'Shed' Honda Legend Mk III V6 3.5
Discussion
I bought one of these with 163K a couple of years ago for £850. I replaced the timing belt and water pump as I am paranoid about timing belt failure, and all the oils and fluids including the stuff in the weird differential which seems never to have been done.
I also replaced the passenger seat, which has a Occupant Position Detection System unit in it which had failed. The early production run of these cars had this as a common fault, the later ones are OK. From the same scrap car I got some road springs which had less miles on them and married them up to some new KYB shocks that I got from the USA for £50 a piece. Some new parts for these cars can be hard or impossible to get in the UK and Europe, but in the USA they sold lots of them as the Acura RL and you can get the bits from rockauto.com or amazon.com.
It has this lovely smooth V6 engine which makes a turbine-like noise and is one of the few Honda petrol engines which has low-down power. I don't drive it hard and it will do 28 mpg on a commute and just over 30 mpg on a long motorway run, which is pretty good for a two-ton car. It 'wafts' down motorways very nicely.
The seats are superbly comfortable and it is a very easy car to drive in spite of its length and size.
The main 'issue' I have with it is that the fellow I bought it from neglected to tell me it is a category C. This means it was written off as being not economic to repair, but that it is functionally fine. When I had it up on a lift someone noticed that there was no impact bar at the rear. The rear plastic bumper showed a crease, and I think its the case that it took a rear shunt that destroyed the bar and the car was written off. I have since replaced the bar with a new one from a modern Civic, but I think the fact it's a category 'C' means that it is not worth anything.
The insurance and tax are about £600 a year, and as mentioned the petrol consumption is quite high. I feel I should get rid of it really, I have had my fun working on it and I've put 18,000 miles on it mostly up and down from Scotland to London, but every time I drive it I change my mind. Perhaps I will let it go when it gets to 200K, which wil be in another 18,000 miles. It's like a favorite old leather sofa on wheels, no real monetary value, the value is just in the use of it.
I also replaced the passenger seat, which has a Occupant Position Detection System unit in it which had failed. The early production run of these cars had this as a common fault, the later ones are OK. From the same scrap car I got some road springs which had less miles on them and married them up to some new KYB shocks that I got from the USA for £50 a piece. Some new parts for these cars can be hard or impossible to get in the UK and Europe, but in the USA they sold lots of them as the Acura RL and you can get the bits from rockauto.com or amazon.com.
It has this lovely smooth V6 engine which makes a turbine-like noise and is one of the few Honda petrol engines which has low-down power. I don't drive it hard and it will do 28 mpg on a commute and just over 30 mpg on a long motorway run, which is pretty good for a two-ton car. It 'wafts' down motorways very nicely.
The seats are superbly comfortable and it is a very easy car to drive in spite of its length and size.
The main 'issue' I have with it is that the fellow I bought it from neglected to tell me it is a category C. This means it was written off as being not economic to repair, but that it is functionally fine. When I had it up on a lift someone noticed that there was no impact bar at the rear. The rear plastic bumper showed a crease, and I think its the case that it took a rear shunt that destroyed the bar and the car was written off. I have since replaced the bar with a new one from a modern Civic, but I think the fact it's a category 'C' means that it is not worth anything.
The insurance and tax are about £600 a year, and as mentioned the petrol consumption is quite high. I feel I should get rid of it really, I have had my fun working on it and I've put 18,000 miles on it mostly up and down from Scotland to London, but every time I drive it I change my mind. Perhaps I will let it go when it gets to 200K, which wil be in another 18,000 miles. It's like a favorite old leather sofa on wheels, no real monetary value, the value is just in the use of it.
Edited by Midori on Tuesday 17th September 21:35
Edited by Midori on Tuesday 17th September 21:37
Edited by Midori on Tuesday 17th September 21:45
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