If you discount the Toyota Century, a car never sold outside of Japan, Honda was the first Japanese manufacturer to make a move upmarket. The creation of a new brand, Acura, was devised to challenge the established luxury marques from the United States and Europe.
Beginning with the Integra and Legend in 1986, Acura sensed a need for an expanded product lineup by the end of the 1980s. Competition was on the horizon from Nissan (Infiniti) and Toyota (Lexus), so along with the all-aluminum NSX sports car, Acura released the Vigor, a sedan designed to slot between the Integra and Legend. Based on a stretched version of the Accord chassis, the Vigor was powered by a longitudinally mounted 2.5 liter inline-5 engine. Available with either a 5-speed manual or 4-speed automatic gearbox, the Vigor was regarded as a more sporting alternative to its contemporary, the Lexus ES. Unimpressive sales led Acura to pull the plug after three model years, with the TL succeeding the Vigor in 1995. Let's take a look at this obscure mid-sized luxury sedan from Acura's first decade through the lens of the dealer brochure.
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Comments (1)
Wow... you certainly won't see a sales brochure for a modern luxury car featuring one with a manual transmission.