Sports car or luxury saloon?
Both.
The new Legend looks the
very epitome of a luxury sports saloon. However, it's much
more than that. Get behind the wheel, sample the Super Handling-All
Wheel Drive (SH-AWD) and highly responsive 3.5i litre all-aluminium
engine and you soon realise it has pure-bred racing instincts
in every atom of its construction. With handling characteristics
close to the legendary NSX supercar, the Legend breaks all
the rules.
Every inch a performance car.
The sleek lines of the Legend
not only give expression to the power within, they're highly
efficient when it comes to aerodynamics. The steeply sloping
bonnet and short overhangs are designed to assist airflow over
the body, producing high levels of performance and stability.
Luxury as standard.
You may not be surprised to
discover that the Legend comes with a beautifully designed soft-touch
leather interior and memory select for both driver and passenger
seat positions. You may not be surprised to discover it comes
with a voice-activated Satellite Navigation system. You may not
even be surprised to discover it comes with an on-board Global
Positioning System (GPS) that uses optical sensors to determine
the Sun's position and automatically adjusts the interior climate.
What you may be surprised with, however, is that they all come
as standard.
Super Handling-All Wheel Drive
(SH-AWD): The handling of a sports car, the refinement of a luxury
saloon.
Refinement and cutting-edge
technology are more than enough for some people. At Honda, the
focus has always been on the thrill of driving. That's why their
designers used high-performing lightweight materials and introduced
the unique Super Handling-All Wheel Drive
(SH-AWD) system. It's all designed with one simple purpose — to
give you the handling prowess of a sports car.
For the Legend, Honda have
developed a four-wheel-drive system that can think for itself.
When you demand a quick response from the car or turn sharply
into a corner, torque is distributed across all four wheels,
ensuring accurate steering and power delivery in all conditions
and directions.
SH-AWD allows the Legend to
deliver the highest levels of comfort, whilst providing the handling
characteristics of a sports car. This ground-breaking Honda technology
is a world first. It responds to your driving, distributing torque
independently to all four wheels; left and right, front and back.
The effect of this simultaneous, proportionate allocation
of torque across all four wheels is an incredible level of control
and agility.
SH-AWD works by receiving
data from sensors that measure steering angle, lateral acceleration
and wheel speed. This information is conveyed to electromagnetic
clutches located in the rear differential — another world
first for Honda. These clutches control sets of planetary gears
that deliver optimum levels of torque to each rear wheel.
SH-AWD: precision torque for
precision handling. With SH-AWD, up to 70% of torque can be delivered
to either the front or the rear wheels. In addition, the system
is intelligent enough to transfer up to 100% of torque laterally
across the rear wheels, providing incredible levels of grip and
stability.
Advanced Driver Assist System
(ADAS).
ADAS utilises both Adaptive
Cruise Control (ACC) and Lane Keeping Assist System (LKAS): using
the most advanced radar and camera technology. Acc allows you
to set your speed from 20MPH and uses radar to keep a set and
safe distance between you and the car in front. If the gap closes,
it overrides your preset cruise control speed, decelerates, and
applies brakes if necessary. When the car in front moves away
again, it accelerates to the speed previously set.
If the radar senses a car
from another lane cutting across in front of you and an urgent
response is required, the system starts braking and alerts you
with a warning light and audible buzzer, prompting you to apply
the brakes.
With LKAS, a tiny windscreen-mounted
C-MOS camera monitors the car's lane. The intelligent system
identifies the boundaries of the lane by processing images from
the camera. It will calculate the optimum steering effort needed
to keep the car in the centre of its lane, applying torque to
the steering wheel to help maintain a central position.
The system also gives you
audible and visual warnings if you start to stray towards or
across a white line. If the system detects that you haven't touched
the steering wheel for more than 12 seconds, it will automatically
deactivate. It all makes motorway journeys
less tiring, more comfortable, and ultimately, a safer place
to be.
Nothing standard. And you
wouldn't expect it to be.
At the hear of the Legend
is an impressive 3.5i VTEC, 24-valve all-aluminium V6 engine,
generating 295 BHP at 6,200 RPM, delivered through a dual-mode
automatic gearbox. This alone provides impressive power. However,
as part of the overall development of creating exceptional power-to-weight
rations, Honda added magnesium cylinder head covers, an aluminium
intake manifold and other weight-reducing measures throughout
the car. It all means the Legend is capable of performance levels
of the highest order.
Formula 1: The ultimate test
track.
Some teams enter Formula 1
for the glory. Honda see it as a performance test-bed. Where
capabilities are pushed to the limit and where they learn the
most. Whatever they learn on the track, they apply to their road
cars.
