The Acura Vigor lived a short and unassuming life in the mid-sized luxury car segment. Sold for just three model years (1992-1994), the Vigor never really stood out in a crowded marketplace. Failing to make much of a name for itself, North American Vigor sales totaled just under 50,000 units.
Never being an all that common sight on the roads then, the Vigor’s crisp lines, long and low hood, aggressively flared front wheel arches, and hardtop styling stand out, akin to someone whose all bone and muscle versus the plump, overweight modern cars around it.
Apart from a few typical battle scars of a car this age, minor fender and side skirt rust, very scuffed and rusty rims, and several scuffs here and there, this Vigor looks remarkably well for its age, especially considering it’s a Northeast city car, making it a true survivor.
Displaying unwavering vigor, this 23-year old Acura just may be finally living up to its name.
Photographed on Lancaster Street, Boston, MA; February 2016
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At least it HAS a name and not some meaningless alpha-numeric nonsense.
Long ago I worked with a woman who had a Vigor in a darker, reddish color. These are sharp looking cars and they have aged rather well. Didn’t these all have a five-cylinder engine? For some reason that tidbit sticks in my head.
Yes, longitudinally mounted 5cylinder, a la Audi. Th early 90’s were a bit of a 5cyl renaissance with Volvo getting into the game as well, albeit transversely mounted in that case.
Unlike Audi, the Vigor’s engine was partly behind the front axle, with a short driveshaft going from gearbox output to a diff under the slanted engine. A similar design was used for the 2nd gen Acura Legend (and later 1st gen RL), with a longitudinal V6
I’ve never understood why it never stood out in the US car market. I thought it was a handsome looking car, better looking than the Honda Accord of the same generation, and way better looking than the Integra. So why the car didn’t last on the US market is beyond me. I used to know someone who had an Acura Vigor.
Because to non- car people (aka most of the car buying public) it bore too much of a resemblance to the flagship Legend to stand out. Yes the Legend had a V6 and the Vigor had a I5 engine but externally the car looked to much like the Legend
You’d think that would have hurt the Legend more than the Vigor, and that the Vigor’s me-too Legend styling would have driven more than a few image-conscious or style-conscious folks up from an Accord EX. Unless it was massively pricier.
A five cylinder Acura had a chance with import buyers who desire an Audi but with Japanese nameplate. Would have been interesting to see how it went head to head with the Audi 90. I suspect that Audi had it on looks, handling, and price. It was a time of deep discounts at Audi. The Acura would have worked better as a leased commuter car.
The USA market really just wanted V6s, and first Audi and then Acura got with the program.
Interesting car. Probably wouldn’t have existed if the Japanese had realized sooner that with the increased sizes they really needed V6s.
“The Japanese” did — the Vigor was a Honda-specific eccentricity, and lackluster sales of the five had a lot to do with why Honda cars got a lot blander in the late ’90s than they had been in the ’80s. Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Mazda all had sixes for their prestige and semi-prestige cars. Honda had for the Legend, but with the Vigor, they decided to get clever in ways that really didn’t work for them commercially.
There was a big gap in the Japanese offerings from when the size of the car justified a V6 option and when the option became available. Examples
Stanza size 1987 V6 option 2002
Galant Size 1985 V6 option 1999
626 size 1988 V6 option 1993
Accord size 1986 V6 option 1995
Camry size 1983 V6 option 1989
This gap was especially pronounced when near luxury versions were attempted. Hence Acura attempting to do what Audi did when faced with the same problem in 1978.
This analysis is based solely on U.S.-market cars and thus misses a lot of the reasoning involved in the Japanese product line. Japanese automakers in the ’80s did not generally design products solely for us (although there were some variations that were U.S.-specific) and even ones that were primarily intended for North America were shaped by whether they could also be sold at home. It’s easy to get a very misleading idea about the decision-making process from looking solely at export versions, which is what I think you’re doing here.
