5k: Legendary: 1994 Acura Legend 6-spd
In 1986 Honda released the Legend to a hungry public via its newly unveiled Acura dealership network. The Legend was the top of the line for Acura and featured a longitudinally mounted V6 mated to the front wheels and shared development of its platform with the Rover 800 and Sterling 825. Acura was nice enough to offer a manual transmission version and the only one to get is the second generation coupe with the Type II V6 and 6-speed gearbox. Find this 1994 Acura Legend 6-spd for sale in Fremont, CA for $4,200 via craigslist.
The Legend won’t get you any second looks on the street – in fact it is styled quite nicely to avoid the attention of the boys in blue or anyone who’s not a complete Acuraphile. The paint on this one looks suspect, but for the current asking price it probably makes a better winter beater than show winner.
The Legend is powered by a 3.2 liter C32A5 Type II dual-overhead-cam, north/south mounted V6 mated the front wheels via a 6-speed DIY gearbox. Expect 230 horsepower and 206 ft-lbs of torque – healthy performance figures for a car from 1994, especially one with front wheel drive.
The interior of this Legend hasn’t fared well over the years; most surfaces look pretty boogered up and the seats are torn, but you won’t feel bad about letting your kids eat inside this thing.
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Just a minor correction. The first generation of the Legend used a transverse mounted V6. It wasn't until the second generation that they went to the longitudinal 6.
I had completely written these things off years ago due to what I thought was the lack of a row-your-own gearbox and the unimpressive durability of Honda automatic transmissions when put behind (or under) anything larger than a leaf blower.
With paint, seats, factory wheels and no-doubt a mechanical freshening up, this could be a sweet under-the-radar cruiser.
Another quick correction. I had a 1988 Legend with a 5 speed manual, so they did offer the 5 speed manual in the first generation. It had a hydraulic clutch, which was very stiff. The local Honda mechanics claimed that the clutch was problematic, but aside from the charcter of the pedal, it never failed. I sold the car with 245,000 miles. It was a bit heavy and large for an import, but you could drive it all day. It was fun to drive both on the highway and on the local roads. It's everything an american sedan should have been, and it's the kind of car that put contemporary american sedans to shame. There is no reason GM couldn't build a car like that – they just didn't – and they've been playing catch up ever since.
Great find! Just one more note: They are fairly rare, but there was a Legend GS sedan with Type II and 6-speed manual. Still, I'm happy to see someone else celebrating one of these gems, and, to many, a high point to Acura, to this day.
I'm pretty sure a 5 speed manual was available throughout the first gen Acura Legend's run.
I want one of these, but they do look chunky compared to a first gen legend. But 230 hp is a healthy bump over the first gen.