(first posted 5/17/2016) Billed as “Precision Crafted Performance”, Acura, Honda’s upscale brand, launched in March 1986 with the sporty-looking Integra 3-door and 5-door hatchbacks, and the conservative yet sleek-styled Legend luxury sedan. Although these models achieved immediate success both in sales and customer satisfaction, Honda couldn’t waste a minute letting Acura get stale as Toyota and Nissan were readying their own luxury divisions. With the two most important market segments covered, Acura’s next move was to enter the shrinking, yet still potentially profitable personal luxury coupe market with the 1987 Legend coupe.
Despite sharing a common name, the Legend coupe was in fact a very different car from the Legend sedan. Riding on its own unique platform, the Legend coupe featured entirely different sheetmetal and all structural components from the A-pillars back were entirely unique. Only the underbody panels around the engine bay were shared with the sedan.
The 2.7L SOHC 24-valve V6 residing in that bay was also exclusive to the coupe, at least until 1989 when it found its way into the mildly refreshed sedan. Derived from the sedan’s 2.5L V6, the larger displacement 2.7L featured a 3mm larger bore and a sophisticated variable intake control system to maximize torque from idle through mid-range rpm for better low- and mid-range performance. Total output was 161 horsepower and 162 pound-feet torque.
This advanced engine was designed to achieve high output and efficiency, while remaining lightweight and externally compact, allowing the Legend to retain its low, aerodynamic hoodline. In order to achieve this, lightweight aluminum alloy was used for the engine block and cylinder heads, and cylinder bore angle was kept at 90 degrees. The single overhead cam configuration was retained for compactness, but to increase efficiency, valvetrain was designed using the same port shape and crossflow configuration normally found in dual overhead cams.
The standard transmission was a 5-speed manual, while a dual-mode electronically controlled 4-speed automatic with torque converter lockup was optional. Although a relatively common feature in modern cars, the Legend featured a rather novel for the time selectable Sport mode. When shifted past drive into sport, gears would be held longer to shift at higher rpms at partial throttle openings in first, second, and third gears for quicker acceleration and a generally sportier feel.
Regardless of model, all Legends featured a sophisticated four-wheel independent, double wishbone suspensions for both the front and rear, for superior handling and driving dynamics. Speed-sensitive power assisted rack-and-pinion steering was also standard, as were four-wheel disc brakes. Anti-lock brakes were standard on the mid-level L and up-level LS trims. A driver’s airbag was initially standard only on the LS, but was made standard across the board in 1989.
Dimension-wise, the coupe rode on a 106.5-inch wheelbase (2.2 inches shorter than the sedan), and at 188 inches long and 53.9 inches tall, was about two inches shorter and one inch squatter than its sedan counterpart. As stated, designers gave the coupe an entirely new body with no sheetmetal shared between it and the Legend sedan. Versus the more smooth-sided sedan, the coupe featured more aggressively flared front and rear fenders, as well coke bottle rocker panels for a bolder and more sensual appearance.
Along with an airy greenhouse, thin B-pillars were nearly hidden from outside due to the frameless bronze-tint windows, giving the Legend coupe the illusion of being a true hardtop. Unlike most personal luxury coupes by this point, the Legend’s rear windows did actually roll down, though unfortunately, the uppermost portion remained exposed due to the intrusion of the rear wheel wells.
Although there was still a familial resemblance to the Legend sedan and other Hondas, chiefly the Prelude, the Legend coupe had a distinct ambiance of its own. With a slimmer grille and taillights, lower nose and decklid with integrated spoiler, and lower roofline with steeper rear windshield rake, the Legend coupe exuded a sleeker and more grounded stance than the sedan, in true coupe fashion.
(JDM Honda Legend coupe interior; virtually identical to the NA-spec Legend, sans right-hand drive)
Inside, things were more familiar, as the Legend coupe and sedan shared the same ergonomic dashboard, center console, and forward portion of the door panels with one another. Standard interior features for the 1988 model year included power windows and door locks, cruise control, air conditioning, AM/FM stereo with cassette, illuminated entry, tinted windows, and driver’s adjustable thigh and lumbar support.