In the size class we are discussing, don’t you think the USA was a rapidly increasing percentage of the worldwide production. Already then they were getting large for Europe for example, with the Accord taking on a smaller Euro form without the V6 until much later.
The point is that all of the Japanese automakers were looking at products that could be sold in both the home market and the U.S. without radical modifications, and the requirements of the Japanese market were very different than ours.
There were lots of sixes in Japan, but to be vaguely affordable, most had to be under 2 liters, at which point they weren’t any more powerful than a 2-liter four. Considerations like that had a big effect on the product planning process, which has to be taken into account if you want to make any kind of sense of the decisions they made. It wasn’t a matter of “the Japanese didn’t understand V-6s” — it was “we could only sell such a car overseas, or in certain very narrow niche markets, which is a risky investment.”
Also, the smaller-body Euro Accord was MUCH later, which is apples and oranges.
The Galant Sigma (just Sigma in 1989-90) had a V6 option starting in ’88. Kind of a separate model considering it was a deluxe version of the older generation car sold alongside the newer generation (I4) only which debuted in ’88, but kind of not. And the Camry’s V6 option appeared for ’88.
I’m surprised they didn’t call it the “Viga”, or perhaps “Vigah” to go along with the vowel-endings of Acura and Integra. Of corse, that’s probably what the owner of the photo car calls it anyway. I remember Car and Driver speculating on what the next model name from Acura would be, after the Acura brand and Integra were initially launched – the Masturba?
FWD car with a RWD dash-axle ratio. I had a friend that had one of these, and the driver door interior handle mechanism failed twice. It’s hard to get into a door panel with it shut.
IMHO, the reason why the Vigor didn’t do better was due to it’s looking a bit too similar to the Accord. And the folks this car was aimed at were more likely to buy a BMW, M-B, or Audi for the more prestigious badge on the hood.
There were at least 2 or 3 generations of Honda Vigor, if I remember correctly, and there was even a sales network in Japan with the brand Vigor with big neon signage…like any “companion” make in the U.S.
The Vigor was closely related to the Accord. It was originally a lightly made-over Accord clone sold through Honda Verno stores, along with the Prelude and Quint. The 1990 CC version, which we didn’t get, had a long nose to fit the longitudinal I-5, but was still pretty much an Accord. This was a wide-bodied version of same — different, but with its roots still pretty obvious.
I loved these, thought that they were beautiful and very desirable within the luxury car realm. But I was still in High School in 1993 and in a very much American Car Midwest. Never got to see one new.
These were quite common in Northern NJ back when they were new. They were frequently seen congregating in corporate park areas, my impression of them being that they were mostly leased “executive sedans”, along with ES300’s, Volvo 850’s and Audi A4’s. I was driving a ’90 Accord at the time, which blended in rather unassumingly with all of the above. The Vigor, unlike the Audis and Volvos of the same era seemed to either blend into invisibility by the late 90’s or maybe they were trucked off to other markets when their initial lease terms were up. Either way, there were still plenty of early-to-mid 90’s 850’s and A4’s rolling around the area by the turn of the millennium (oh…and Mazda Millenias too…which was another competitor to this car, coincidentally), but these just seemed to disappear after their limited heyday.
I have a soft spot for these cars, though I can see why they didn’t do well in the marketplace. I find the styling very handsome, but it did look quite like an Accord. The approach was similar to the original Lexus ES250, which was very clearly Camry based, though different in some ways, such as the frameless door glass. However, for 1992, the Lexus ES300 arrived that appeared very different than the Camry on which it was based. That left the Accord/Vigor looking too close for comfort.
The 5-cylinder also seemed to be the answer to a question no one was asking. Acura would have been better off going with a 6-cylinder, but I assume the fear was cannibalization with the Legend.
