Ever since I put on the LEGEND badge, the car has been getting more attention.

Suddenly the car is "beautiful" [sic!] () and worth talking about, where nobody noticed it before.

What's making me talk about it is that it's usually every other day, but yesterday it was two in one day. One just typical parking lot encounter, somebody driving by stopped. But the other was remarkable, with somebody holding up traffic just to talk about it.

So that brings me to wondering....

If all you need to do is put a name like LEGEND on the car, maybe they should just break down and use it. I know that INTEGRA also has provenance.

They started thinking about letters because the VIGOR didn't work out well, but that was a silly name and a car that wasn't hitting on all (five) cylinders with the design or performance. It wasn't just that it became the TL that made it popular...it was a complete redesign and the making into it of a real performance sports sedan.

So don't call it VIGOR, then. Make the TLX something else.

But I believe that LEGEND and INTEGRA, considering the provenance of those names and the emotions they stir up, perhaps it's time to go back to words instead of letters.

 

It won't happen, Acura is too used to thinking it needs alphanumeric Eurojibberish so people notice the brand.

But they should change it, if only for the RLX. Those of us who own the RLX are old enough to remember, or perhaps to have driven, the USDM Legend 25 years ago. (I was too young 25 years ago to afford one. ) Now if only I could find those darn JDM Legend doorsills....

 

Guess I was not too young. 1988 Acura Legend L, purchased 9/8/88. Happy 27th anniversary and RIP wherever you are.

 

I used to own a 1995 Legend GS, until it had 207,000 miles and gave it away for the cash for clunker deal.....for a Civic! One of the very best vehicle I've ever owned. The name "Legend" made Acura! Getting rid of it was the dumbest move in the automotive world, IMO! Just look at Lexus! The LS started it all for them and that's why it's still here! The Legend won't come back but it never hurts to dream about it!

 

Speaking of which...

New Honda Legend Launch: Service equipment is its difference with Acura RLX | Responsejp (Automobile new model / new models )

Honda Motor Co. revealed the new Legend, completely redesigned for the first time in a decade. It has been difficult to distinguish the exterior other than the emblem from the base vehicle Acura RLX.

Thus, this vehicle is equipped with a remote control that can operate the air conditioning, sunshade, and audio for the rear seat for them to relax at ease.

Furthermore, the driver can control the slide operation of the passenger seat from the driver seat.

The door handle of the RLX has the same body color, but it is too sporty. The plating was applied to the door handles since the Japanese customer base has a slightly higher age bracket. Since the grille is pretty classy, it seems lacking that the door handle have the same color as the side view.

Moreover, emergency steering has been added as a function that is not found in the RLX.

 

"Emergency steering" is something that we have as of 2016, right?

We call it something else?

Road departure mitigation, or something like that, I think.

 

De-badge your car to see if your theory holds up!

 

I think that it is completely different and might be an infrared detector for pedestrians (or deer avoidance in the USA).

LDW only "sniffs" the lane markers.

 

advanced driver assist system that debuted in the 2015 CR-V.

Honda Sensing introduces the claimed world-first pedestrian collision mitigation steering system, which uses a front-mounted radar and camera to detect pedestrians and the boundary line on the side of the road and autonomously steer the vehicle safely away from pedestrians if it predicts a potential collision.


For more:

http://www.caradvice.com.au/315891/h...d-pedestrians/

Other features of the safety suite include emergency steering, collision mitigation braking, lane keep assist, lead car departure notification, traffic sign recognition, and false start prevention.

 

The world’s first*2 Pedestrian Collision Mitigation Steering System >

The millimeter-wave radar and monocular camera detect pedestrians and boundary line on the side strip of the road. When the system forecasts a collision with a pedestrian as a result of the vehicle straying from the lane toward the side strip, it provides audio and visual warnings and turns the steering wheel toward the other direction to facilitate the driver’s collision avoidance effort.

*2
Honda internal research (as of October 2014)

Honda Worldwide | October 24, 2014 "Honda Introduces "Honda SENSING" Advanced Driver-Assistive System"

 

Worlds first? BMW, Cadillac and Audi have had it for years.

Very similar to the Audi system that has been an option since 2012.


Having the car steer away from "warm" objects can be an issue. There are numerous instances where a car has tried to avoid an animal and the evasive action has caused a crash. I would rather hit the animal than a tree.

 

No, no. That's very different from our system.

We use a combination of radar and camera. This is more useful when you intend to target pedestrians, specifically.

So, IMHO, "world's first pedestrian...." is correct.

 

Living in North Carolina where the deer slaughter carnage by autos is rampant, I want a deer avoidance setting . . . . . .

I agree with db22 that a warm body setting could lead to worse issues at 75 mph late at night when a deer crosses in front of the RLX, but maybe the system could be tuned to nail the brakes and not do steering moves when above a specified speed. Really, what I want is a system that sends out a signal that reduces deer fertility. That's something needs inventing to save Hosta plants everywhere!