"If
at first..." In 1954,
Soichiro Honda entered the TT races and saw his bikes beaten
by others developing three times the power. This sobering experience
was put to good use. Less than five years later he was back,
winning the manufacturers' team prize. And in 1961 he took the
first five places in both 250cc and 125cc classes.
Putting you in control.
Inspired by Honda's racing
knowledge, the Legend's dashboard is ergonomically designed to
give you complete control. This means superb clarity of gauges
and dials, steering wheel mounted gear shifts, a voice-activated
Satellite Navigation system and all essential controls just a
fingertip away.
When it comes to driving position,
the steering wheel is electronically adjustable for reach and
rake. For assured comfort on longer distances, the driver's seat
is electronically adjustable to eight ways, with powered lumbar
support.
With separate temperature
controls for driver and front passenger, the innovative climate
control uses GPS optical sensors to determine the position of
the Sun and automatically sets the most comfortable environment.
Exceptional comfort as standard.
Will it be soft-touch leather
in black, ivory or grey? The decision is yours. The seats in
the Legend are designed to give you both quality and comfort
and are covered in the finest hand-stitched leather.
Sculpted front seats create
plenty of leg-room and they are air-conditioned as well as heated.
In the rear, you will find an abundance of inviting space in
which to sit back and relax. This feeling of serenity is further
enhanced by the discreet use of ambient lighting, creating a
sense of calm on any kind of journey.
As you'd expect, the Legend
has the very latest in audio excellence, with a 10-speaker Bose© system
that delivers surround sound to every seating position. However,
if it's peace and quiet you desire, there's an Active Noise Cancellation
(ANC) system for perfect tranquility, which works by continuously
detecting unpleasant sounds and sending out an opposite or reverse-phase
sound to nullify it.
Safety is the highest priority.
When you buy a luxury car,
you would expect it to go beyond the legal requirement for safety
measures, Honda apply that philosophy to all their cars. That's
why the Legend is equipped with every active and passive safety
measure they've ever developed.
For the Legend, Honda have
gone further that ever before by introducing a Pedestrian Collision
'Pop-Up' Bonnet System for the first time. The system uses three
sensors inside the front bumper and a vehicle speed sensor to
determine if a pedestrian impact has occurred. This signals an
actuator to raise the rear of the bonnet by 10cm. This new space
between the bonnet, the engine and other hard components serves
to effectively disperse impact energy. Honda's research estimates
that the Pedestrian Collision
'Pop-Up' Bonnet System can lead to an approximate reduction of
40% in Head Injury Criteria (HIC) compared to similar cars without
it. This is yet another reason Honda are proud to announce the
new Legend as the safest car Honda have every built.
Advanced Compatibility Engineering:
ACE.
ACE is a revolutionary design
process that helps disperse and absorb collision forces over
a larger area — enhancing the preservation of the cabin
space. It also reduces the impact forces acting upon other vehicles,
which means that any size of car will be better protected in
an accident. So everyone is safer.
Front and rear crumple zones.
On impact, the Legend's bodyframe
is designed to absorb oncoming force and help protect the driver
and passengers. Further protection is offered by side-impact
door beams and cross-members under the floor. 50% of the car's
structural components are high-tensile steel, making the car
very light and very strong.
Tested to the limit.
In constant pursuit of safety,
Honda have developed POLAR II, the world's most advanced pedestrian
crash test dummy.
Helping you see further.
The Legend's Active Front
Lighting System (AFS) automatically swivels the headlights by
up to 20 degrees in either direction, in response to input from
the steering wheel. As you drive around a bend, the headlights
will automatically follow your direction of travel. This means
the edges of the road are better illuminated and blind spots
reduced, significantly reducing the risk of accidents.
Predicting collision.
No matter how good a driver
you are, sometimes accidents are unavoidable. If this happens,
the Legend's radar-based Collision Mitigation Braking System
(CMBS) immediately comes to your assistance with audible and
visual warnings of danger and braking if required. Of course,
you retain overall control at all times and the system will
require your input to come to a complete stop.
The system works in three
stages:
| • Stage 1: |
If the system recognises a potential
threat, it will visually and audibly warn the driver. |
| • Stage 2: |
If there is no driver response,
the system will lightly tug on the driver's seatbelt and
begin gentle braking to reduce speed. |
| • Stage 3: |
If the system calculates an accident
is unavoidable, strong braking and strong seatbelt retraction
for front seat occupants is applied automatically to reduce
impact speed, collision forces and potential threat to
passengers. |
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about The Hondacare after-sales package »
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