My wife and I actually looked at the Vigor when we were shopping for cars in 1994, because she had an Integra that we loved and we were big Acura fans. We also looked at the BMW 325i, Mercedes C280 and Lexus ES300. Compared with those makes/models, the Vigor just didn’t seem that special. Frankly, I would have saved the money and gone with an Accord EX. Or spent more and gotten a Legend.
There was actually a clone of the five-cylinder JDM Vigor called Accord Inspire, which was probably aimed at the Camry Prominent on which the ES250 was based.
I suspect that what happened is that Honda started out wanting to challenge the middle-class four-door hardtops Toyota and Nissan were selling in Japan and then realized that the dollar-yen exchange rate was going to push the second-generation Legend farther upmarket than originally planned. So, they hastily came up with a wide-body Vigor with the engine expanded half a liter so they could rush it to the U.S. in time to fill the gap between the Integra and the new Legend. (Japan also got this version, but we got it first.)
The smarter thing would have been to skip the five and just use the smaller C20A V-6 from the Legend — it’s not that Honda didn’t have a V-6, they just didn’t use it, at least not until the subsequent-generation Inspire/Saber (which became the first Acura TL). It all smacks of very muddled strategy, and Honda ended up paying for it.
I’d thought a small V6 would have been easier than developing the five. But that might have been perceived as being too close to the Legend.
Lovely car; certainly has overtones of the Accord, but definitely upmarket. Perhaps it was too subtle?
Since Honda had the C-block V-6 already, the logical move would have been to just give the Vigor the 2-liter C20A engine from base Legends. It would have overlapped the bottom of the outgoing Legend range, but only briefly, and since the Legend hadn’t sold very well in Japan anyway, I don’t think they would have lost much.
It came down to somebody thinking the longitudinal five was clever and interesting to the point that they overruled or talked themselves out of the straightforward marketing issues it presented.
I wish companies would spend more time on door handles like they used to back then. These on the Vigor are not the prettiest and rather JDM looking but wow what an intricate design.
Today dozens of cars use a rectangular bar of chrome on all of their models. Even as recently as the early 90s a door handle was as brand specific as the insignia.
I was never a fan of frameless door glass and have no idea why Subaru has stuck with it for so long. The Vigor had it and was going for a hardtop look but the problem was there was no headroom. It was designed for the Japan market.
Its a JDM car called Honda Vigor hastily rebadged Acura for the US market of course its going to look japanese.
For the record, the Acura Vigor was not, strictly speaking, a rebadged JDM model (although I think “hasty” is probably about right). The U.S. car was a wide-body version of the JDM car, which involved some fairly substantial body shell changes that are not at all visually apparent, and a bigger engine. (Why the finance and product planning people didn’t mutiny, I have no idea.) This version of the Vigor was introduced in Japan nearly a year after the U.S. car.
Subaru has stuck with frameless door glass because they consider it to be a styling trademark for the brand….just like the trunklid hump was a “feature” on Lincolns for so long.
If that’s the reason God bless Subaru. Folks would have you believe customers don’t notice or care about things like door handles and engine configuration. Subarus sell because of their AWD reputation they say. There’s a piece on TTAC along these lines which totally misses the point.
A new WRX was coming up behind me in traffic yesterday and I knew without seeing it that it was a Subaru. Not sure if the four-outlet exhaust was stock but damn what a symphony.
The Vigor reminds me of how I could always tell if there was an Audi or Mercedes diesel in the neighborhood from the characteristic 5-cylinder sound. Like a pheromone in the wild, the engine would let you know if there was a tribe member nearby.
It’s human nature to want to belong to a tribe. Cars used to help with that, and need to again, to keep customers interested. But maybe folks are right — no one cares, we’re all the same now, why bother.
Subaru seems to think customers notice and is doing really well.
No current Subaru except for the BRZ has frameless door glass. It went away with the 2008-2010 round of redesigns, probably for noise control (Subarus were never known as quiet cars).
Actually no, they have not stuck with it at all.
Impreza/WRX have had window frames since 2008.
