What Will It Take For ACURA To Resurrect The LEGEND? Should It? When?

For all of the folks out there that say AutoSpies' Agents just go on a bashfest everytime anything Honda or Acura-related gets posted and it isn't positive, well, you're wrong. That's because we actually are fans of the brand. To be more specific, we're big fans of one particular product.

The Acura Legend.

We can't think of a better name for what is arguably the best vehicle to ever come out of Honda. The Legend was a great product: it was functional, good looking and reliable.

001 was a huge fan of the product and I have MANY fond memories of my father's own Legend. I grew up in his car and boy did he cherish it. Frankly, that's been the benchmark product throughout all of these years.

So, why did Acura kill a product that did well with customers, had a killer name and looked great as both a coupe and sedan?

We don't know!

What we do know is that if you compared it to today's Acuras, the look isn't so hot nor is the branding. The TL, RL, ZDX are all uninspired and meaningless nomenclature.

All things considered, we have to know: Should Acura bring the Legend back?

PUGPROUD - 11/10/2012 7:24:22 AM

+2 Boost

Yes and now ! It needs another halo car with mass appeal. The secret of its prior success was elegant style (for the times) offering a look and quality normally associated with high end vehicles at a price the masses could afford.

jeffy210 - 11/10/2012 10:24:34 AM

+1 Boost

Isn't the RL the Legend? The name doesn't really matter (Taurus / Fivehundred anyone). The key is Acura needs to get it's head out of it's ass and made a good halo car that can compete with Lexus, Mercedes, BMW. I used to love the RL, but even as of late their products just feel like upscale Hondas.

Agent00R - 11/10/2012 7:57:57 PM

-1 Boost

One could say that but there's something missing from the RL's equation that the Legend had. It's more than just a name...

jeffy210 - 11/13/2012 8:17:31 PM

0 Boost

mary, don't know if you'll ever get back to reading this but here are some of my issues:

Styling: The current cars are a mix of hideous and nondescript, which is a hard synergy to pull off. The "beak/shield" that they use just looks too out of place and tacked on. I will give them credit though for creating a visual differentiators though I don't think it works. Additionally, some of their smaller cars (such as the TSX and new ILX) are a little on the bland side IMO.

Quality/parts: This is where the "upscale Honda" comes into play. Looking at the interior of the RL and a fully loaded Accord it is hard to tell the difference sometimes (They got better with the TL). You get in and you can just tell the Honda shared parts really easily. I'm not saying they should get rid of them, but they need something that presents a bit more of an upscale flair. Possibly slight change to the layouts/button placements, new buttons and materials, etc.

Most of that was based off of when I was looking about a year ago, but it's my $0.02.

jeffy210 - 11/16/2012 8:20:18 AM

0 Boost

Oh no, not at all. I think we're arguing the same point. The overall problem I have with Acura is that it's too close to Honda. It's like the whole Ford/Mercury thing.

Designer1 - 11/10/2012 5:52:15 PM

+1 Boost

Acura follows Audi's foot steps, of building front wheel layout cars and give them all wheel drive option. I'm personally not a fan of a front wheel drive design, but of course Audi came back from dead in the 90s. So, I think what Acura is missing is the right car size and look. I mean the current RL is just ugly and very small. If they choose not to go with a rear wheel drive (which is the ideal option to me), then they need to position the RL with the Audi A6.

PUGPROUD - 11/10/2012 6:46:50 PM

+1 Boost

The RL is not a Legend...a Legend is a Coupe.

85bmw745i - 11/12/2012 12:15:55 AM

+1 Boost

No, The legend was introduced as a sedan, and continued as a sedan with a coupe also available. the first Gen RL was the legends replacement, as the TL was the Vigors replacement.

MBguy - 11/10/2012 7:37:22 PM

+3 Boost

@ PUGPROUD


The Legend was introduced in 1986 as a 4-door sedan. The coupe was added the next year. (I owned both).

cidflekken - 11/11/2012 4:51:17 AM

+4 Boost

Many of the decisions that Acura made after the success of the Legend sedan and coupe, Integra and NSX are still baffling. But I like the direction they are going now in that they appear willing to finally take on the competition head-on.

That being said, the Legend sedan and coupe were tremendous cars. The first generation coupe was just gorgeous and the second generation though not as gorgeous was a well engineered car. The second generation sedan was so perfect in so many ways in its balance of sport and luxury.

skytop - 11/12/2012 11:19:12 AM

0 Boost

As long as Pres. odumbo is running Government Motors, Acura doesn't have a prayer.

opus - 11/12/2012 8:08:47 PM

0 Boost

Yep...back to politics...and what an insightful comment...because GM has sooooo much to do with Acura...SMH

opus - 11/12/2012 8:12:49 PM

+2 Boost

Would love for them to bring back the name. They could even do the same design language as the 2nd Gen and it would sell. My mother in 2002 purchased a 1991 coupe off of a client of mine for $5000.00. She drove it for 5 years, gave it to my twin daughters as their first car...they drove it for 3 years. Great looking car, I still think the 2nd gen coupe was the high watermark of Acura design language, but the parts were off the charts expensive.

cidflekken - 11/12/2012 8:19:57 PM

+1 Boost

I think one of Honda's biggest issues/concerns was how it distinguished Acura from Honda. Nissan did it with Infiniti by changing the drive wheels as did Lexus eventually. Acura should offer the SH-AWD on all models and find weight savings elsewhere on each model. I think they will become even more focused on (re)creating the Acura identity when the TSX and TL merge to one model and further upgrades and refinements are made to the ILX.

iamdabest1 - 11/12/2012 11:10:08 PM

+1 Boost

they should keep the rl the way it is to compete with the e class and 5 series and start marketing it that way, but should bring back the legend and make it bigger, make it official looking, head on with the s class and ls460

Godgore - 11/14/2012 10:55:14 PM

0 Boost

Acura died when it dropped the Legend.