Base model Legend coupes featured full moquette fabric upholstery, while up-level L and LS coupes featured leather seating surfaces, door panels, rear interior panels, and wrapped steering wheel. Per this car’s 1988 model year, in addition to leather, L models also added a power glass sunroof with sunshade, 10-way power driver’s seat, security system, and heated exterior mirrors.
LS models further upped the ante with automatic climate control, a driver’s information system, premium Bose sound system, and driver’s side airbag. By this generation’s final 1990 model year, the LS had also gained genuine burled walnut interior trim, a 4-way power passenger’s seat, and a standard rear decklid spoiler. Although I personally find the frequently seen Ivory interior color scheme very attractive, one could still get a Legend with blue or burgundy interior, in addition to gray and black.
Just like its preceding sedan counterpart, the Acura Legend coupe was met with overwhelming praise for its driving dynamics, luxury features, technology, and overall refinement. Motor Trend named it their “Import Car Of The Year” for 1987, and Car and Driver named it one of their “10Best” in 1988, 1989, and 1990, among other top honors. With its sportier nature and more distinctive appearance, the Legend coupe even one-upped the Legend sedan in the positive press department.
(Vintage review from the Canadian TV series “Driver’s Seat”)
It should be noted that with a base price of $23,096 USD ($46,491 as of May 2016) in 1988, at the time, the Legend coupe was most expensive Japanese car imported to the U.S. Equally noteworthy, was that in light of undercutting the prices of cars it was positioned against (including the BMW 635CSi, Mercedes-Benz 300CE, and Volvo 780), by upwards of $20,000 USD, most concurred that the Legend was a solid and viable competitor. Buyers seemed to agree too, as Legend sales soared to over 70,000 units in 1988, making it the best-selling import luxury nameplate in the U.S., consecutively from 1988-1993.
The first generation Legend coupe continued with minor updates mainly limited to comfort, convenience, and safety features and color/trim options through the 1990 model year. For 1990, the Legend coupe received new taillight clusters with pink-colored turn signals/reverse lights (which the featured ’88 Persian Red Legend sports) and LS models gained a standard body-color spoiler.
The Legend was completely redesigned for the 1991 model year, growing in size, power, and luxury to better compete with flagships from the newly-created Lexus and Infiniti divisions, as well as the perennial benchmarks, the BMW 5-Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class (which wasn’t officially called that yet). Placing a greater emphasis on performance, styling was brawnier and a larger, longitudinally-mounted 3.2L V6 was standard, with the higher output Type II version producing 230 horsepower.
My own amateur photographs of this Olympia White 1988 Legend base model from June 2013 in the Russian Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, CA
A very special thanks to my buddy Tyson Hugie for allowing me to use the professional photos by John Bazay of his now no longer owned Persian Red 1988 Legend L in Scottsdale, AZ
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These were quite good cars an old friends mother has a 89 Honda Legend coupe bought new it gave lots of trouble while under warranty but has been faultless since, usually its the other way round Hondas are reliable as the sun until a certain point then everything goes wrong Like the British built Rhondas, all the usual issues surface and its time to dump the car.
I guess because these coupes have always seemed to be so large they didn’t loom large on my “wish list”. The 2nd generation looks even bigger, the styling somehow making these cars look too long/bulky.
But they have it all over compared to any contemporary competition. Decent looks, great engine and manual transmission (if the automatic transmission performs in a Legend like it does in an Integra, it’s probably about average for shift quality), and an excellent suspension.
It’s unfortunate that few seem to have survived.
My uncle had a second-generation coupe and, while not small, it drove like a smaller car. One time he called me into his office while I was working for him and had me take it to the car wash. Memorable drive, let me tell you. To this day I’ve never driven anything so nice. It was comfortable, had nice power, and was smooth as glass. It’s too bad Honda lost the message over the years with Acura, they used to be frontrunners instead of also-rans.
