Perhaps not everyone will agree but 1990 to me will always be one of Acura’s best years, and perhaps the best, full stop. Consider that it was the first year of the NSX that showed the world that exotics needn’t be fragile and temperamental, also the first year of the second generation Integra which I find to be the prettiest one, and sadly the last year of the first Legend Coupe, one of Acura’s most attractive designs of all time, due to be replaced with what I consider a bloated catfish of a car styling-wise the next year, never mind its actual merits.
The Legend Coupe was introduced for the 1987 model year, a year after the sedan and the Acura brand itself and with it came a slightly larger V6 engine. At 2.7liters it was a useful enlargement of the original 2.5l, and the sedan received it the next year as well. While the early to mid 1980’s saw the BMW 635CSI for example as a leader in the style/performance/status stakes of Southern California, the Legend Coupe seemed to take a bit of wind out of its sails as even though it was FWD, it was tapping into a generation of people that were weaned on smaller Hondas, starting to make real money in their careers and not always willing to just move over to the Germans. And coupes were still in favor, certainly as a second car in a household.
Many of those people liked what Honda had offered in the 1970’s and early 1980’s and Acura offered a way to continue that while stepping up to a more luxurious environment within the cars. The Legend (sedan) was the first Japanese car to break the $25,000 price barrier over here and after that there was no looking back. While rave reviews poured in for the sedan, once the coupe was introduced it was able to sell on not just its mechanicals and build quality but also its looks.
With a low hoodline, sweeping views out the large windows coupled with slim pillars and rakish lines, it’s both a sporting shape with some muscular tension to it, especially in the slightly boxed fenders, and yet a very graceful one. There wasn’t a bad color on offer, and though I find this one in red quite fetching, my first ride in one was in one colored a sort of powdery medium blue, so that’ll forever be my ideal color for this car. That one belonged to the father of a co-worker of mine and I recall the ride vividly, the car was fast, quiet, smooth, and oh so refined.
I myself consider it one of the prettier cars to come from Japan and find that this generation has not aged at all, it looks as energetic, lithe, and sprightly now as it did when new. There’s more than a whiff of second and third generation Prelude about it, both of which I hold in high esteem, but the larger size makes it feel more mature somehow.
This car looks equally at home slowly cruising down Ventura Boulevard as it does carving north on Highway 1 toward California’s Central Coast as it does consuming large swaths of Interstate 80 for several days straight while crossing the country from San Francisco to Boston.
While the 2.7liter V6 put out 160hp and 162lb-ft of torque, the car weighed just over 3100lbs, and with the 5-speed manual especially was considered very quick in its day. That engine bay with the transversely mounted engine looks a bit of a spaghetti-fest now, but back then this was considered a wonderful engine with a smooth power delivery and a willingness to rev it up. I won’t rehash all of the details as we have an excellent Curbside Classic history on the Legend Coupe in the archives that explains all of it in detail.
That tan buttery soft leather on those invitingly bolstered seats, the black upper dash and wheel, and best of all a 5-speed manual transmission as Soichiro intended, that’s a winning combination. The low cowl afforded by the double-wishbone front suspension that Honda put in everything back then made it so good to look out of over the hood, and the dash binnacle with the sunroof control paddle on the left and the radio volume paddle on the right along with buttons for various other functions was there for the driver to use without taking hands off the wheel and eyes off the road.
Acura did that combination of buttons and dials for the HVAC system so well, it was simple and intuitive at a glance, the radio had tons of adjustability and looked “the business”, and everything in an Acura worked just as well as in a Honda but maybe felt just that little bit better. Of course our Acuras were sold as Hondas everywhere else in the world so maybe they did just feel like Hondas did but dammit, that extra money had to go to something!
A set of simple and yet extremely attractive and readable gauges that would be familiar to anyone who ever spent any time in any 1980’s Honda, they all sort of looked similar and worked great. Nothing overwrought, no trying too hard with chrome accents or anything, just clean, modern, and as legible and clear as anything from Germany or perhaps even better than that. The top of the line LS model got some wood trim in the cabin as well to glam it up a little bit, but this mid-level L looks just fine without.
154,232 miles are all that are on this one, maybe the timing belt snapped, or something else happened, hopefully it’s not here just because nobody wants to drive a manual transmission car anymore. At just over 5000 miles per year this car was clearly someone’s treasure for quite some time.
The back seat too looks hugely inviting but still purposeful, with the gathered leather being the only nod to superficial fashion of the time. While likely snug, it still looks comfortable with good views out.
The trunk space looks good too, plenty of room to pack the bags for that weekend escape to El Pollo Del Mar resort up the coast or several set of golf clubs or just everyday life. Well-trimmed, it’s held up well with the current junk in the trunk unlikely to have been strewn about in there before it arrived here.
Acura could do no wrong back then and were dominating many of the major awards of the time, as the darlings of the automotive press along with the Honda mother ship it seemed like the party wouldn’t end. And in fact there were quite a few more good years in the offing as the next generation Legend as well as the next Integra even beyond the one just getting started in 1990 were well accepted and popular.
