In depth review of the Honda Legend.

http://www.worldcarfans.com/news.cfm...egend-in-depth

Robert

 

Very informative. Thanks for the link.

 

Great read.
Still, when it comes to noise, I scratch my head. The tire noise in the cabin is much higher than I would expect - and this is with new tires!

 

Mike,

Agreed. The car isn't that quiet specifically road noise. Wonder if the Legend is tweaked a bit in this area.

 

Based on the specs on the last page, the Honda Legend uses a different tire than we get on the RL in North America. They only use a 235 wide instead of the 245 wide and they may not use Michelin as the OEM tire choice.

 

Sounds like Acura of North America took another shortcut to keep the base MSRP under $50K: they gave us cheap, noisy tires.

 

Except that these tires aren't cheap -- they're expensive.

Honda is known for making some highly questionable tire choices -- from the "carbon free" Michelin MXV's that caused electric shocks a few years ago, to the craptastic Bridgetone Potenzas on my last Accord, to the expensive yet noisy and underperforming Michelin Pilots on my RL. They could easily have put Yokohamas or Contis on this car for less money, and had a better ride, better handling, and better noise levels....

 

Very informative link... thank you. Noticed that the tested car had headlight washers and sunglass holder. Sure would like a holder in he ceiling console.

 

The thing is that, as much as we all complain about the Michelin's, they are actually considered by the tire manufacturers to be one of the best in their class. It's scary to think, but as an all-season, long-wearing, V-rated, performance tire, it really is pretty good at what it does.

 

Eh. Seems to me that a simple road test around the test track in a production prototype with a few tires would have been sufficient to tell them that these tires really aren't well-matched to this car.

 

Did any notice that the Euro Legend has a cloth/leather between the shift gate and the knob? I want one of those!

 

I'm coming to this same conclusion.

I'd like to hear some additional feedback from others who opted to install the Michelin Pilot Sport AS and have accumulated some mileage. As I recall, the initial reports were that these tires were quieter.

I'm using the original 17" wheels.

Last week I visited the Michelin website, and the "only" tire recommended for the '05RL was the one that came to the dance. I'm nearing 40,000 on the OEM's and was interested in comparing the OEM's to the Pilot Sport's...a dealer recently told me that they'd sell/install a tire other than OEM if it had the same specs.

So, now I'm a little wary of changing to the Sport tire with this car...


BTW, the OEM tire is wearing very well, and I've not had any problems with mine.

 

I'm only at about 15K miles, so I'm a ways from replacing my tires, but I had the Michelin Pilot A/S on my previous car, a 1997 Mercedes E420, and I loved them... I will certainly switch to those when the time is right. Also, the best price I've found is at Costco, who will also fill your tires with nitrogen for no charge (less pressure changes from temp)...

Randy

 

I love the way the Pilot A/S handles - they give me added confidence to an already great ride and handling. They are not the quietest tires available - that would be the Pilot Summer tires, but they are better than the OEMs.

My best friend also had the Pilot A/S installed. We both recommend them without hesitation.

 

I had Pilot A/S's on a '04 TL I used to have and think they were the best tires I ever had on a car. They got very noisy when they wore out -- which as at ~26,000 miles due to a misaligned rear-end, but I'd get them again for '05 RL when the time comes.

The only other tire I'd consider would be the Pirelli PZero Nero M&S.

 

The Euro RL has a lot of features that have been discussed here but it seems that they have really got their act together on this one.
Both front seats have the luxury of 8-way power adjustment, including a lumbar support mechanism, whose smooth, articulated shape matches the human spinal curvature to provide solid support for the torso and pelvis.

Active Ventilation front seats, which pass a gentle stream of cooling air from built-in fans around the occupant for greater comfort, are available as an option.

This displays up-to-the-minute traffic information where available on screen and plots alternative routes around traffic

etc, etc..

 

Did anyone notice the two additional lights on the chrome trim on the trunk?
what is it for?
http://www.worldcarfans.com/news.cfm...egend-in-depth

 

I upgraded to the Pilot Sport AS tires at 3,000 miles on my '05 RL. After driving on them for 14,500 miles, I can confirm that they are still quieter than the OEM tires were on every road surface.

I wish there were a wider range of tire to choose from, but the wheel size chosen by Acura for this car has severely limited the choice of tire.

I believe that within the few tire choices we have without replacing the wheels, the Pilot Sport AS is the best choice.

Michelin and others makes summer tires that would be even quieter and smoother, but they are not available in our wheel size.

 

Those lights are rear fog lights.
They are there in the event that you driving in heavy fog, your car can be seen in the fog. They are not full intensity, and usually are in yellow or red.
Its a European think, most euro cars have them.

 

The rear fog lights are always red and are a higher intensity than the normal rear lights. It is the law to have these lights and it is illegal to use them unless visibility is reduced. (whatever than means). They are a great idea and you may see cars ahead of you long before you could without these lights particularly in heavy fog. They have been attributed to negating numerous multi-car pile-ups on freeways.
I frequently see cars in CA with them, mainly Volvos probably of the grey market variety.
A lot of car designs in the USA show a location for an additional switch on the dash but the car has all of the options installed.? The additional switch will be for the rear fog lights when the car is specced for EU.

 

does the Yank RL have lumbar support in the passenger seat? I know our CDN one does.

 

I have received from Honda the standard feature list of my coming Honda Legend. I can tell you that many of the optional accessory items of the RL are standard in Legend. Unfortunately I have this list in Hungarian language, maybe I will translate it for you guys.