These were really nice cars. I think the styling of the coupe really improves the looks compared to the sedan–just right for a more personal car. Seeing the shots of the Persian Red Legend in particular brings back memories of how open and airy the greenhouse was on these cars.
The Gen 1 Legends were a great size as well. While it was understandable that the Legend needed to get bigger to fight Lexus and Infiniti (though they could have used a V8 for that as well…), moving upmarket left a gap in the line-up. The Vigor undoubtedly was intended to fill that spot, but it lacked the style and uniqueness of the first Legends and was no match for the ’92 Lexus ES300.
Agree, GN, with all you say here.
I prefer the first-generation sedan, personally, although both are a bit too Accord/Prelude-esque in styling (makes sense, they were sold with Honda badges everywhere else).
But that second-generation coupe… Oh, how absolutely gorgeous they are. Perfect proportions. Just an absolute knockout. Brendan, I know I showed you that red example I saw in Washington Heights that took my breath away. One of us has to write it up sometime.
I believe these Legends were the last cars to be manufactured as pillared coupes with roll down back glass. That is precisely why I liked them.
The fact being that the glass didn’t go all the way down was common in pillared coupes/sedans because of being hemmed in by the pillar. Pillarless hardtops got around this by giving the designers more area to weasel the glass mechanism to make the window sashay and arc its way down.
On this particular car, the glass area was larger than would have been acceptable in the past, even in a pillarless model that even if this car was pillarless, there wasn’t enough space to hide the glass, both the visible portion and the glass that wasn’t visible.
In any event, I strongly approved of that car! Wish the OEMs would bring this highly desirable feature back.
Not explicitly mentioned above, but the second-generation coupe’s quarter windows also rolled down.
I really like the dashboard designs on these and other contemporary Hondas. One might ask for oil pressure and voltage gauges rather than lights, but in terms of clarity of presentation and ergonomics, it’s really excellent in an area where a lot of modern cars really don’t excel. There was some carping in the British and Japanese press about not looking “rich” enough, but from experience, the higher-end Honda products of this vintage have a lot of thoughtful details (in design and engineering) that can’t have been cheap to incorporate. Very sweet engines as well.
At the time the UK press offered faint praise for these cars. With hindsight you can see how wrong they were. The coupe has a fabulous greenhouse and is elegant in totality.
I love the bright and airy thin-pillared roofline on the first-generation Legend coupe. It might be one of the nicest rooflines ever and it goes well with the wedgy, box-fendered body lines. I was also surprised to learn that the rear side windows could be rolled down.
A lady I used to work with at the time bought one of these in 1988, she was agonizing over the price (had been driving a Mazda GLC before that), even though she bought a base model (with automatic) it was $25000, which seemed like a huge amount of money back then (even though it is probably about the mean price of a new car these days). It was a very nice car…lots of my co workers were buying pretty expensive Japanese cars back then, but I had bought a GTI a few years before that suited me fine, and was my last car I ever financed, so certainly don’t miss having a car payment.
Also remember the “Driver’s Seat” show on PBS…haven’t seen that in years, I enjoyed hearing them discuss the different attribute of cars they liked, especially since one of them seemed to like cars that were also my taste.
I love these cars so very, very much. Honda really knocked it out of the park–fantastic (though understated) styling, spirited performance and the ergonomic perfection of 80’s/90’s Honda interiors plus a touch of luxury. Always wanted one, never saw one for sale in my price range any of the times I was looking for a car up until about 2006 when I concentrated on newer vehicles. The ’91 model is even more of a stunner, though I might argue that there’s not a bad angle on the original where the 2nd-gen looks better from some views than others.
