Rebirth of a Legend: Driving Honda’s sport hybrid sedan

ALL-NEW Legend in gilded pewter metallic color

WHEN we think Honda, we think of engines meticulously engineered, delivering over 100 BHP per liter, manic redlines and canyon-carving abilities in a small, affordable, yet giant-slaying package.

Honda’s performance in the realm of motorsports is legendary, having competed in the top echelons of racing, ranging from Formula 1, Le Mans/sports car racing, touring cars in Japan and Europe, and of course, MotoGP.

Drive over to your local race track and chances are you will find a good number of participants, be it a casual track-day/soukokai or a grassroots level motorsports event, a huge number of participants will be a Honda, or Honda-powered vehicle.

Yes, Honda engines have often found their way into other cars as well.

But that wasn’t always the case. When Honda entered the US market, their small but highly efficient (in terms of output and fuel consumption) vehicles were sneered at by American car enthusiasts who ascribed to the no replacement for displacement ethos.

A generation (or two) after, Hondas ruled the roost, particularly in Asia and the West Coast of the United States.

Now, Honda is venturing into a totally different realm. While still treading on the same vein, Honda is looking at hybrid-electric power to gain additional efficiency as well as performance.

The Honda CR-Z was the first. This was to be followed by the NSX, which would have a mid-mounted twin-turbo V6 engine and hybrid front-drive powertrain, thus making it AWD.

Then we have this: the all-new, 5th-generation Legend.

In the early ’90s, the Legend was sold in the Philippines. My friend had one, and it looked very distinct, different from the sea of Honda Civics and Accords (three-door hatchbacks and four-door sedans).

STILL a luxo-barge, the Legend packs serious kit to make it a true sports-sedan despite its limousine-like qualities.

But it packed a SOHC V6 engine, and due to its rarity, looked exotic because of its uniqueness.

The Legend wasn’t a commercial success, but it gave a taste for the fine engineering capability that Honda would be known in the future.

Honda’s resurgence in the Philippine car market in the last few years means that the Japanese company has slowly been unveiling and introducing more and more vehicles into the market.

The Legend is one such vehicle, alongside the Pilot SUV, CR-Z hybrid sports coupe and the Odyssey minivan.

The Legend hasn’t changed much in size. It was initially built to combat rivals from Toyota (Crown) in Japan and Lexus (LS) in the US.

SPACIOUS backseats with room enough “to host a party”

While both vehicles have grown and gone further upmarket, the Legend seems to have stayed true to its roots in terms of size.

Sure, it’s still a luxo-barge, but one that packs serious kit to make it a true sports-sedan despite its limousine-like qualities.

The Legend is, for all intents and purposes, engineered as a front-engined front-wheel drive luxury sedan, staying true to its predecessors five generations back.

The previous fourth-generation Legend spawned Honda’s impressive SH-AWD (for Super Handling All-Wheel Drive), creating a simple yet highly effective all-wheel drive system controlled by computers.

The system can theoretically transmit 100 percent of the power to the outside rear wheel when cornering, or to any tire that can make use of the power, thanks to maximum traction, thereby aiding both stability and cornering.

MILANO black leather for the front seats

For the fifth generation, this feature was augmented by three electric motors: one in front, and two at each rear wheel axle.

The two rear electric motors provide astounding levels of added cornering prowess, working as a torque-vectoring unit, making cornering even more eye-watering, limousine or not.

It’s also packed with safety features: traction/stability control, multiple airbags, multiple cameras to help you maneuver the car in tight spots, hill-start assist, blind-spot monitoring, sonar parking sensors all around, and a forward collision mitigation system that automatically brakes the Legend at low speeds to prevent damage,  chimes off at faster speeds and gives a slight nudge on the brakes to warn you, should you be, God forbid, texting or napping inside the car while driving, in say, traffic.

This feature is annoying at first, but teaches you to give decent distance on cars ahead of you. Unfortunately, the distance is quite generous, and this allows motorcycles to sneak in between, thereby causing the chime to sound off anyway.

The jewel LED headlights are also interesting. They are composed of multiple LEDs, and follow steering inputs at night and give amazing illumination minus the glare that aftermarket LEDs give.

The 14-speaker Krell sound system is equally powerful, and with the right sort of music, will push you to drive harder, faster and longer. You get a carbon-fiber subwoofer and magnesium twitters as part of the package.

While the spec sheet is truly impressive, I’m curious to see if the Legend is still a sharp-handling vehicle, given that it is a Honda. So a drive down south to Tagaytay was on the cards.

Inside, everything is covered in soft leather or high-quality, soft-feeling tactile plastics. Since this is a proper luxo-barge in size, there’s oodles of space to accommodate a party in the back seats.

The trunk is enormous, swallowing easily three golf bags—or more attendees to your impromptu backseat party.

Driving position is excellent, the seats adjust 12 ways, and you can find a comfortable yet sporty driving position more akin to a sports-sedan than a luxo-barge.

Long distances in the Legend, such as Manila to CamSur down south, or to Pagudpud up north will be a breeze.

ALL-NEW Legend’s dashboard

From bumper to bumper traffic in the metro, I entered SLEx and gradually gained pace. The ride comfort is impressive: smooth, refined, comfortable yet with just enough control to keep you confident on the highway.

The Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires fitted on the Legend hinted at its sportiness: These are Michelin’s top-of-the-line maximum performance tires, a notch below their DOT-legal Sport Cup 2 track tires and fitted as standard equipment on a variety of exotics and thoroughbred sports car.

Unfortunately, the sidewalls are pretty firm, and there’s a noticeable amount of harshness that permeates through the cabin on less than baby-bottom smooth roads.

The brakes are powerful, but the Legend has regenerative braking which charges the hybrid system so it’s a bit difficult to modulate and guesstimate the amount of braking power required to stop smoothly. Of course in emergency situations, the added braking capacity is always welcome.

The steering is very light, typical of a luxo-barge, but with very good accuracy and feedback, if lacking in feel somewhat. But it feels confident nonetheless, tackling the winding roads going up Tagaytay via Santa Rosa, and later via Aguinaldo Highway.

But the Legend is most at home on a wide-open highway: floor the throttle and the 380 HP and 462 Newton-meters of torque available from the V6 engine, and the hybrid motors throw the big, heavy Legend down the road at an alarming pace.

You’re just not quite ready for the immediate power delivery the combined powertrain gives you at 100-percent throttle. It feels very much like a proper V8, giving low-down torque and response, thanks to the electric motors, while delivering the trademark Honda top-end fizz the brand is known for.

All told, the Legend is a refreshing alternative to an entry-level European sports sedan. It has more sportiness than a Lexus ES 350, and more comfort and space than a Lexus GS, the two most obvious rivals of the Legend in its price range.

At P4.38 million, it’s not cheap, and is definitely not for brand snobs.

But for those who enjoy driving yet want a large luxurious limousine suited for long-distance sporty travel, it’s hard to go wrong with Honda’s truly amazing Legend.