2007 Honda Legend Reviews

Honda execs implored Australians to look past the badge when shopping for a prestige car, and add the new Legend to their shopping list alongside the prestige heavyweights from Europe.The new all-wheel drive Legend had the engineering to compete they cried, it also had all the bells and whistles, but at the end of the day it didn't have the badge some buyers valued above all else.As a result the big Honda was relegated to older folks, ones who wanted a softer, more relaxed ride, those who preferred a zippier drive mostly went the Euro route. There's no doubt that the Legend was a sound choice, it offered good value for the prestige dollar, was safe and refined. It accommodated five in comfort, with three in the back seat, and had a large boot.Anyone who cared to dig deeper would find it also had decent performance courtesy of its high-tech 3.5-litre V6, which put out 217 kW and 351 Nm, and its five-speed auto with sequential sports shifting.The Legend was quite a sizable car and relatively heavy, all of which hindered its performance somewhat, and any idea that it could be considered a sports car.In normal situations it drove as a front-wheel drive car, but its smart all-wheel drive system could detect when a wheel was slipping  and redirect drive to the other wheels as needed to maintain progress.If you signed up for a Legend you drove away in a car with heaps of features. On top of all the things regarded as normal in a car today, you also got leather seats, a sunroof, electric seats, power adjustment of the steering column and a rear view camera.On the road the Legend was comfortable, refined and relaxed. It did everything well. If it lacked anything it was that it wasn't a very thrilling drive, but if that didn't matter to you it delivered everything you could wish for.IN THE SHOP On average the Legend would have done between 50,000 and 75,000 km, a good time to buy used when they're still in their prime. With such relatively low kilometres on them you wouldn't expect any nightmare stories and there hasn't been any to date.Given Honda's track record on engineering you would expect that to continue, given proper and regular servicing. Check the service record of any car under consideration.IN A CRASH You can't do any better than five stars on the ANCAP scale and that's what the crash body gave the big Honda. That's no surprise as the Legend had it all, front, head and side airbags, ABS braking with all the associated trimmings of Emergency   Brake Assist, traction and stability control.UNDER THE PUMP Honda's claim for the Legend was a rather poor 11.8 L/10 0 km, while the Carsguide road tester returned a rather more optimistic 9.7 L/100 km in real life driving. Prospective buyers should be aware that the Legend requires premium unleaded.AT A GLANCEPrice as new: $74,500Engine: 3.5-litre V6 petrol, 217 kW/351 NmTransmission: 5-speed auto, sequential shift, AWDEconomy: 11.8 L/100 kmBody: 4-door sedan Variants: Legend sedanSafety: 5-star ANCAPVERDICTRelaxed, refined ride packed with features, all it misses is the badge.COMING UP Do you own a Toyota LandCruiser 200 Series?  If so tell us what you think of it by sending your comments to Graham Smith at grah.smith@bigpond.com or Carsguide, PO Box 4245, Sydney, NSW, 2010.

It became far too expensive for a while as the price crept up towards $90,000, but a new model and solid pricing has returned it to the top of the Honda Australia line-up.The Legend now hits the road at $74,500 with everything you could want and more, delivering the sort of luxury and relaxed driving that hits the spot with a lot of people.It is a formula that has always worked for the Legend, which had a safe but secure spot in Australia until the dollar dived and prices went badly the wrong way.It will never win a car-of-the-year contest and we struggle to see the benefit of Honda's new super handling all-wheel-drive system.But the basics are good, the car is comfy and you get a lot of equipment for the money.It also makes a safe and sensible case against a lot of Euro cars that cost the same and deliver less, or cost a lot more for a similar deal.The Legend is genuinely new and Honda said it even overpowers its NSX sportscar, which was set against Ferrari in a Japan-against-Italy supercar contest in the late 1980s, with a 3.5-litre V6 that punches out 217kW and 351Nm.The Legend is much heavier than an NSX, of course, so it does not run as hard. But the engine is hi-tech and efficient.It's the same in all sorts of areas, from the use of aluminium in the body structure to active noise cancellation to make the cabin quieter and solar sensing, automatic airconditioning.Honda has always gone its own way with technology and the Legend is its new showcase, with everything from a drive-by-wire throttle, to a five-speed automatic gearbox with paddle shift levers.Then there is the AWD, basically a safety system that detects low-grip situations to kick in the rear wheels and also splits torque front-to-rear and side-to-side in the rear axle.“This new Legend is vastly superior to our previous model,” Honda Australia senior director Lindsay Smalley said.“The European brands have a strong image and make great motor cars. But if you look past the badge, is the engineering any better?"The equipment in the Legend also rings all the bells, from leather seats and a sunroof to side and rear sunshades, electric front seats, electric adjustment on the steering column and an auto-dimmer rear-view mirror.It also has lights that turn corners to follow the steering and a rear-view camera.On the safety front, it has everything from anti-skid brakes and traction control to brake assist and front-side-curtain airbags.Based on its body, the Legend qualifies as a mid-sized prestige car and that means it lines up against everything from the Audi A6 and BMW 5-Series to the Saab 9-5.It also lines up against the latest WM Statesman, though the target customers are very different.But Honda is only looking for about 50 sales a month, despite all the improvements and value in the new car. Inside viewHonda LegendPrice: $74,500Engine: 3.5L V6 with single-overhead camshafts, variable valve timingPower: 217kW at 6200 revsTorque: 351Nm at 5000 revsTransmission: Five-speed automatic, active all-wheel-driveBody: Four-door sedanFuel tank: 73LFuel type: PremiumFuel consumption: Average on test 9.7L/100kmSafety gear: Anti-skid brakes, electronic stability program, traction control, front-side-curtain airbagsWarranty: Three years/100,000km How it compares Audi A6: 76/100Citroen C6: 73/100BMW 5 Series: 78/100SAAB 9-5: 58/100 decrease