They may have nominally competed with the 635CSi and the 300CE, but I think these cars in reality mainly competed with the Volvo 780 and Lincoln Mark VII. The 780 in particular was an almost perfect foil, being a V6 (at first) coupe version of a luxurious mid-sizer that didn’t share any body panels. However the Legend coupe was significantly less expensive ($10K+, and that’s in late 80’s dollars) plus had a better engine, which I’m sure tells much of the story of the disparity in sales numbers.
These were attractive cars. I wonder about the take rate of the manual transmission.The engine was sized like the smaller BMW 3 series coupes,but with lower output, while the weight was higher. As such, the mediocre Honda auto was perhaps a little overmatched in terms of performance. It must have been great for those who stuck with the standard manual. This also might have kept more mature buyers away, with all the help that gives to the perception of image.
For myself, I find the 86-88 Toronado or the 88-91 Eldorado more built for me. High torque, good economy, decent room, high tech interface,and that hint of heritage.
An interesting note is that the manual gearbox was solely for export. The JDM KA coupes were offered only with automatic, and I believe the same was true for all KB Legends. The five-speed is the way to go with the 2.7-liter engine in any case.
The difference in output compared to the small six in a contemporary 3-Series is pretty nominal: 7 horsepower and 2 lb-ft. The Legend was indeed heavier, but then even the coupe was more than a foot longer than an E30 3-Series.
Interestingly, the JDM version of the 2.7 claimed 182 hp JIS net, although since rated torque output was very similar to the U.S. and European engines, I’m a little skeptical.
I had an opportunity to park my Taffeta White 1989 Accord LX-i beside one identical to the picture, and discovered to my dismay, that it was only marginally larger than the Accord! Nevertheless, I lusted after one. I never did get one, but it is still one of my favorites to this day. IMO, I feel that the 1991 design was awkward and ungainly. Maybe one of these years I’ll stumble upon a one owner, low milesage 5 speed first generation for sale!! 🙂
Fantastic cars. I’m a huge fan. And what a name!
I think these were some one of the most attractive cars of the 1980s. Several of the features you mentioned in this article — the airy greenhouse, thin C-pillars, bronze-tinted windows, unique sheetmetal, etc. — combined to produce a very pleasant end-product.
Before the Legend Coupe was introduced, I was ambivalent about Acura in general, viewing the brand (like many others did) as a needlessly expensive Honda. But this car changed my point of view. I viewed it almost as a less-expensive version of a Mercedes SEC.
The 1991 coupe, though, was a major disappointment. The chunky styling and awkward front- and rear-ends were completely inharmonious with each other. But the ’88-’90 coupes were real gems.
+1.
I loved the bronze window tint these had, I remember driving through the Rocky Mountains in the sedan variant as a little kid with my grandparents, peering at the terrain with that sunglasses like tint, it made the views even more stunning.
The coupes really do look a little too much like a Prelude for their own good, it makes me want to compare them and invariably the Honda comes out on top, despite the Legend’s additional merits, and my personal recollection of my grandparent’s sedan was quite positive, so I’m not just talking the roll down rear windows (which is awesome).
Finished building that motor yet?
Building yes, swapping no. Close but I still need a few supporting parts before I can confidently put it in the car
The 2.5/2.7 were notorious for clattering valve lash adjusters, not a good engine in my book, and was quickly swept under the carpet by the all new 3.2 in fine Japanese fashion. Friend of mine had a ’87 sedan; you could hear him coming a block away. He talked to several dealer techs who all admitted Honda screwed the pooch with that engine.
I’ll join the chorus of high praise for these cars. This was Acura’s finest moment. The Legend coupe was a bargain compared to the expensive European coupes, being very competitive with them in its dynamic qualities. And it was just a much better car than the domestic coupes of the time.
It’s one of the cars I really would have liked to own at the time. Your excellent write up brought back why.
Remember the British-built versions of these sold in the U.S., the Sterling? A new brand was created for these since Rover etc. had such an appallingly bad reputation in the United States.