 

I agree with this assessment. I do a lot of night driving in deer infested country at 70-80 mph. Unless the system is smart enough to differentiate a deer from a human, a deer running across the road and the system does the evasive manuveur at 70-80mph, I better jack up my life insurance policy!

 

It's a simple programmatic issue. Humans are focused on their cell phones, whereas deer are focused on your headlights. Or you can just shut off the system.

I have been relatively impressed with the AcuraWatch features. They all seem to work quite well. One thing it does is forces drivers to signal to suppress LKAS & RDW from trying to steer the car. BUT if you do not, you feel the wheel pull and can still manually steer the car overriding the steering input.

I have noticed this when driving with LKAS on and a light grip on the wheel. You will feel the LKAS steering inputs. And if your grip is too light, the car will yell at you to grab the wheel. The RDW triggered when I swerved onto a shoulder, crossing the lane marker in order to avoid a pothole. The steering pulled, seat belt tugged and warning flashed....BUT I was able to manually make the car do what it was sensing as road departure. I treat it as a 'suggestion' from the car.

I like they way they work, once you become accustomed to why the car does these things. Before then it seemed like a distraction. Bottom line, these are still aides to the driver, and the driver should be the final operator of the car. Unfortunately that does not seem to apply to 90% of the zombies on the road.

 

I find the Lane Keeping Assist to be annoying so I do not use it. Personal preference. I generally like to have less "nannies" and more tactile control. The car has a predominantly digital feel and not analog as a car without any VSA or ABS. It is perfectly fine since we are not getting to 10/10ths of its capabilities on a track. The greatest part of the automobile is that there is an underlying feeling that you have so much more capacity than you are using at any one time. You don't need to floor it to enjoy the thrust. In fact I think that rolling into the throttle to maybe 50% and enjoying that long firm feeling of torque is the most intoxicating aspect, especially in 2nd, 3rd and 4th gears (by then you are already in the 80+ mph range). Doing a launch control hit is fun, but it is the merge into traffic, or the run up to speed on an average road that is the best. Between that, the silence, the sound system, the smell of the leather, the ergonomics and the seat comfort, or the amazing headlights is what any passenger of mine has commented on in a complimentary way. Unfortunately nobody but us RLX-SH owners will know and enjoy this information for years to come. Quite the privilege I say.

 

I like lane keeping assist late at night, after I'm driving home from seeing an emergency stroke patient. The nannies are wonderful when you're operating at only 80% of mental peak rather than 100%.

The best part is, you can turn the nannies off! Thank you, Honda.

 

I am of two minds regarding the nannies. I do like the comfort of having Adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assist, particularly on long highway trips. I find the driving is much less stressful with them turned on.

However, sometimes, particularly when I am driving on local roads, like Pacific Coast Highway [speed limit 45 - 50 mph], where due to traffic lights and busy roads there is a lot of variation in speed, the nannies can lull me into inattention. I look at the ocean or let my mind drift elsewhere than the road because the car needs less input from me. While the car quickly reminds me when a car in front of me slows abruptly, I get nervous because I realize I wasn't paying enough attention to the road. I guess what I am saying is the nannies allow me to pay less attention to the driving than I think I should. All this from a guy who loves to drive and feel in control. Maybe I am just getting old - which of course I am!!!

 

I think that all of the systems use radar and IR so that the heat of a human/deer can be differentiated from the heat of a car. Maybe the Honda system is the first that "steers" as opposed to the other systems giving you images and audible warnings? If it does steer then maybe it cuts off after a certain speed or is selectable by the driver?

 

It's still happening that people stop me to talk about how "beautiful" the car is...and the conversation will very often still start with the LEGEND badge.

Yesterday, somebody tried to engage me on Main St in my little home town while I was coming home from a long commute.

Luckily there was a stop light that caught both of us.

I noticed him speeding up and slowing down...wasn't 100% what was up....

So now he's going to try to go find a KC2 somewhere.

I'm telling you...even with the P-AWS models, they should've just called them Legends, and it'd have taken off.

 

These back seat controls plus the addition of some kind of self-parking capability, I think these two things are the only things stopping Acura from having a car one tier up from where they are now.

That and the LEGEND badge. :-)

 

We can always hope Acura listens to us and improves the next RLX (Legend) in that manner. We'll never get a rename, though, so it's a good thing Honda makes plenty of extra Legend badges for us to purchase.

I wish we could retrofit the JDM panel into our USDM/CDM RLXs. I've leased, else I'd try it.

 

Too much rewiring. :-(

At least, I guess there would be.

I'm sure "pgeorg" will tell us. Shortly.

 

^^
Unfortunately i do not have access to the JDM schematics of our car. If i was to take a guess though, this would be extremely difficult because the connections would be coming from the mail wiring harness of the car. You would need to take apart they whole interior to change that.......this is just an educated guess of course, from knowing how Honda integrates all the connections to the main harness.

 

Neuronbob, did you install your LEGEND door sill illuminated trim?

 

Not yet. My work hours limit my fun install time.