As part of its box of tricks, the Honda Legend has a system called active noise control, which works in the same way as the plane headphones. It's designed to cancel out low-frequency booming in the interior and works independently of the stereo. But despite repeatedly switching it on and off, we could not tell the difference.It certainly sounded like a great idea and the Legend is full of them. Although most are not new, the result is an unconventional large luxury car with an amalgam of influences. It bears the hallmarks of being created for the US market but is unmistakably a Honda.That's obvious almost immediately from what's under the bonnet. Honda may be the world's largest engine maker, but it doesn't make big engines. At least, not yet. Only one powerplant is offered: a 3.5-litre V6 driving through a five-speed automatic. That's two cylinders and one ratio short of what many will consider the norm for a large luxury conveyance.It's a glorious engine, though, with a smooth, silky touch for the urban commute. Press on, and it has the Honda quality of delivering its best high in the rev range — and keeps getting better the higher you go. In doing so, it goes from imperceptibly quiet to potently racy without a hint of exertion.However, this engine lacks the low-rev torque that most will identify with luxury motoring and below 4000rpm there's a decided absence of punch. It can feel sluggish off the mark, overtaking requires a run-up and along tight and twisty roads, it's hard to keep the engine on the boil.A wide spread of ratios in the five-speed automatic, with a big gap between third and fourth, doesn't help. On the positive side, the auto hangs on to the chosen gear at the redline and will accept downshifts high in the rev range with a slight lift off the throttle. Sensibly, the shifter allows fourth and fifth to be locked out and steering wheel paddles are also a plus.One innovation unique to this car is its four-wheel drive system, which adjusts torque loads under hard cornering to help the car turn more effectively. In particular, it allows the outside rear wheel to turn faster, helping to negate understeer — the tendency to run wide in a corner. It gives the Legend more dynamic ability than you might expect given its length — nearly 5m — and a kerbweight approaching 1.9 tonnes.The brakes held up well on a twisty run down into a NSW gorge and while they don't have the greatest pedal feel they were a class above the tiller for intimacy. There's an indirect and artificial quality to the steering that makes it easy to overcorrect lane-keeping on freeways, for example.On smooth surfaces the ride quality stays good, although rougher roads give it a fidgety edge that the best luxury cars avoid, and the tyres can be heard coping with coarse or broken tarmac.The interior is welcoming with leather generously applied and the stepped dash design has a tier of woodgrain. Cabin space cannot match that in locally built large cars and the angle of the side glass means the roof could encroach a little on headroom. That said, four large adults are unlikely to feel cramped.The situation is similar in the boot, which with 452 litres capacity falls short of locally built premium models but is fairly capacious nonetheless. A ski-hatch and tie-downs help compensate for a floor that isn't flat. Underneath a space-saver serves as spare.Despite the visibly pleasing seat contours, we had sore legs after one five-hour stint in the saddle and came away feeling there was a slight compromise in the driving position.Certainly, there are some issues with forward visibility. The length of the bonnet is impossible to gauge and the A-pillars could have been designed to obscure traffic approaching from left or right at a T-junction or roundabout. The wing mirrors are excellent, though.The controls are a little scattered, but there's logic in their placement. The hardest ones to find quickly are those grouped together on the small centre-console — although steering wheel buttons more than compensate. In common with a lot of new cars, there are too many little information screens, all of which differ in terms of typeface, resolution and layout.A rotary knob very reminiscent of BMW's iDrive is used to navigate through menus and with a relatively modest number of functions, it's reasonably easy to get around although it means changing the fan speed, for example, becomes a multi-button procedure.Another reminder of Munich came in the shape of the interior door handles; as in the 5 Series, they are too close to the hinge for easy leverage and strain visibly when closing the front doors.With only one model priced at $74,500, the Legend comes well-equipped with leather, active headlamps with light sensor, foglights, rear parking camera, power heated front seats, dual zone climate control, cruise, sunroof, auto wipers, and side and rear sunshades.Safety equipment includes six airbags — rear passengers miss side bags — stability control and a pop-up bonnet, similar to the one which debuted recently on the Jaguar XK, to lift pedestrians clear of hard engine surfaces in the event of a collision.With so much gear it would be churlish to grumble, but we did miss a lane-change blinker function, mute button for the stereo and, in particular, parking radar for the unguessable front — although the rear camera is an aid to reversing.A compass and GPS display compensate a little for the lack of satnav.Getting the Legend on to the Australian market has already taken some time, with some US buyers now several years into ownership. Its stateside priorities are evident in its bland and derivative big-car design, which lacks the sharp style of the Honda Euro, say. Another tell-tale of the car's stateside priorities is the foot-operated parking brake — very much an American device.In the US the Legend is sold under Honda's premium Acura badge — the equivalent of Toyota's Lexus — and as you would expect, it feels thoroughly well-engineered and built.It also seems like a lot of car for the money, not least because the new model is substantially cheaper than the one deleted two years ago.Not even Honda expects it to have widespread appeal here — in many ways, it runs counter to Australian notions of what a large luxury car should be. Buyers who go in with their eyes open will get a unique take on the segment.