Honda Legend : A MORE COMPELLING LEGEND

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Honda has struggled to establish a compelling rival to the German executive car elite. Why should the latest Legend model be any different? Jonathan Crouch reports

Honda's Legend makes an intriguing alternative at the pricier end of the BMW 5 Series/Audi A6/Mercedes E-Class-dominated executive sector, but you'll need to do your sums before choosing one. If you can make them add up, you'll be buying into a car that's packed with technology, features a clever four wheel drive chassis, has a great engine and is built to last.

Just because you've been promoted to the lofty heights of the boardroom, you don't have to follow the herd and trade up to a car with a German badge on its bonnet. There are some other interesting alternatives, especially if your priorities centre on luxury, refinement and high technology. At present of course, for those with a £35,000-£40,000 budget to spend on an executive saloon, Honda's Legend is unlikely to be the first car that springs to mind. No, most are likely to have their sights set on a Mercedes E-Class, an Audi A6 or BMW 5 Series. However, in its current all-wheel drive incarnation, the Japanese car maker's flagship model actually has a great deal to commend it - as you would expect from engineers capable of creating anything from a jet aircraft to the world's most refined diesel engine. This fourth generation Legend, launched in 2007, is Honda's most committed crack at this marketplace yet. Most of the best executive saloons are either rear wheel drive (as with Jaguar, BMW, Lexus and Mercedes) or all wheel drive (like the better Audi and Volvo models), two systems which can better handle the high power and torque that top-notch executive cars need to stay at the head of the pack. Previous Honda Legends were front-driven, one reason why they sold in tiny numbers. This one is different, thanks to what Honda rather immodestly call Super Handling All-Wheel Drive. Rather annoyingly, it deserves its title.

"This fourth generation Legend is Honda's most committed crack at this marketplace yetâ€¦."

That this system can shunt around up to 70% of the engine's torque between the front and rear axles as you need it isn't unusual. That all of that 70% can be diverted to just one wheel certainly is - and it makes all the difference. In a normal executive car, if you enter a corner too fast and there's a danger of the tail sliding out, the stability control system will brake a wheel to try and set you back on course. In a Legend, SH-AWD senses the problem and which wheel it applies to, then thrusts power across to the diagonally opposite wheel to correct it, so pushing the tail of the car back into line with no loss of speed. Far smoother: much cleverer. You can even watch it all happen via a small multi-function screen below the speedometer. There's conventional ESP stability control too of course, if all else fails, and this plus the benefits of four wheel drive should make it pretty difficult to crash a Legend, something even harder to do if you opt for the up-spec version. This has a Lane-Keeping Assist System to stop dozy drivers veering out of traffic lanes. Plus there's a Collision-Mitigating Brake System, which senses if a frontal crash is imminent and automatically brakes the car at up to 0.6g while tensioning the seatbelts. In all Legends, Honda has even made provision for pedestrians hitting you - the rear edge of the bonnet pops up to stop them smashing into the screen. There was always the danger that all of this technology might make this car too clever for its own good and in the metal, that's partly true. Honda have tried hard to appeal to the kind of enthusiastic drivers whose first choice in this sector would usually be a BMW 5 Series, specifying a rather over-firm ride on European versions, including paddles behind the steering wheel and even tweaking the SH-AWD system to load up the rear axle and make it run faster than the front one for a rear wheel drive feeling. The result however, is still not a car nimble enough to dynamically mix it at the executive top table. Like its predecessor, it's most at home on major routes in lazy relaxed mode, the single 3.5-litre 295bhp V6 engine choice quietly wafting you to sixty in just 7.3s but really needing an extra cog in its standard 5-speed automatic gearbox. It looks good, this Legend, the low window line bucking the current market trend for sharky wedge shapes and the big glasshouse giving a light and airy cabin. Though this model is 65mm shorter than its predecessor, transversely mounting its V6 engine has allowed it to offer a roomier cabin, so there's plenty of space for four passengers and a decent-sized 452-litre boot. Carrying three adults across the back however, is slightly limited by the chunky transmission tunnel. Everything is all beautifully screwed together, though some of the plastics aren't quite what you would expect at this level and the real wood trim needs to lookâ€¦ well, more real. Still, the metallic dashboard finish lifts the already bright cabin and the equipment count is beyond reproach. As with BMW's i-Drive system, many of the car's functions are linked to this large rotary controller, but until you master the thing, it's complicated to get the hang of all the various menus and supplementary buttons. To match this Honda's power output, you'd need to spend just under £40,000 on either a BMW 540i or a Mercedes E350 CGI but probably this car's closest rivals come from elsewhere. You can have either an Audi A6 3.0TFSI or a Volvo S80 V8 AWD within the Legend's £35,000-£40,000 price bracket, both cars matching its power and all-wheel drive traction but not its equipment tally. Honda's UK volumes with this car (just 400 cars a year) are necessarily limited given the lack of a diesel engine or an estate bodystyle. Just one trim level is offered but acronym-lovers can opt to pay more for the ADAS (Advanced Driver Assist System) package that includes the CMBS (Collision Mitigation Braking System) and the Lane Keeping Assist System (LKAS) package with Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) technology. Equipment levels are lavish and include a number of features that would be costly items on rivals. I won't run through it all here: suffice it to say that almost everything you can think of is included - and a bit more. No 300bhp executive petrol-powered saloon will be cheap to run. Fuel economy isn't too bad, with an average that hovers around 24mpg and Group 17 insurance isn't terminal but 282g/km emissions, surprisingly high servicing costs and slightly higher than average depreciation all count against the Legend. All this doesn't help residual values that according to CAP, hover at about the 41% mark after 3years and 60,000 miles, about 10% below that you'd get with an equivalent Audi A6. Buyers who bargain their way into a more affordable upfront price (quite possible at present) can easily make this back. You'll also need to factor in that, say, a BMW 540i SE costs 83.6p per mile to run, while the Legend will cost 104.9p per mile. To take the plunge with this car, you'll either need to be fed up with the predictable German alternatives or you'll be attracted by the fact that this model offers most of what you get from the next class up in a much more expensive Audi A8/BMW 7 Series/Mercedes S-Class luxury saloon - for a lot less money. Either way, you'll need to get the right price up-front if the Legend's running costs are to make sense. If you do, then the car itself could prove a surprisingly rewarding one to own.

Facts At A Glance
CAR: Honda Legend 3.5 VTEC V6 EX
PRICES: £35,830-£38,580 - on the road
INSURANCE GROUP: 17
CO2 EMISSIONS: 273-282 g/km
PERFORMANCE: Max Speed 155mph / 0-60mph 7.3s
FUEL CONSUMPTION: (urban) 16.6mpg / (extra urban) 31.7mpg / (combined) 23.7mpg
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front, side and curtain airbags / ABS, ESP, EBD
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Height mm 4917/1847/1452