Forester has had window frames since 2010.
Outback/Legacy have had window frames since 2010.
Tribeca/B7 always had window frames from birth to cancellation.
BRZ does have frameless windows.
All things considered, Subaru has been doing better from a sales standpoint with window frames than without them.
Here is a link to an article in the Chicago Tribune from a couple of years ago that extensively quoted Subaru’s Product Communications National Manager who over and over again mentions that people are drawn to Subaru due to their AWD and their relatively low pricing. He goes on to say that going all-AWD is what kept Subaru alive. The article mentions AWD over and over. It mentions the boxer engine design once. It doesn’t mention door frames. I’m assuming that Subaru’s National Product Communications Manager speaks what Subaru believes to be the truth.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/automotive/sc-cons-0212-autocover-subaru-20150209-story.html
This is great to hear. I hate frameless door glass. Even with the window up the door closing sound is bad. With the window down it’s just terrible.
Door noise from frameless glass depends on the manufacturer. The doors on my sixteen-year-old Diamante still close with a wonderful soft “whump” whether the glass is up or down. And after 340,000km mostly on rough back roads, they still don’t rattle. Quality?
It was bothering me that you were saying an analysis of Subaru pinned it all on the AWD and price so I read the article. The brand guy was probably pushing that because the story was written for the Chicago Tribune in the dead of winter.
The author seemed to have a different take and said this… “Subaru’s success is based on smart marketing, gathering left-of-center customers and getting the timing right for the widespread popularity of small crossovers.” Note no mention of AWD.
The article got interesting when Jessica chimed in about the quirky-ness of Subaru products and how those attract an “off-center” customer base. Things like the flat-4 engine and lifted bodies when no one else had them. She said they needed to protect that hard-fought image and I agree. Her ideas for the future included a Legacy STi.
After the brand guy talked about how Subaru was going to do more in “sedan and 3-row crossover” Jessica cautioned… “Subaru is having a moment, but it doesn’t last forever. There is something about it that people identify with. Going towards mainstream would be bad for them. Subaru people like something off-stream.”
My guess is that you live where it snows. It doesn’t where I live but Subarus are still very popular with gear heads, the people they influence and folks who want to have something different.
I don’t think the last weekend in February qualifies as “the dead of winter” even in Chicago, people are getting ready for the weather to warm up very soon and enjoy the spring but OK, whatever. The article should have run 4 months earlier if that was the intent, no?
Of course you’re correct though, I can’t believe I didn’t see it, the guy that actually is employed by and gets paid by Subaru to promote them saying that AWD is one their biggest draws is just spinning things when he could have said ANYthing!…They actually do surveys of their customers like many manufacturers, more likely than not he is privy to the results.
You said “The author seemed to have a different take and said this… “Subaru’s success is based on smart marketing, gathering left-of-center customers and getting the timing right for the widespread popularity of small crossovers.” Note no mention of AWD.”
Sure, no mention of AWD until the VERY NEXT paragraph which is titled “All-road Versatility” and quotes Jessica Caldwell who used to work for Subaru and was in charge of the Forester line…
Anyone who is interested (I doubt many, this is tiring) can and should read the article and draw their own conclusions rather than just reading the selective quotes you highlit and interpreted. I’m sure you’ll respond again like you always do though.
Paul really did hit it on the head a couple of days ago with his response to you…”I love you, calibrick; a day just wouldn’t be complete with one of your highly objective and accurate takes on reality. 🙂 “
“Sure, no mention of AWD until the VERY NEXT paragraph which is titled “All-road Versatility” and quotes Jessica Caldwell who used to work for Subaru and was in charge of the Forester line…”
The very next paragraph line was funny, I liked that 🙂
On the timing this article appeared around the time of the Chicago Auto Show. That show tends to focus more on trucks and things like AWD so it’s no surprise that was the spin from the Subaru communications guy.
