Honda Legend

Our verdict

The Honda Legend is a highly technically complicated and luxurious bit of kit that seems to be making more of a name for itself as the secondhand sale of the century. Expensive new, but a giveaway in a couple of years.

Comfort

You're certainly not going to be short of gizmos in the Legend, but the ride could be a bit less fidgety, and there's neither as much space in the boot or cabin as you get in the better European alternatives.

Performance

The Legend comes only with an impressive 3.5-litre V6 mated to a slick automatic gearbox. But a snappy 0-60mph time and high top speed won't sell itself as well in this high-end market as a good, torquey diesel would.

Cool

The Legend is cool because it raises a laconic far eastern finger to the European convention of shelling out a fortune on ubiquitous Mercs and Beemers. But it's only cool if you got a secondhand bargain. Depreciation is epic.

Quality

Naturally Honda's flagship saloon is superbly put together and feels suitably luxurious, although it's not quite on a par with the equivalent Lexus or Audi in that respect.

Handling

With ultra-tech four-wheel drive that feeds the necessary torque to the outside wheels mid-corner, this is a car that certainly gets rounds corners, but that doesn't mean it really handles.

Practicality

The Honda loses out a little here to the likes of the BMW 5-Series and Audi A6. There isn't much room for a third passenger in the rear and its boot is significantly smaller than most cars in this segment.

Running costs

The best fuel returns you're going to get out of this are around the 24mpg mark. That's pretty awful in itself, and the C02 emissions put the Legend in the highest company car tax bracket.