the humble pie, because I'm standing in Honda's R&D facility in Tochigi, Japan. And what I'm looking at is the reinvented form of the car in question. Yes. Really. Crouching in the twilight, the all-new NSX is a mean-looking bastard. Its predecessor may have been soft and fluid like a pair of 1990s-spec Nike kicks, but this redux is an assemblage of sharp angles designed to cut through the atmosphere like a knife. Cars don't get much more aggressive than this.Despite borrowing a few semi-obvious cues from the Audi R8, the NSX is a styling success. I buckle into one of the test cars and merge onto the facility's oval test track. The first thing that hits me is the pace. This is one hell of a quick machine.But it should be, considering what's propelling it. Similar to the Porsche 918, this Honda uses a hybrid powertrain system to generate momentum. This means that in addition to a mid-mounted 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6, you get three electric motors boosting performance. Juiced by a lithium-ion battery sunk low into the carbon-fibre floor pan, one motor is connected to each of the two front wheels while the other is integrated into the nine-speed, dual-clutch transmission.story_article_right2Like in the 918, this allows the NSX to drive purely on electricity, at low speeds, for a few kilometers. The real reason that the motors are there, however, is to ramp peak power up to 427kW, more than you get in a Porsche 911 Turbo S. Torque? Honda claims 550Nm.Now if you're afraid that all this science has dampened that glorious V6 noise, don't be. Honda has an Integrated Dynamics System that, when switched between four presets, adjusts the response of everything from the firmness of the dampers and weight of the steering right through to the sensitivity of the throttle pedal and bellow of the engine. In "quiet" mode the NSX sounds sedate. Dial into either "sport plus" or "track" and it broadcasts a hard-edged warble that's as good inside the cabin as it is out.Speaking of which. Honda has crafted a cockpit that's as simple as possible, so as to not distract you from the business of driving.My two laps around the test track are over quickly, despite being limited to 180km/h. This is incredibly frustrating because I know that the NSX is capable of so much more. I can tell that it has the speed and the grip and the handling to easily bloody the noses of the current supercar bigwigs. This is great news for Honda: a brand that's long been in need of a good sex-up. Even better news is that South Africa will feature on the order list. I can't confirm the price (probably around the low R2-million mark) but from the middle of next year you'll be able to spot these menacing Ferrari-stalkers prowling our streets. I can't wait.Follow the author of this article, Thomas Falkiner, on Twitter: @tomfalkiner111..