Although there were a few miscues early on with not reading the tea leaves correctly in respect to getting an SUV out the gate, even the first MDX, Acura’s first home-grown effort in that segment, was quite a success after the hurried rebadge of an Isuzu Trooper as the SLX and the MDX is probably Acura’s main reason it survives to this day. Their follow-on cars weren’t bad per se (and there are some absolute gems in there), but once they had renamed everything by using the alphabet instead of respected names with a short but distinguished history it all kind of seemed to fall apart, at least as far as much of the general public was concerned.
But I prefer to remember the better times, and for Acura, this was the peak era for me. I’d sort of forgotten about the Legend Coupe a bit as they just aren’t seen around here anymore. But seeing this one, even in its current state, reminded me of the old days and what promise they held. When this 1990 model was sold new, I was about a year away from graduating from College, trying to figure out where I’d end up afterward.
The economy was not great, there were plenty of tensions in the world, I wasn’t sure if I understood what my professors were trying to teach me, but a sunny day and a good road with a great car could make one forget about all of that and just get lost in what was over the next hill and around the next corner. This was one of the cars I wanted and while I never actually got it, I was happy to dream about living that dream.
I believe the overseas Honda NSX was released for 1990 but was a ‘91 debut here, along with the second generation Legend – which is by far my favorite automobile of all time – those cars are the last no-expense-spared Honda from the bubble economy (bar the nigh-unobtainable NSX)
This was my Sherwood Green 1994 LS, with the 6 speed manual transmission and 230HP Type II engine.
…and then they completely forgot how to do this extremely freakin’ easy job. The HVAC controls in my ’07 Accord are thoroughly lousy. They cannot be operated by feel and require uncomfortably long eyefocus to operate.
The HVAC controls on my Golf are three dials: one for temp, one for fan and one for air position.
I like that.
Simple?! We don’t need no stinkin’ simple especially in 2020…
Such a shame that a beautiful and well built car, such as this, sees it’s life ended at 154,000 miles when it could have cleared 300,000 if given the right care. The car, as it sits there, looks too good to be there.
Sweet car! I was really tempted by these at the time.
This is one of my favorite Japanese cars of all time — like you said, one of the prettiest designs to come out of Japan. The thin pillars and assertive, yet svelte styling is as compelling now as it was 30 years ago.
I would love to have owned a 5-spd. example just like this, however this car’s lifespan, and my ability to pay for such a car never overlapped.
I agree that this car is one of the most handsome shapes to ever come from Honda, which is really saying something, given the string of hits they brought to the market in the 1980s and early 1990s.
A young woman with whom I worked bought a Legend coupe in 1988 and proceeded to drive it for the next 25 or so years. It provided extremely stylish and attractive transportation and burnished her refined, upscale image during all those years. My friend kept her beloved Acura in immaculate condition and it only succumbed when it was sideswiped during an impromptu drifting competition in a shopping mall parking garage. The insurance company totaled the car due to its age and my friend was forced to buy a new car. She selected a Prius, a car that makes an equally strong statement and will likely last at least 25 years, but provides none of the style or comfort of her Legend coupe.
A friend’s mother had one of these Honda Legend 2.7 coupes after initial problems under warranty it saw her driving days out then was passed around the family as the spare beater car and it went on to clock up a tremendous mileage no idea where it is now possibly in a scrapyard or it could be parked somewhere waiting to be needed again.
I vaguely recall the early legends had an issue with shims falling out of the differentials (I think). I definitely remember seeing two different ones in workshops for a big fix in that area, and being in awe that mechanics could be so brave as to take such a fiendishly complex thing as a transverse OHC V6 apart!
That red example is incredible shape for a junked car. It could have been problems with the EGR system, ( quite common) or the rest of the emissions, or maybe it didn’t get the cam belt changed in time. Or maybe nobody wants a manual transmission. The Legend is one of my favorite cars. The first gen is light, lithe and beautiful. The second gen is more muscular and kind of references the Nissan Skyline of the time. They are both getting pretty thin on the ground even in the Bay Area. As as I’m concerned Acura lost their way after this.
There’s a magic to early Acuras in that they pretty clearly resemble their cheaper Honda products yet manage to carry a premium about them in a way American midpriced/luxury brands really failed at by these years. I see tons of Prelude in the Legend coupe design, but all the places where one might find the Honda cheap Acura had made a point to improve, even if just aesthetically.
My Grandpa had a Legend sedan in this exact color combo when i was a kid, and seeing this one I can think back and remember the smell of that leather interior. Acura and Lexus had the best leathers in the industry in the 90s as far as I’m concerned
I agree that the styling has aged well and it was good from the get go. Basic clean lines with just enough interest in the bulging fenders to give a more substantial look.
However seeing that under hood shot triggers PTSD of seeing that stupid vacuum computer. I understand it on the old carb’ed engines but by 1990 they should have spent the money for a modern EFI system that did away with the need for the spaghetti.
