Test drive Honda Legend sedan since 2006 sedan

The limit of functions

We got the new Honda Legend long before the premiere planned as part of the Moscow car dealership. The car was at our disposal all day. But there was enough day to understand the Russian stage, another star of an expensive business class was lit.
 

However, this is a novelty for us, and, for example, in Japan, the sedan has been sold since 2004. Perhaps that is why, if you put Legend in a row with classmates, it will seem a little conservative outwardly. At the same time, the Japanese woman has a like-minded person to call someone to name the appearance of the e-class unit or avant-garde?
 

However, the Honda Legend is imprisoned, the noisily especially a wedge-shaped front: huge elongated headlights with guns of reflectors inside, a broken false radiator grille, a hood with beautiful stampings and ribs definitely, there is something in these eyes in Japanese fighting! However, others will call Legend's design calm. The only significant remark of the wheel by today's standards is small. Here are inches 18 But such discs can be ordered from dealers.
 

The car interior is light and spacious. Perhaps, according to the reserve of space in its Legend segment, one of the leaders. The Lexus GS and BMW of the 5th series is much closer, even Mercedes-Benz E-class and Audi A6 seem a little less. But this is if you sit behind the wheel. I get out of the car and open the back door, sit down behind me. In principle, I fit without problems, but my knees touch the back, and in order to have enough space for the feet, the front chair had to be raised a little. However, when the chair of the right front passenger is moved forward, the back is very free. It is a pity that the second row does not offer any special amenities. Well, except for the curtains on the windows and the snot of the ventilation system.
 

The build quality is traditional for expensive Japanese cars. And the materials are good. Soft plastic, smooth skin, wood is curious plastic of the front panel elegant conjugation of smooth bends in the upper part and a rectangular silver central console. At it, attention is primarily attracted by a massive goal with the inscription Enter. Yeah, Japanese answer to European multimedia systems! I sway and twist the wheel, and on the screen appear, replacing each other's pictures. Around the puck there are small auxiliary buttons, each opens access to a certain section of the menu. The branching of it cannot boast everything is quite simple. Animation and color scheme are modest. But I was surprised to find a calculator, compass and a decoder of measurement units inside the system. However, this is also quite Japanese.
 

The leather multifunctional steering wheel pleases the eye and hand, behind the steering wheel there are large controls of control of a 5-speed automatic. The automatic transmission selector, trimmed with skin and silver plastic. However, there are questions to the clarity of his work. At first, I constantly skipped past the rear gear, getting on the neutral as for the chairs, then everything is comfortable in the best traditions of the genre, decent fixation, all the necessary electrical regulations.

I slam the door, conquer the motor. Here this is done by the usual key. The Japanese version is chip card, and the start with a button. However, all these are trifles. It is much more important that for Europeans, Honda set the suspension harder, telling the car a driver in nature.
 

However, this became clear a little later. And first I appreciated the level of acoustic comfort. Immediately after starting the V6, it is absolutely invisible, and only when the revolutions reach 4500 mark, is velvety rumbling. Honda proudly notes that the soundproofing of the model of the top of modern technologies. The most advanced light materials were used, which most effectively extinguish noise and vibration. Legend is really quiet. In motion from monotonous low -frequency sounds (rubber rumble or release for example), the Active Noise Cancelle noise system saves. With the help of two microphones located in the cabin, it monitors undesirable acoustic accompaniment. And then ANC inverts it and reproduces a signal in antiphase through the speakers of the audio system.
 

The motor works exclusively smoothly. He spins very quickly and shows his best qualities when the tachometer arrow is selected to the red zone. 295 hp With 3.5 liters a very worthy indicator. And, by the way, a typical Honda company has always been famous for reserved and powerful atmospheric engines. The power unit is a little lazy in the low -speed zone, but by spinning, it gives out excellent traction. There is a spark in it when the shooter, having overcome the middle zone, soaks to the limiter. This is a direct merit of VTEC. He tries to keep up with a machine gun with an intellectual work algorithm, he adapts to the driving manner. I liked that the manual control regime of automatic transmission has the full responsibility for switching, and if he has gazed, the motor will honestly hang on the limiter. Responses of the motor to press the floor pedal of gas are fast, there are practically no delays. The brakes are spacing.
 

However, not a motor, not a gearbox, and not even a soundproof system is a highlight of the car. Legend is equipped with one of the most technically advanced all -wheel drive transmissions for today. The solutions used in Super Handling All-Wheel Drive are unique, thanks to them the sedan has excellent running characteristics. It should be noted that the creator of the Full-wheel drive Honda Legend is Yasuzhi Shibahat, who once created the all-wheel drive transmission of the legendary Nissan Skyline GT-R.
 