Despite the new name, these cars did not disappoint when it came to traditional British build quality and reliability. Sterling sales nosedived quickly and the marque was gone within a few years.
As we’ve previously discussed, the Rover 800 wasn’t just a British-built Legend, although they were designed jointly. I think probably a good point of comparison would be late-70s GM cars: shared body shell, some shared engines, some different engines, different styling/trim/features.
Rover actually designed their own coupe version of this platform, although it was delayed endlessly and not actually introduced until 1992, so we never got it. It’s also a very pretty car, although the British and German press just savaged the chassis tuning.
Always have and always will love these cars. Instead of staying with the path that made Acura the brand it was initially, Honda decided to veer off and follow the bandwagon by making the Legend name go away and introducing the infamous alphanumeric nameplates. BIG MISTAKE! Plus they made the car larger and less distinctive. RL? What kind of name is that? Let’s get rid of a winner and see what happens. Absolute nonsense. I am currently employed at an Acura dealership, and if I had a dime for every time someone walked up to me and mentioned their Legend that they absolutely loved I would be rich. It sickens me to think that a company could be so easily led into following others when they were initially the leader of that pack.
I follow what you are saying, but at the same time, if these people keep coming into an Acura dealer due to the name recognition, the branding clearly isn’t the issue. Personally, the distinction between what the Accord is today vs. a RLX is much closer than it ever was, and that is the real problem. On the flip side, I bet a lot of CR-V and Pilot buyers are more than happy to upgrade to the prospective Acura products, name be damned. This is coming from someone who has parents that own a real deal 2005 TL A-Spec that they love and still have at 200,000+ miles and still looks brand new. Just my two cents..
You are totally missing my point. Acura has lost a lot of customers over the years for their high-line car and entry-level car – the two cars that started them in the first place! The RDX and MDX are newer vehicles that started out AS the RDX and MDX. They have established themselves in the last 10-15 years, so their nameplates have built the brand recognition that is needed for a model to be very successful. So ok, why doesn’t Acura discontinue the names RDX and MDX and come out with totally new names? That would be stupid, wouldn’t it? That is my point about the Legend and Integra. They had been established, award-winning, popular, well-known and successful and were taken away from the car-buying public.
And your point about distinction between the Accord and RLX is true, yet the original Legend was said to have resembled the Accord and Prelude and it sold well. But they WERE totally different cars. Same holds true for the RLX and Accord. Have you ever driven an RLX? Totally not an Accord. Same for the TLX. And the TLX has NO relation at all to an Accord. It was designed from the ground up as its own vehicle. Names like Integra and Legend should never have been discontinued. Sorry.
I used to have a 87 legend sedan with a 5 speed manual what a great car that was I sold it with over 250,000 miles and still ran well the next owner got another 100,000 out of it. But I do remember on the top of the title it saying 1987 Acura legend/Honda accord deluxe. So I always figured it was the same platform as the accord.
Excellent write up. A friend in highschool had a gold one while I drove a yellow ’88 Prelude Si. I had a 5speed though which I considered the better machine.
I also took a picture of a white Legend in the mission district two weeks ago. Could it be the same car?
For those who feel the Legend coupe, Accord coupe, and Prelude had very similar styling elements, just have a look at the Japan-only Prelude inx introduced toward the end of 1989. Intended as an upscale and luxurious Prelude, it mimics the Legend styling further yet:
In 1988, I was working at my first real job at an advertising agency in Scottsdale. It was the branch office of a small business-to-business agency in the Chicago suburbs. The owner drove a BMW 3-Series convertible in Chicago, and decided to get a company car to use when he was in Arizona. I asked him what he was getting, and he replied, “A beater.”
It was a brand-new Acura Legend coupe.
I got to drive The Beater on multiple occasions in that job, and it was the nicest car I had ever driven at that point. I’d still put it in my top 10. Everything about that car was smooth — the power, the ride, the handling. Acura knocked it out of the park with the first Legend, but has sadly only managed a few base hits and a lot of strikeouts ever since.