In ’85, at 16 or so, I was really taken by the idea of Honda building a Euro-competitor V6 lux model, and let down a bit when the Legend sedan came out. I liked the slightly unusual looks, those boxy fender flares, the serious mien, but the press said it hadn’t enough torque, the steering was too light, and the ride/handling was a bit underdone. And it was bit slow for the dough.
Two years on, the coupe got 2.7 litres and variable intake, and double-wishbone rear suspension. The criticisms were met entirely. And it got properly fast (for then).
I used to think the coupe was a bit bland compared to the sedan, but not any more. Time has been most kind: it still looks uppity, and, by now, quite delicate.
I drove one in ’96. Damn, it was impressive, and even with perhaps 100K kms on it, it felt brand-spanking.
I had an ’89 Accord LXi, and lusted after one of these, but at the time, it was too pricey for me. I (somewhat) salved my desire by noting that when parked alongside my Accord, it wasn’t much larger, still that didn’t matter! I agree w/ Jim, in that the ’91 version (IMO) appeared bloated and awkwardly proportioned. Recently, one of these turned up for sale on FB Marketplace, in very good shape; although sorely tempted, I don’t have the need/space for it now! *SIGH*
Jim, I second the motion on your accolades for this vintage of Acura and add that this particular specimen has no business occupying a slot in the auto-purgatory death march. Just sayin’…a little effort expended would reliably run the clock well beyond 154K.
Jim, I loved this post. And would welcome having a beer with you sometime so we could both wax poetic about why 1990 was the pinnacle year for Honda/Acura. I’m a big fan of these G1 Legends, so much so that I currently have four sedans, and one coupe in my collection. Three of the five are in minty condition and well cared for, while the other two are seasoned all year around drivers with over 150K and 200K miles on each (also well cared for). To round things off, I own a 91′ NSX (sold Internationally in 90′ as you mentioned).
It boggles my mind that Acura came out of the gate so strong and yet couldn’t maintain the same quality of build and design. Even the G2 Legend didn’t have some of the advanced capabilities of this G1 model. I’ve only purchased the LS trims for my Legends, as I like the extra luxury components and on-board computer that displays the following (Current MPG, Average MPG, Trip Mileage, Distance to Empty for Gas, Oil Level indicator, Coolant Level Indicator, Washer fluid Indicator, as well as a Service count down and reminder, and Oil Change Countdown and reminder). This feature wasn’t even provided on the G2 Legends! Crazy right?!
Anyway, I really enjoyed your posting, and it is a shame this car ended up in the junk lot, it had another 150K miles left in her for sure, especially with such a clean exterior and interior.
Some pics of my cars for those who might get a kick out of them.
Thank you and those are beautiful cars you have there! Regular Legends are not uncommon in junkyards (and generally do have closer to 300k miles on them) but this is the first 1st gen Coupe I’ve seen, disappointing as it was to see it there before its time. Chances are that many higher-mileage ones cycled through a decade or so ago.
Thanks, yeah, I really love these cars and intend to keep them as pristine for as long as possible. And agreed, most of the junk yards cycle through the higher mileage ones, but once in awhile I’ll be lucky enough to find one that has some great parts and will pull them for potential future use with my collection.
Would u sell me a clutch hydraulic hose for a 89 legend if u have it or can get it
A co-worker bought a base model in 1988, and I vividly recall that the purchase price was on the order of $25-26K, which seemed like a lot of money back then for a car…even if it is probably on the low side for new cars today, but of course it is 32 years later Admittedly it was a very nice car, hers was identical to this, a red coupe. I had bought my GTi a couple years before and it was 1/2 the price, though admittedly in a different category, 4 cyl vs 6, but it didn’t seem like twice the car at the time. Maybe I was thinking about my looking at Honda in 1986, the closest I came to buying one, an Accord Coupe, which I liked a lot, but wanted fuel injection (the Scirocco I owned at the time had it) but didn’t care for power windows/locks, which were not as common back then (now try to buy a car without them), but Honda only offered fuel injection on the LXi model then, so I went with VW, which (at least back then) had more of an a la carte options list (though of course that’s changed since). But even the Accord, which wasn’t offered with a V6 yet back then was quite a bit less expensive than the Legend, and I liked it better, primarily because it was a hatchback…but hatchbacks were considered cheap, plus don’t tend to sell well, so I understand why the Legend was offered as a coupe or 4 door only…guess I wasn’t the target audience
Love it! I owned its sportier little sister, the ’90 Integra. And then an RL (which some buffs say stands for “Ruined Legend”. But somehow I feel like I overshot both times, as this was the one I really wanted.
That was my 1st car …red coupe just like the one in the article brings back great memories ….actually was lucky enough to own 4 of the all the way to ’95 model last Legend made 😔
I have a 1989 Acura legend ls coupe love it but have a problem with it check engine light
I have the same car they still run great part some parts hard to get if u want to sale part email me please
I have same car running great need parts