If someone was being interviewed by the LA Times during the LA Show I’m sure he / she would have focused on WRXs and STis.
Just want you to see a different perspective about Subaru that’s all.
Note no mention of AWD.
Here’s the first three paragraphs of the article:
Subaru of America sold a record 513,693 vehicles during 2014, an increase of 21 percent compared with 6 percent industry growth. Subaru is a much smaller automaker with a limited product line and a reputation for building quirky all-wheel-drive cars for quirky people. Even during the recession, plants ran flat-out, and Subaru’s targeting nearly 600,000 vehicles during 2015. What gives?
“We found more ‘Subaru people’,” said Dominick Infante, Subaru’s product communications national manager. “People appreciate our reputation for all-wheel-drive and safety. The new Crosstrek hit a segment of the market that wasn’t there. Forester took off and is outselling Outback. And, we are getting pricing right.”
Subaru’s success is based on smart marketing, gathering left-of-center customers and getting the timing right for the widespread popularity of small crossovers. (I added the bold in case you missed them)
Right; no mention of all wheel drive.
Calibrick; I changed my mind; I don’t love you anymore.
And maybe it’s time for an actual breakup. Your recent spate of comments have really been off the wall. This one takes the cake. It’s tedious for others to have to constantly point out and correct your massive bias and just plain misrepresentations. Please give it a break.
No problem. And for the record there was no mention of AWD in his one paragraph quote about the brand. No mention was referring to that not the whole article. Jim’s point, which I was challenging, was that Subaru’s success was mainly about the AWD which I just don’t agree with.
The 2015 Chicago Auto Show’s public days were Feb, 14-22, 2015 with the press days before that so they had two entire weekends during the show to run this article if they wanted people to focus on Subaru during the show, however the article ran on the 26th which is the Thursday after the show ended. Not a great tie-in if that is what it was intended as.
The Chicago Auto Show is hardly heavy on Trucks and 4WD. Chicago tends to get less new intro’s overall than Detroit which traditionally runs the month prior. I’ve been to both shows numerous times and never had the impression that either is focusing more one way (trucks/AWD) than just the general market as a whole. In fact, the Chicago show attracts over a million visitors every year, it covers the entire market, a big part of it is a rerun of Detroit and it is widely considered the largest auto show in the U.S.
I am well aware of Subaru’s offerings and different markets, thanks. And well understand WRX and STI’s contributions to the whole as “halo cars”, especially to younger folks who first learned about them on PlayStation GT etc…Others grew up with them after the Group B rally era ended and Subaru entered Group A with the Legacy and Impreza and eventually entered the WRC with much success. My own personal opinion (and desire) is that there needs to be an Outback WRX or Outback STI or preferably just a Legacy Wagon STI with around or at least 300hp from the factory.
While living in CA, I’ve had two Subaru’s (one of them the Saabaru version of the WRX) and one more since living here in CO. I understand that if you live in the sunbelt and/or the Southwest your main exposure to Subaru’s may be people (younger mainly as the cars are too in-your-face) in WRX and STI variants. But those sales are a tiny subsection of the whole country’s sales. And the whole includes regions with different weather patterns that sell a whole bunch of more mundane Subaru’s that trade on AWD with ground clearance, safety, and value.
The same way that you likely see (but perhaps not notice) Camrys all over the place, we see Outbacks, Foresters, and Crosstreks in massive concentration. There’s a smattering of WRX/STI around, sure, but it’s very minor comparatively speaking to O, F, and C, nonetheless is most likely STILL an order of magnitude greater than whatever qty of WRX/STI you see wherever you are.
Per AAA, the #1 selling vehicle overall in Colorado is the Outback. #2 is Forester. #3 is Toyota Highlander, #4 is Honda CRV, #5 is Legacy, #6 is Impreza, #7 is Toyota RAV4, #8 Honda Accord, #9 Toyota 4Runner and #10 Subaru Crosstrek. Notice no Camry. And no, realistically nobody gives a toss that the Subarus are boxer-engined.
