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Junkyard Gem: 1987 Acura Legend Sedan

Honda beat Toyota and Nissan in the race to bring a luxury marque to North America, introducing us to the Acura brand for the 1986 model year. Acura shoppers could buy a luxed-up, more powerful Civic (the Integra) that year, while the real high-rollers went for a smooth-looking, V6-powered luxury sedan co-developed by Rover and Honda: the Legend. That was quite a leap for a company that had been selling tiny cars with two-cylinder motorcycle engines just 15 years earlier, but the 1973-1985 period had been spectacularly good times for Honda. The early Legend sold very well in California, and that's where I found this high-mile '87 a couple of months back. While the Legend had the same underlying chassis structure and engine family as the Rover 800 (known as the Sterling in North America), the Honda-grade build quality and non-Lucas electrical components of the Legend meant that it outlasted its Rover cousins by decades and hundreds of thousands of miles. This one didn't quite make it to 300,000 miles, but 281,032 miles blows away the readings I see on most 1980s junkyard cars not made by Mercedes-Benz. It's hard to imagine a prestigious luxury sedan with three pedals these days, but plenty of the early Legends were sold here with the five-speed manual transmission. Starting in the early 1990s, though, nearly all U.S.-market Legends had slushboxes (though the manual could be had all the way through the final Legends of 1995). Every Legend ever made came with a V6 engine. This car has a 2.5-liter DOHC rated at 151 horsepower, while the 1987 Legend coupe got a 2.7 making 161 horses. Other than the worn-out front seats, the interior in this car looked fairly decent when it arrived in its final parking space. Most super-high-mile cars I see in junkyards aren't very trashed-looking, presumably due to owners who took good care of them for decades (I do see the occasional exception to this rule, of course). The body shows no rust, as you'd expect in California, but the paint hasn't fared so well over its 33 years. It's the performance sedan making European automakers uncomfortable. Unlike many of the wild Japanese-market car ads of the 1980s, Honda pitched the JDM Legend in a most dignified manner. Featured Gallery Junked 1987 Acura Legend Sedan View 15 Photos Auto News Acura Automotive History Classics Acura Legend

2022 Acura RDX First Drive | RDX redux gives us what we want

LOS ANGELES — AcuraÂ’s most recent totally new models — the TLX and MDX — thwacked us upside the head with authority to let us know that Acura as a luxury and performance brand is well and truly back in great form. The redesigned RDX tried to do the same back in 2019, and while it was an above-average overhaul effort, it didnÂ’t move us as strongly as the TLX and MDX have since. Now, the 2022 Acura RDX is here, and itÂ’s packing a bunch of improvements to try and both enhance the driving experience and ensure that it isnÂ’t playing second fiddle to other Acura products in tech or luxury. The one omission, and itÂ’s a big one, is the continued lack of a Type S variant. Both the TLX and MDX offer a high-performance Type S version with turbocharged V6 engines, and the RDX continues to go without such a model in 2022. ItÂ’s a shame, because the RDXÂ’s smaller size means it could serve as a quality platform for a performance crossover to compete against others like the BMW X3 M40i, Mercedes-AMG GLC 43 and Audi SQ5. ThatÂ’s not to say that Acura has neglected the driving experience for 2022. The one performance improvement comes in the form of re-tuned adaptive dampers on the Advance trim that are both stiffer in Sport mode and softer in Comfort mode. Plus, the cabin is much quieter than it was before thanks to additional sound deadening material and an enhanced Active Sound Control system. Acura says the standard car offers a 20% NVH improvement, while the Advance Package cars have even more sound deadening to deliver a 30% improvement over the 2021 model. YouÂ’ll be able to tell the updated RDX apart from the pre-refresh version by looking at the new grille pattern and thinner chrome grille surround. Look further downward, and youÂ’ll notice larger side intakes and a new fog light design. ItÂ’s harder to tell that anything is new from the back, but look closely, and youÂ’ll see a redone lower bumper and rectangular exhaust outlets on every model but the A-Spec — that hangs on to its round dual exhaust tips. A couple of new wheel designs round out the exterior updates, while the interior sees a new bronze-like finish for the aluminum trim in lower trims. Perhaps one of the most vital changes Acura made to the RDX this year is done on the equipment side, as it fixes one of the gripes weÂ’ve had with Acuras over the past couple years. You can finally equip the Advance Package onto A-Spec trim cars.

Junkyard Gem: 1992 Acura Vigor

Honda was the first of the Japanese car manufacturers to bring a separate luxury brand to the United States, with the (Civic-derived) Integra and (Rover-related) Legend appearing as 1986 models. By the early 1990s, Infiniti and Lexus had muscled in with their own gadget-laden luxury machines, with even Mitsubishi and Mazda offering legitimate competition for the two Acura models. Something had to be done, in the viewpoint of Soichiro Honda, and so the NSX sports car was introduced as a 1991 model, followed by the Vigor luxury sedan the following year. Here's one of those rare first-year Vigors, found in a Denver self-service boneyard recently. The idea behind the Vigor (which, like the Integra, Legend and NSX, was badged as a Honda in its homeland) was that it would squeeze in between the Integra and the Legend and steal some sales from the Lexus ES 250 as well as European machinery. The Vigor was a front-wheel-drive car, but its engine was mounted longitudinally and angled to clear the hood. The differential sat directly beneath the engine and received power via a tortured maze of shafts. The reason for all this powertrain complexity was the fact that the Vigor's engine was a SOHC straight-five that wouldn't fit the engine compartment using Honda's usual transverse mounting (though both Daewoo and Volvo managed the feat with straight-six engines later on). The U.S.-market Vigor's 2.5-liter five-banger was rated at 176 horsepower and 170 pound-feet. The base transmission was a five-speed manual, but this car has the optional $750 four-speed automatic ($1,696 in 2024 dollars). This car is the cheaper Vigor LS model, so its MSRP was $24,999 ($56,539 after inflation). You could get a slightly smaller but still feature-laden '92 Honda Accord EX for just $20,175 ($45,629 now), though, and the cushier (though less nimble) Lexus ES 250 started at just $21,300 ($48,173 in today's money). American car shoppers just couldn't figure out the Vigor, and sales were weak. 1994 was the final year for the Vigor, and the TL replaced it beginning as a 1996 model. This one drove just over 160,000 miles during its life. Don't think of it as a drive to work. Think of it as a 30-minute vacation. If you get a German luxury sedan instead of a Vigor, you'll be sorry! I miss you… S. As was nearly always the case during the 1980s and 1990s, the JDM commercials were more fun.