Honda Legend
The Honda Legend is a series of V6-engined executive cars that was produced by Honda between 1985 and 2021, and served as its flagship vehicle. The Legend has also been sold under the Acura Legend, RL and RLX nameplates — the successive flagship vehicles of Honda's luxury Acura division in North America from 1986 until 2020.
First generation (KA1–6; 1985)
The first-generation Legend, introduced to Japan on October 22, 1985, was the first production Honda vehicle to offer only a SOHC V6 engine worldwide. The introduction of the Legend also coincided with the launch of a new dealership sales channel in Japan, called Honda Clio. The Legend was the result of a joint venture with Britain's Austin Rover Group called Project XX that started in November 1981 with the Austin Rover-Honda XX letter of intent signed by the two companies to replace the Rover SD1 and to provide a luxury vehicle for Honda, and was codenamed as HX. The Rover Company had a long-established reputation as a luxury car maker in the United Kingdom and Europe, demonstrated by the Rover P5 and Rover P6, and Honda wanted to introduce a luxury car for the Japanese, European and North American markets. Rover also wanted to return to the American market when previously they had reportedly sold only 1,500 cars in 1971, and a brief return in 1980, selling 800 Rover SD1s by offering the Sterling which was also a result of the ARG-Honda partnership. The development work was carried out at Rover's Canley, Coventry plant and Honda's Tochigi Prefecture development centre. Design work concluded on the Legend in 1982, with a design patent being filed on September 27, 1982, at the Japan Patent Office under application number 1982-043493 and registered on September 19, 1984, under patent number 0640105.Honda and British Leyland/Rover agreed that Legends would be built at Cowley for the British market. However, few UK built Legends passed Honda's quality control standards, and many simply ended up being used as in-plant transport. In the end, only 4,409 Legends were built in the UK, from 1986 until 1988. All US-market Legends were built in Japan.
Japanese market
Honda wanted to expand its model range above the Honda Accord, and offer a premium level sedan that would appeal to wealthy middle-aged customers who were the traditional buyers of the Toyota Crown, Mazda Luce and Nissan Cedric/Gloria. In 1981, Honda had introduced a luxury level version of the Accord, called the Honda Vigor, but realized that they needed to manufacture a larger, more exclusive sedan with similar dimensions to the Crown, Luce, Cedric and Gloria. When the Legend was introduced worldwide, the optional equipment list was minimal as commonly identified equipment regarded as luxury in nature was included as standard equipment, leaving the only option the choice between a manual or automatic transmission.The major mechanical difference between the Legend and the Toyota, Mazda and Nissan sedans was that the Legend was front-wheel drive, which Honda stated was "quite simply the most logical means to the ends the engineers desired: a true luxury car with a low, aerodynamic hood; a spacious interior with a nearly flat floor, and the superior traction that results from placing the engine and drivetrain transversely over the drive wheels." This provided the Legend with a front-end heavy 63/37 front to rear weight distribution ratio, similar to the NSU Ro 80. The ride was engineered to appeal towards the luxury car market and not necessarily towards the performance market, and the front to rear weight distribution ratio reflected this goal. Efforts to minimize torque steer were achieved by the half shafts and the angles of the joints at the ends of those shafts being equalized, helping the Legend to accelerate in a straight line.
The Japanese-spec Legend was offered in three trim levels; the V6Xi with the 2.5 L C25A V6 engine, with the slightly shorter and narrower V6Gi and V6Zi using the 2.0 L C20A V6. The V6Gi had the same level of equipment and luxury features as the V6Xi, whereas the V6Zi had reduced content and a lower price. The V6 engines were available with electronic, multi-port sequential fuel injection Honda called Programmed Fuel Injection, or PGM-FI and a variable length intake manifold on the smaller 2.0-liter V6. The larger 2.5 engine was upgraded to the C27A 2.7 liters of displacement for model year 1988 and added a variable length intake manifold. The engine benefited from Honda's successes with its endeavors in Formula One racing in 1964, and Honda's F1 racing car, the Honda RA271. Transmission selections were either a four-speed automatic transaxle with a computer controlled lockup torque converter, or a five-speed manual transaxle.
