frankjnjr

BACK TO THE LEGEND: " but the Legend coupe absolutely measured up to the best Lexus had to offer in terms of design and materials quality. " Truly, the 2G Acura Legends were great cars, THAN AND NOW! I disagree with your statement, with reference to "MATERIALS QUALITY" The seat trim, in the 2G models, unless you kept your car hermetically sealed, was JUNK! The original owner, and I, both treated my 95 GS 6 Speed Black on Black Sedan, like one would treat their first born! The seat trim still SPLIT! Not a unique issue, for any 2G Legend. Certainly, not the level of quality, I would expect from a $42,650.00 Luxury car.
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brian2

Exactly... It was not unappreciated, it was over-priced. Everyone in that market bought the Chrysler for 10k's less.

majin ssj eric

Ok, so I have come up with my second entry for this thread and its a car that I doubt many of you guys will have had much experience or love for:

1994-97 CADILLAC SEVILLE STS

I picked this car for a couple of reasons so bear with me. Firstly, the original STS to me really represents the very first foray into the modern era of design for GM, targeting European and Japanese luxury (especially on the inside) for the first time that I can remember. The STS was America's answer to the Lexus LS400 and I really think they hit a home run with the car. Second, the STS featured an engine that for the first time really embraced the European and Japanese philosophy of DOHC V8's that weren't an embarrassment in terms of horsepower per liter in the Northstar V8. This was not your typical Caddy V8 with over 6 liters of displacement for only 200 hp. The revised Northstar engine from 1994 onward had pretty impressive numbers even by today's standards (4.6L, 300hp, 295 lb/ft) and even featured things like variable valve timing and a limp-home mode that would allow the engine to continue running even when completely drained of all coolant. I know you guys are going to quibble about the "Unappreciated" aspect of this car (similar to how you did with the Legend LS) since the car was a decent seller for Cadillac and received fairly favorable reviews (it was a C&D 10 Best winner for a few years), but I am really more considering the negative perception of GM luxury cars that existed back in the 80's and 90's overall, and the STS was among the first cars (along with the Allante which was the first to feature the Northstar) that GM designed to change that perception.

I personally had intimate experience with the Seville of that era because my grandfather bought a new one when I was still in middle school and he had it for over 15 years. It was not a sports sedan by any means, but it was an opulent luxury sedan with sporty characteristics (at least as compared to his previous car, a 1991 DeVille) that featured the nicest GM interior I had ever seen up to that point and a modern re-imagining of what a Cadillac of the future should look like. The design and materials were clearly aimed at the original LS400 in my opinion and it had some features that were pretty rare for that time (continuously adjustable suspension, heated seats with lumbar adjustment, an integrated voice-activated cell phone, and even rain-sensing wipers off the top of my head). I don't think that younger people of the current generation really remember this car today because Cadillac of the 80's-90's was (like Buick) considered to be another GM brand of poorly designed and low-performance "boats" made for old people, but the original STS was a thoroughly clean-sheet attempt at the time to compete with the more established luxury car players of the day. It was still front-wheel drive, it was still a bit porky, and even the mighty Northstar couldn't get it to 60 in under 6 seconds, but when you sat in the STS back then you felt that it was NOT just another cheaply made and hilariously designed example of GM crap, but was instead something new and fresh and special. Well, at least that's what I remember feeling the first time my Grandfather brought his STS home over 25 years ago...

Stapler

I always wanted a sts. I thought it was the best looking sedan they made till the 2nd gen cts came out. I just kept reading about how hard it was to work on that northstar though.

Chief F1 Fan

Wherever this quote came from is wrong-Acura's Legend Coupe and Sedan were the first Japanese lux-cars no?

majin ssj eric

They were (the first Legend came out in 1986 iirc) but let's be honest, Lexus and the LS400 actually set the standard for legitimacy in the Japanese luxury segment. My point with that quote was that Honda/Acura recognized that they had to up their game with the second gen Legend to match the LS400 (if not in RWD configuration, at least in style and interior design), and I personally think they came admirably close, while going the more sporty route.

By the way, Cadillac also recognized the same thing when they were designing the 1992/93 Seville STS which is why I placed it next in this list of underappreciated cars. They knew they weren't going to be able to compete with Mercedes and BMW (at least in terms of driving dynamics) at the time, but the Lexus with its clean, refined interior design and modern DOHC V8 was something they absolutely could target, and they did. It was the very first American car that I actually took seriously as a contender in the luxury car market and deserves to be remembered for reversing decades of failed and embarrassing releases by Cadillac.