So Subaru has 5 of the top 10 spots and Toyota and Subaru are the two brands constantly fighting over top overall volume. ONE of the top 10 is 2WD (Accord), all the others are either 4/AWD standard or optional and nobody is buying a 4Runner because they love the RWD version…
AWD may not be necessary to get around all the time, but the marketing folks sure have people believing (and paying for) it.
The best part (for the consumer) is that while it’s hard to buy a Subaru off the lot as they are mostly presold (and you’d think they are getting top dollar), the dealers are killing each other for every sale and there are massive discounts for virtually every model and version so it is easy to get exactly what you want with a big discount and it’s often effectively built to order from the Indiana factory for you.
(Lastly a note to Brendan – I’m very sorry to have hijacked your excellent Acura Vigor post.)
Jim if you owned a Saabaru you are OK by me and then some. Had no idea Subaru had 5 of the top 10 spots in CO, that’s quite remarkable. Also did not know about the discounts. That was very interesting and much more effective than quoting their communications guy. Please note I did not make you look that up to correct anything I said, I basically admitted AWD was part of Subaru’s success. And yes sorry Brendan!
Here is decidedly non-snowy Texas, Subaru has blossomed tremendously. The 3.6 Outbacks sell out the minute they come in. I love mine because a) AWD in our torrential rain is sure-footed; and b) I like tall wagons.
I wouldn’t call the discounts steep like at Nissan or Hyundai, but you can get $3-4000 off the Forrester or upper level Outbacks. Their resale is remarkable.
Subaru created a problem for itself with that flat four engine nothing else will fit and when the needed a diesel to break into that segment of the European market they had to design and build the worlds first boxer diesel or redesign the whole car apparently the boxer diesel is a beauty.
By brother was a Honda mechanic back in those days and really liked the Vigor. None of the other tech’s in the shop did, so he got to work on most of the ones that came in for service.
Vigor was caught between the Acura Integra and Legend of the time. They overshadowed it and to this day are still remembered, as in “why doesn’t Acura bring those names back?”
A co-worker has one of these in meticulous condition with 313k on it. He’s trying to sell it, but there are no takers at above-junkyard prices.
I’m in the same boat with the 1990 Integra I wrote about in my COAL series. No takers.
It seems to me that in places with rust, these cars have been long forgotten. In places where cars don’t rust, they’re mostly seen as just another old car, and nobody wants them in stock form.
Oh well, I guess I’ll just drive it until it dies.
Always liked the way these cars looked, thought they were nicer than the Accords of the same period. I am intrigued also by the 5-cylinder engine – how did they get it to run smoothly? I think an article about this engine would be very interesting!
The G-block five has a balance shaft, although I think with an inline-five, you can’t completely counter the unbalanced forces.
Looks too similar to an Accord…a nice, clean design but too subdued…interesting engine options, but the competition is moving into a different direction…people in this category want a badge with more cachet…
Vigor…or the current Acura TLX?
The entire top half of the car is the most interesting part of the design for me. That steeply raked windshield, (as pointed out) hardtop styling, thin pillars, and that wraparound rear windshield.
Did they make these with a stick?
Yup. U.S. cars came with a five-speed, although presumably a lot of them had automatic. JDM cars had a five-speed stick only with the smaller 2-liter version of the engine.
First, the Vigor did not have a very big back seat. In fact it was downright tiny. Definitely a bad selling point. Second, the 5-cylinder may have scared folks away, and third, at the Vigor’s price point – for a few thousand more – you could get into a Legend. It was however a lot more car than an Accord, in the same way a TLX is a lot more car than an Accord too. More on that in a minute…..