The closest relative of SH-AWD is the scheme used on Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. In both cases, the thrust is redistributed between the wheels of the rear axle, respectively, the nature of the rotation of the car changes. However, the method of implementation in Honda is completely different.
 

The torque is transmitted from the front axle back through a special device connected to the cardan shaft (the shaft is light, made of composite materials). He, in turn, rests on the rear knot of the drive, in which the planetary gearbox is located (thanks to the gearbox, switching from a direct transmission to a higher moment backwards occurs in the turns). Further, the craving enters the wheels. Each of them is equipped with an electromagnetic coupling, which triggers at the signal of electronics. Up to 70% of the torque can be transmitted to the rear axle, and for each wheel up to 100% of this share. Using several sensors, Sh-AWD scatters the moment on the wheels, providing the car with excellent stability and handling.


 
With even accelerations and passage of high -speed rumbous turns on the front wheels, 70% of the torque turn out to be on the front wheels. If more intense acceleration is required, the ratio will be 60: 40 in favor of the front pair. And in the case of active turns passing, 70% traction will go back. By the way, it is at the output of the turns, when the gas pedal is drowned into the floor, that you feel how the SH-AWD helps, loading the outer wheel with a torque by the moment a bullet flies out of the apex!

I start with the maneuver of the rearrangement. Honda behaves without nervousness, the demolition of the rear axle is easily extinguished by SH-AWD, AVS and a driver in the initial phase. The steering wheel practically did not plug during speed work.
 

Now I turn off the stabilization system and fly into a turn at provocative speed. In theory, the demolition of the front axle should begin, but instead the machine smoothly slides outward with all four wheels. I slightly load the front axle with the discharge of gas, then add the thrust, and the car obediently screws into the turn.
 

If you break the sedan before entering the turn, you can go in the controlled sliding by all wheels. However, Stop! This is still not evolution, Legend has somewhat different tasks. Although it is already clear that it can much more than it is required.
 

The suspension is configured taking into account the European requirements for the business class sedan. Good comfort is combined with composure and live reactions. Do not feel slack. Yes, and with the killed sections of the highway, the chassis copes without problems. The Japanese supplied the steering control with the right feedback and a clear zero when moving in a straight line. True, if the coating with severe rutter, you have to tighten the steering wheel tightly, to which information is nevertheless transmitted from the front wheels leaving towards.
 

In general, Legend is a real collection of modern technologies. The equipment of the car is very rich and, in particular, can please Adaptive Cruise Control (adaptive cruise control), working in cooperation with the Collision Mitigation Brake System (a system for preventing and reducing the consequences of clashes). It looks like this. When the distance to the front car is ahead of the minimum, the driver is warned about this with signals, as well as the seat belt tension. With the real danger of a collision, CMBS involves the brakes before this is done by sitting at the wheel, and if necessary, it also applies emergency braking. As for the legend cruise control as such, it automatically maintains a safe distance to the car moving in front of the car.
 

In order to have an acceptable weight stuffed with technology, aluminum is widely used in its design. A hood, front wings, some engine details, subframes, transverse levers are made of light metal. Honda Legend is the world's first car (Jaguar XK Second), equipped with an active pedestrian protection system: the hood in the case of a person on a person automatically lifts up, softening the blow. The VSA stabilization system works with Sh-AWD, preventing the development of emergency situations. And finally, another curious detail. The climate control includes a sunlight sensor, which is located in the upper part of the dashboard. With its help, the temperature in the cabin and the distribution of air flows are tuned so as to compensate for the heating in the solar part of the cabin.
 

Honda offers Legend in the only configuration, which includes an exhaustive list of additional equipment, and asks for a car less than $ 70,000. Well, it is worth recognizing that the offer is very, very seductive. The new business class star was born!
 

Prices and equipment
 
Honda Legend with an engine of 3.5 liters and a 5-speed automatic is estimated at $ 69,000. The list of standard equipment, in particular, includes xenon and foglight headlights, a switch farm (AFS), a cruise, a rear view camera, four-spitting, multifunctional steering wheel, steering wheel electroregulation in height and departure, steering wheel overwhelming of petal gearbox, audio system with DVD chain, 9 speakers and subwoofer, electric drive and heating chairs, folding rear seat, black free technology, active noise reduction, access to access A car without a key, rain and illumination sensors, 2-zone climate control with separate regulation of the upper and lower flows and adjustment depending on the position of the sun, ABS, VSA, TCS, Brake Assist, the hood lifting system, alarm, electronic immobilizer with floating code , cast discs 235/50R17.
 

Text: Leonty Tyutelev

 
 
 

Source: Motor magazine [September 2006]