Honda will take another stab at the luxury market in Europe when it unveils the Legend at the Geneva motor show.

Honed for European tastes, the Legend is powered by a 3.5-litre V6 engine using Honda's VTEC variable valve timing to help it to 291bhp.

Four-wheel drive will be standard on all Legends sold in Europe and it uses some fancy electronics to vary the power not only between front and rear wheels, but also between the left and right rear wheels.

Another first for this class will be Honda's AudioPilot active noise cancellation, which uses the stereo to send out a signal to cancel wind, road and engine noise.

On top of a full array of airbags, the Legend has a pop-up bonnet to help protect pedestrians in the event of an accident.

Already on sale in Japan, the European-spec Legend is expected to go on sale for around £42,000 at the beginning of 2007.