And please don’t get me started on the name “Legend.” As an Acura salesperson, I hear every day how much people loved their Legends. I keep telling the Acura reps to bring it back and get rid of “RLX.” It blends with the SUV’s far too much and gives a fine car very little distinctiveness and prestige. People knew the name Legend, owned them and loved them. Stupid move on Acura’s part to discontinue their trademark car’s nameplate.
As far as everyone saying the TLX is the same as an Accord, it is absolutely not. The Accord is mass produced, the TLX isn’t. The TLX was designed from the ground up as its own car, not based on the Accord. The TLX has many features the Accord does not offer like Precision All Wheel Steering and triple insulated window glass. It is an extremely quiet car and very well-balanced. It is highly underrated!!!
“the Vigor did not have a very big back seat. In fact it was downright tiny”
Thank you. This is the main reason why these cars did not sell. Sedan size, coupe room.
The Acura TLX is built in the same Marysville, Ohio assembly plant as the Accord and if I am not mistaken actually runs down the same assembly line. Yes, the volume is much smaller, but it is mass produced the same way that 99% of the other cars for sale in the U.S. are.
The TLX is a very nice car and is not just a re-labeled Accord but it is related to it to some degree.
Sure is related to the Accord. Not only are your above points correct, the TLX shares the same chassis. Even the wheelbase is the same. Same engines, too. It’s essentially a 9th generation Accord with unique transmissions, styling, and higher feature content.
A co-worker had one of these when it came out. Dark green. I don’t recall what color the interior was, but she was very enamored of it. I was intrigued that the engine was a 5-cylinder.
Always thought the Vigor was a nice car. The roofline treatment with pillorless window impressed me as elegant.
Wasn’t the inline 5 was a compromise engine? I.e., more powerful than the inline 4 but not as long as the inline 6 so as to fit the engine bay longitudinally.
I’ve never liked a transverse V-6 because of the difficult to reach rear bank spark plugs and other stuff back there. Prefer a longitudinal mounted inline 6 but engine compartment in cars today too short to mount such an engine. Also, I don’t like having half the engine shoehorned in far back past the cowl and under the front dash.
It looks like a Vigor was just hit in Oregon City by Amtrak which is the only one that recall seeing recently
http://katu.com/news/local/no-injuries-as-amtrak-train-hits-unoccupied-car-in-oregon-city
Tyson Hugie recently acquired a 5-speed Vigor for his growing Acura collection:
https://drivetofive.com/2015/07/05/new-addition-1994-acura-vigor-gs-5-speed/
Ah the Acura Vigor. I have known several folks that have owned them and all loved them. Most I have seen were ether in black, plum or green.
I think one of the reasons that the Vigor did not sell is that it looked enough like the Flagship Acura Legend that the car really did not stand out to the general public who probably thought the car was the legend.
Others bypassed the car in favor of the Legend as it was larger, more powerful and gave a better driver experience(especially in the GS sedan guise)
I have driven both the Legend and the Vigor and like both. However I feel the Legend was more responsive to roads then the Vigor.
I’ve always had a soft spot for this car. For five months in 1991/92 I was a car salesman at Golden Gate Acura in Daily City, CA, and a black Vigor LS was the 1st car I ever sold. It was a beautiful car, long hood, short deck, low and slim. The 5-banger was pretty smooth, too. The only drawback was a very tight back seat. Lots of folks walked up to the Vigor in the showroom floor with a smile on their faces. Then they’d peer in the pack and that smile would turn to a frown.
I picked up a used Vigor with over 144,000 miles and added another 80,000 over 8 years and grew to love it. In many ways, it was a precursor to the 4 door coupes offered by Mercedes, BMW, Audi and VW, in that, it sacrificed the back seat space for style. With that, you got traditional Honda virtues like a perfect driving position, an excellent 5 speed and a great ride/handling compromise. What always amazed me was that the output of the 5 cylinder exceeded that of VW’s similarly sized unit well over a decade later. The other notable factor is just how expensive they were. My Vigor GS in 1993 was a couple thousand more than my 2014 Accord Sport.