late 80’s, Honda I decided to create a luxury brand. Acura To sell cars in North America at a better profit. The ‘Legend’ is one of his two cars that Acura first went on sale in the United States, the other being his compact Integra hatchback.
The Legend is designed so that a family can easily fit inside it. This sedan was even more important than Honda’s largest sedan at the time, the Accord. Honda was successful with new ideas to profit from the American market. Toyota When Nissan We have also created a luxury brand called Lexus and the infinity Compete with Honda.
Acura began production of this sedan in 1985 and stopped production ten years later in 1995. The cessation of production of this gorgeous monster saddened many fans, but laid the foundation for many more successful and well-designed models.
After selling two generations of the Legend, Acura decided to rename the model RL to replace it with the third generation model in the US. Yet elsewhere, Honda continued to market it as a Legend. Let’s take a look at what makes this legendary sedan so successful.
The original Acura Legend with an amazing V6
With the arrival of the Legend, Honda fans marveled at the V6 under the hood. This was the first time that Honda had adopted an engine other than an in-line four-cylinder engine.
The 1986 Acura Legend had a 2.5L V6 engine with 151 horsepower and 154 lb-ft of torque. The Legend came with a 4-speed automatic or 5-speed manual transmission and was hooked up to a FWD drivetrain.
By today’s standards, this powertrain seems outdated and weak. However, it came with four valves per cylinder, multiport fuel injection and one camshaft per cylinder head. At the time, this was a neat and modern engine, as many manufacturers were still using pushrods and carburetors.
Fans were pleased with the Legend’s performance in a variety of areas, including fuel efficiency and a spacious and comfortable interior design.
Acura plans to sell 55,000 of these vehicles, surpassing that goal in its second year of production. The reason is that Acura offered features found in much more expensive cars with its famously high build quality at a significantly lower price.
The interior was very spacious and well designed. The Legend is also equipped with a premium audio system and sunroof. The Legend featured a front double-wishbone suspension developed in F1 racing.
The second generation Legend was sportier
The second generation legend who debuted in 1990. The styling was inspired by Acura’s new supercar NSX, which was released in the same year. The most striking aspect of the 2nd generation Legend was its unique and sleek exterior styling that led many 1st generation fans to purchase the all-new 1990 Legend.
Acura engineers mounted the engine vertically instead of horizontally. This makes this sedan look longer and has a lower bonnet, giving it its famously sporty design language.
The engine under the hood was an upgraded 3.2L V6 producing 200 horsepower. Like its predecessor, the second-generation Legend came with either his 4-speed automatic or his 5-speed manual transmission hooked up to a FWD drivetrain.
The interior used in this sedan has been upgraded with features such as automatic climate control, heated leather seats and wheel-mounted volume controls. The most shocking feature was the door vacuum cleaner that closes the door if it isn’t fully closed. In 1991, these new features were nowhere to be seen.
Additionally, Acura has released a Legend Coupe trim alongside the base sedan. The engine used in the coupe was upgraded and even more powerful, producing 230 hp. Acura supplied the Coupe Edition with his 6-speed manual. This made him one of the few cars with many gears at the time.
Honda’s luxury brand experiment was a huge success
After selling its first car under the Acura brand, Honda achieved its goal of entering the American luxury car market. Their tactics have also inspired other Japanese manufacturers to launch their own luxury brands.
In doing so, Acura has caught established brands such as BMW When Mercedes-Benz Caught off guard, people slowly started to turn to Acura and see it in the same vein as BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
From 1994 to 1999, the Legend continued to be marketed under the Daewoo brand. The Daewoo Legend was pretty well made, but it didn’t match the Acura’s when it came to build quality. But compared to other cars made by Korean companies at the time, the Korean Legend was one of America’s most luxurious cars.
Finally, the Acura Legend lived up to its name and ended its journey as a true legend by showing everyone that Acura knows a thing or two about building cars.
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