In order for the sedan to comply with Japanese vehicle size requirements and reduced tax liability, the car with the 2.0 L V6 was slightly shorter and narrower for Japanese buyers by reducing the extension of the front and rear bumper covers, and reducing the overall width to. This also offered an alternative to the traditional Crown and Cedric/Gloria customer base due to the sedan being in the smaller size classification and reduced tax liability but with a comparable level of luxury equipment found in the larger cars, and the same amount of interior space due to the front-wheel drive powertrain, with a wheelbase advantage of over the Cedric/Gloria and Crown. To address the issue of durability, the Legend was manufactured as a pillared sedan instead of a four-door hardtop, a body style still offered at the time by Toyota and Nissan on the Crown and Cedric/Gloria. The slightly smaller body style also allowed the Legend to compete with the upscale Toyota Cresta and Chaser and the Nissan Laurel.
The Legend offered many Honda "firsts", such as a driver side airbag, vehicle speed sensitive power assist rack and pinon steering, anti-lock brakes, seat belt pre-tensioners with Emergency Locking Retractors, a choice of 100% wool or cloth moquette upholstery, and "TCS" Traction control, the first front-wheel drive car to use traction control. Attention was given to make sure the Legend was quiet, so Honda used computer simulation using NASTRAN, a stress analysis program created by NASA, helping the car achieve a drag coefficient of 0.32 and an interior noise level of 63 dB, and by using triple seals around the tops of door openings.
The Legend was introduced with a double wishbone suspension for the front wheels, and a modified Chapman strut with trailing arm rear suspension Honda called "RF Strut Rear Suspension" with progressive rate rear coil springs that stiffen as they compress to combine smooth ride and good handling. The rear coil spring was separate from the strut and positioned so that vertical pressure was supported by the lower control arm. The term Reduced Friction referred to the minimizing of forces that create friction in the shock absorbers, providing more efficient damping for the full suspension stroke. The rear suspension was upgraded to double wishbone starting with the 1988 model year worldwide.
Notable owners of the first generation Legend were Soichiro Honda the founder of Honda, Satoru Nakajima, Tyrrell Racing F1 driver in 1990, and Ayrton Senna. The Legend V6Xi was used as the pace car for the Suzuka Circuit for 1986.
"Wing Turbo" version
In October 1988, Honda upgraded the C20A V6 engine used exclusively in the KA5 series Legend with a variable geometry turbocharger, calling it the "Wing Turbo" in a to address the modest power available from the previous engine with variable length intake manifold used in earlier models. The turbocharger compressor housing had four vanes made from heat resistant Inconel alloy surrounding the turbine wheel that would fluctuate based on engine load and transmission gearing above 2,000 rpm to allow for increased airflow into the engine as needed. The turbo compressor could generate as much as of boost, and was paired with a water cooled intercooler installed inside the intake plenum between the cylinder banks to produce net at 6000 rpm and a maximum torque of at 3,500 rpm. The turbo was installed not necessarily to make the engine more powerful, but rather to increase fuel efficiency and reduce emissions, as the Japanese pay a tax on the amount of emissions the car produces.According to an excerpt of Automotive Engineering in January 1989, "The movable wings are positive pressure- and vacuum-operated, their angle changes are controlled by an eight-bit 36-kilobyte computer that also manages fuel injection. Positive pressure to the wing actuator is supplied by the turbo's supercharge pressure, controlled by a frequency solenoid valve, and negative pressure is generated by intake vacuum and accumulated in a reservoir which is also solenoid controlled. The CPU is fed signals including boost pressure, intake temperature, coolant temperature, throttle opening, engine rpm, and vehicle speed. The Wing Turbo is not fitted with a conventional wastegate.
On idling and steady-state cruising that do not require supercharging, the movable flags—or wings—which are fully opened, allow exhaust gas to enter the enlarged nozzle area and pass through the turbine smoothly with little resistance. At the beginning of full acceleration, the wings close fully, reducing the nozzle area through which accelerated gas enters and strikes the turbine blades forcefully, gaining boost quickly. When maximum boost is obtained, the movable wings begin to close gradually, until the vehicle reaches a desired cruising velocity whereby the wings open fully. The nozzle area varies continuously according to operating and load conditions."
The turbo was installed just above the automatic transmission unit; a manual transmission was not offered. This engine was only offered in Japan using the more compact sedan body style, labeled as "2.0 Ti Exclusive" and "2.0 Ti". The engine was used for just two years, due to the introduction of the second generation Legend in 1990 with the much larger C32A V6, and as such Wing Turbo sedans are extremely rare. Much of the research on this engine contributed to the VTEC C30A V6 engine used in the 1990 Honda NSX. The Legend Turbo can be identified as by a "TURBO" badge attached to the front grille on the bottom right hand side and a "V6Ti" rear badge.