The MDX and RDX are genuine hits, the MDX being the best-selling 3-row SUV ever.
I bought a 1990 Legend sedan in 1990. I drove it for sixteen years and 228,000 miles. Being car payment free for eleven years was nice. In that time it had minor problems only. I replaced each CV joint once and the battery twice. Other than the cam belt and water pump, nothing else needed service. The Legend was undoubtedly the best car that I have ever owned.
Nice write up Brendan. It makes me want to take a legend for a spin.
Also, as a constructive suggestion, your amateur photographs don’t take much to look more professional. i.e, you could try cropping away some of the tarmac in the foreground and you could experiment with the perspective by lowering the camera. I know squatting down is not everyone’s favorite thing to do but it makes almost any car look more impressive in a picture.
I always look forward to your informative articles.
Great write-up, Brendan! Even as a long-time Legend owner and lover, I learned a few things about the car in this post. And thank for seeing fit to use the photos of my old Persian Red coupe – it brings back memories. Someday I need another gen 1 Legend. For now I’ll just keep having fun with my growing collection of gen 2’s. 🙂
Still a good looking vehicle today. The second gen. Coupe Legend seemed to cry out BMW but with FWD. Still not a terrible design , but not quite as good IMO.By the time I could have afforded one of these , Honda had thrown all their “Class” in the trash bin. No longer a Legend ,it was now to be known by two or three letters. The cars lost their style , and whatever mojo they had was gone. lack of sales caused the local dealer to close up never to return. Precision Crafted Performance was no longer the tag line and Lexus picked up many former Acura customers in my area. Lexus is still here, nobody picked up the Acura dealership.
Honda blew it big time.
Thanks for another comprehensive and excellent article on another car I absolutely love! I go back and forth on the 1st gen vs. 2nd gen Legend, at least as far as the design goes, but this article has me leaning toward the 1st.
Question — on the interior photos, I see two different designs for the drivers side air vent. On the Japanese version, the air vent has vertical louvers and the dash seems to wrap more into the door. Was that ever offered on the US versions? Image search shows that design in both LH and RH drive dashes. I like it!
Hi Chris
No I don’t believe that the integrated dash design was ever offered in USA. I think it’s because of the whole left vs right hand drive business. Although the Australian and Asian versions never came with airbags either unlike the USA models.
It’s annoying isn’t it as there is heaps of American cars I love but importing and converting them from left to right hand drive would be cost prohibitive.
I own a white 1989 Legend Coupe
Love it to bits and it really has a lot of power at the red lights, a total sleeper car.
It’s smooth and quiet and I have owned it for 7 years and seriously have spent only a couple hundred on repairs.
I like that it is rare too and represents an older more focused ‘Honda’ unlike the company now that has lost its way and churns out ugly rubbish.
Friend of mine bought a 1989 Legend Coupe, and it was astonishingly good, especially compared to my ’88 Chevy Corsica company car. It was a mile eater, particularly enjoyable on I-16 between Macon and Savannah, GA.
I bought a ’91 Integra GS Sedan 5-spd because that Legend was so good. the Integra is still high on my favorites list decades later.
Of note, I had to repo a ’92 or ’93 Legend GS Sedan 5-speed; and it was an amazing drive.
I would love to own either of those coupes. I bought a used 3.0 CL for my son and it was a great car, I was very impressed by the quality and refinement, I took it back when I got him a six speed. TSX. That was another impressive car. I’d had a 94 Caddy Seville STS and a ’77 Coupe de Ville both only a few years old, and the Acuras were easily the match of the Seville. Unfortunately, by the time I thought that I might make my move to Acura, they had quit making the Legend. I toyed with the idea of getting an older one, but once they reach a certain point the interiors degrade rapidly. It’s very difficult to find a well preserved example even in Calif, where they were very popular when new. I really think that Acura took a wrong turn with that decision.