1994 Honda Vigor (CC2) 25S – Bigger By Name, Minor By Nature

Older big Hondas like this Vigor are objectively awesome. Dynamic design, interesting technical solutions, great performance – it’s the full package. And that’s certainly what a lot of folks in the US and Canada might have thought, especially since the creation of the Acura brand gave these cars a halo of exclusivity, though sales of this particular model ended up being pretty tame. In Japan, the response was also less than vigorous.

It’s a great pity, as the Vigor, just like its sister car the Inspire (which we’ve already had a look at), had a lot to recommend it. Lithe and rather distinctive styling, plenty of power, an advanced suspension and above-average build quality were all noted by contemporary testers, both in Japan and abroad.

What went wrong, then? On the JDM, Honda’s main problem was how cut-throat the competition was. We’re talking Toyota, Mazda, Mitsubishi and Nissan in the late ‘80s / early ‘90s, i.e. at the height of their powers. Honda had major chops in the kei segment, in compacts and in sports cars, but as far as the executive segment was concerned, many Japanese buyers were still on the fence about Honda.

There were several issues Honda had to contend with in this segment. One was image, or lack thereof. The Vigor was on its third generation when this one was unveiled in 1989, and it had gone up a notch or two upscale, right up to what the Japanese authorities deemed “oversize,” i.e. beyond the 2000cc / 4.7m length / 1.7m width limits that encompassed the first two iterations of the Vigor, which were basically slightly modified Accords sold via a different dealership network. Generation three graduated to a fully-fledged model with a view to be large enough to be included in Honda’s burgeoning Acura lineup in the lucrative North American market.

This was a recent development in JDM offerings. Until the late ‘80s, Japanese automakers shied away from “big” cars, aside from CEO-mobiles like the Century or the President. You could special-order your Nissan Cedric or your Toyota Crown with an export market 2.6 litre engine, but very few Japanese customers ever did that. And aside from the engine, the rest of the car was within the lower tax band’s rules. In the late ‘80s, as the economic bubble inflated, Japanese automakers started making cars – usually of the “pillared hardtop” kind, for added prestige – that were deliberately too big available for regular customers.

This small revolution was pioneered and exemplified by the Nissan Cima, but everyone who had access to an engine over 2-litres piled on as soon as possible. Nissan and Toyota already had rather large V8s handy, but the main fight was not at the 4-litre level. It was at the 2.5 litre level. And there, Honda, Mazda and Mitsubishi had the goods too, soon to be joined (but only by 1995 for their JDM saloons) by oddball Subaru, with their big flat-4. Everyone else fielded a 6-cyl. – everybody except Honda, that is. They looked at what the others were doing and figured the only way to beat them was to do something different.

Sometimes that works, but it is a high-risk strategy. Honda also went for FWD – that was much less controversial, as every other Japanese carmaker had a big FWD hardtop by the early ‘90s. But some (Nissan and Toyota) hedged their bets by also fielding RWD cars, to attract folks who wanted a cut-price Benz. Other than that, the Honda Vigor was pretty much what the market wanted, both inside and out. That cabin lacked a bit of individuality — it could have been made by Nissan, Mitsubishi or Mazda just as well.

Despite being FWD, the Vigor had a pretty long front end because its 5-cyl. engine would only fit longitudinally, and Honda decided to tuck it in close to the firewall to improve weight distribution. Earlier models looked a little odd with that miniature grille – this was de-emphasized by way of less chrome trim on facelift cars (after 1992), and further on the sporty S models like our feature car. JDM sales started pretty strong in 1989-90, but soon cratered as even more rivals cropped up here and there.

Here’s the lay of the land when our CC was new. Nissan’s big FWD car, the (poorly-selling) J30 Maxima, had a 3-litre V6 and is thus not in this table, but Nissan (and Toyota) had several models other than the ones I included here. Proper foreign rivals like the Alfa Romeo 155, the Volvo 940 or the Mercedes W124 were way more expensive, some costing twice as much as the likes of the Vigor. But there were a few cheaper exotics in play, for folks who wanted to stand out of the crowd and drive a bit slower. The Vigor’s main problem is plain to see: it’s missing one cylinder. And there was no compelling reason for that.

Sure, Audi were doing the same thing, but they were winning races with their 5-cyl. – it was kind of their thing anyway. Honda’s stated rationale was that the five was a good middle ground between the sportier 4-cyl. and the more prestigious six. How they ever figured that a 6-cyl. was not capable of being sporty is a little puzzling. Try telling that to Jaguar. Or Porsche. Or Alfa Romeo. Or Alpine. Or BMW… The Honda 5-cyl. was, in fact, a very capable engine, but being neither fish nor fowl, buyers just didn’t trust it. For an extra million yen, the much larger (and V6-powered) Legend was far more enticing, if the car had to have an H on the front.

I first encountered this Vigor out in the open, then chanced upon its lair a few days later.  Since the Japanese language has no “v” sound, the local pronunciation makes it sound like “Bigger.” This ended up being a bit of a joke in Japan. “Nice ride, but mine’s Bigger…” What ended up not being that big were sales: just 86k between October 1989 and March 1995. Even adding the North American Acura-badged models (1992-94) and the Inspire sister car, the full tally remains shy of 200k units. Not a complete wash-out, but not a money-maker, either.

Honda’s 5-cyl. engine had a pretty short-lived and discreet career. It was used in a pair of JDM saloons, namely the 1992-97 Ascot and the 1993-97 Rafaga; the last car to have either the 2.0 or the 2.5 litre five was the Honda Saber / Acura TL. By 1998, the chapter was closed on that little experiment. With less than a decade of mileage from the 5-cyl. and few models featuring it, many people actually forgot it ever existed, just like they did the Vigor itself. Honda has not made too many mistakes in its 60-plus years as a carmaker, but this has to be one of the Bigger ones.

 

Related posts:

 

Curbside Classic: 1990 Honda Accord Inspire (CB5) AX-i – Big Accord Or Lacking Vigor?, by T87

Curbside Classic: 1992 – 1994 Acura Vigor – The Closest Thing To A Real Four Door Hardtop, by PN

Curbside Classic: 1994 Acura Vigor GS – North America’s Only Choice For A 5-Cylinder, 4-Door “Pillared Hardtop”, by Brendan Saur

CC Outtake: 1993 Acura Vigor GS – Living Up To Its Name, by Brendan Saur