Price: £7000
Mileage: 90,000
Condition: (Don’t say it… don’t say it…) Legendary
Advert: eBay
Legend is one of those names that could have been quite embarrassing. Think Suzuki Swifts that were anything but, or the Mitsubishi Carisma, with so little to speak of. And while it’s true the Legend isn’t the best-remembered of the big Japanese luxury cars – it arguably hasn’t become a legend, in any of its generations – Honda had, by its 1985 launch, earned the right to put the badge on the back of its new luxury car.
After all, by 1985 it had won multiple motorcycle championships, had taken wins in Formula 1 racing (with a lot more to come from 1986 onward), earned a reputation for building some of the most reliable vehicles on the market, and had started to turn out cars that enthusiasts could lust over too, such as the CRX and the Prelude.
What it didn’t have was a luxury car, so in the early 1980s Honda leaned upon its joint venture with the Rover Group, which did know a thing or two about luxury cars, to develop Project XX – the car that would become both the Honda Legend and the Rover 800, the British brand’s replacement for the SD1.
While sensible on paper, the joint venture didn’t really work out brilliantly for either party. Rover felt too constrained by some of Honda’s stipulations to ensure the car could sell in its home market – such as a relatively narrow body – and Honda wasn’t keen on Rover’s efforts to make the car as avant-garde as its predecessor. The full story is fascinating and rather than repeat it here, we’d direct you to the excellent AROnline story on both cars’ development.
It was actually a rare mistake from Honda that gave the Legend one of its most distinctive features, those blistered wheel arches. The brand’s new V6 essentially didn’t quite fit in the new chassis, something Rover sorted by redesigning its car, while Honda simply enacted a quick fix.
The V6 wasn’t ideal for Rover, either, being quite revvy rather than a low-revving lugger in true luxury style, but being a Honda engine, it at least stood the test of time in terms of longevity. A figure of 175bhp (or 172bhp for the automatic) and 167lbft of torque isn’t too shabby for a car from the period anyway, and it only has around 1400kg to pull.
Today’s unexceptional classified is a late version of this first-generation Legend; an all-new model, unrelated to any Rover, arrived in 1990. It has the automatic transmission, and it’s really rather lovely in its burgundy paintwork and beige leather. Leather, in an unexceptional car? Well, we’re giving it a pass, since the relatively forgotten, relatively unloved Legend is surely more unexceptional than most luxury cars.
It has survived longer than most Legends, too, the seller suggesting it’s always been parked in a dry, heated garage, and has only one previous keeper. First-generation Legends are already rare, but ones in this shape must be nearly nonexistent, even in its home market.
The condition goes some way to justifying the price. You might not expect to have to pay seven grand for a Legend these days, but then most aren’t in this kind of condition. As of the time of writing it’ll need an MOT, as it’s not had one since June 2022 and isn’t yet old enough to be exempt, but if it’s as good as it looks, it should fly through.
The Legend may not have become a true legend, but as a demonstration of the best Honda had to offer in the late 1980s and early 1990s – NSX aside – this is about as fine an example as you’ll find.
