I bought my Vigor over a month ago. It has 400,000 km and a 5 speed. It’s one of the most unique driving experiences I’ve ever had, and the fact that it still drives smooth after being in storage for 10 years, blows my mind. Your video was awesome too. I love learning about this strange car
Got sent this because I own a 94 Vigor lol Very well researched and detailed! But you forgot one very niche detail about the g series, The S2000 nearly got the five cylinder. If you look at the concept car of the S2000, the Honda SSM, it has a DOHC VTEC G20 inside it! But Honda obviously didn't go that route sadly :(
I feel like one of biggest fans of manual hondas and acuras ever they’re amazing… I’d still drive a manual swapped RL or Ridgeline even 😂 Glad I found your channel!
As a car-crazy kid in Ireland in the 90s, we didn’t get Acura but I do remember a police appeal for information about a car stolen from Americans who had recently moved here called an Acura Vigor and wondering what the hell those words meant! We got a lot of used Japanese market Hondas (because we’re also right hand drive), many of which would’ve been sold as Acuras in North America
I owned a 93 real with the peanut butter interior 5speed. It was so nice to drive and the low end torque was amazing. It was very fun to drive too. Great video keep up the good work.
Hey man, I’m currently looking at a 92 as well. How would you recommend it as a daily driver? I have little experience working on cars but I know that Hondas are reliable. I would love to have this car but do you think this would be a good choice for me? I have about a 35 minute commute 3 days a week, and the specific one I’m looking at is at 112k miles, 2 owners and the recent owner taking great care of the car. Thanks in advance
I need to see an engineering break down on the vigor and 2nd gen legend, 1st gen TL. Why did they have longitudinally mounted engine, and why did they not keep developing it, especially with as common as awd is now, s2000 closest we came to a rm or fr Honda
My guess is the longitudinally mounted engine was initially installed in the Vigor because it allowed for one of the new Vigor's selling points - 60 /40 front to back weight distribution - which was unheard of for a 4 door sedan in 1991. Of course, only sporty driver's noticed the benefits of it, but the idea of even weight distribution sounded exotic to every one. One of the drawbacks of that weirdly shaped engine may have been less back seat room for a car of that size. Only children felt comfortable in the back of the Vigor if the front seats were pushed all the way back. In fact, the smaller Accord had more adult friendly back seat room because the engine was mounted conventionally. Also back then, 5 cylinder engine's weren't as fast and smooth as 6 cylinder. Back in 1991, I would have loved to have a normally positioned 6 cylinder version of the Vigor because at that time Accords didn't come in 6 cylinders and I would have loved to have a mighty 6 cylinder version of a luxury Accord at a more accessible price than the Legend. And I never drove a car hard enough to feel the benefits of even weight distribution. ok thats the end of my rant.
Fun fact: Honda did make a turbo version of the 5 cylinder engine. They also did make a V8. They put it in the JGTC500 HSV-010 cars that replaced the NSX on the ring.
I had a black '94 with a tan leather interior that I bought at a great price. It had been used as a demo, and they drove it off the showroom floor into the parking lot for me to test drive. it was sharp, quick, and handled great, and I loved it. The backseat was small, making it more of a four-door 2+2 than a four-seater, but that fit my needs. I drove it until the first engine died (in 2009), then bought a used engine from Japan for $750, had my mechanic install it, and drove it until that one died too, somewhere around 220,000 miles on the car. I had it towed to my mechanic, who said it was done for. I called a scrap company that paid me $175 to tow it away, and drove to my mechanic the night before to clean out the glove compartment and center console, and sit in it one last time. And yes, I had to wipe away a few tears writing this.
I owned one a couple of year's ago. It was a 92 with 50k miles on the clock. I bought it from a very elderly old man who barely drove it since he bought it brand new back in the day so i got lucky, it sat for a while so i had to restore and replace some parts but i had it running like a top in no time. I didn't even have the car a year before someone ran a red light and struck me. I was devastated when i lost the car since my brother had 2 of these and i had a lot of memories with the Acura Vigor. A month after that a buddy felt bad and sold me his Acura Legend which I still own today.
My most favorite car I have ever owned and definitely the funnest to drive. It just looked cool. 93.. Acura Vigor. White, black tuxedo leather interior, custom wheels and spoiler on the trunk.
This is an absolutely phenomenal video. I just wanted to point out a fun quirk and I’m not sure you care or not but the Lexus model that you showed at 5:16 when talking about the competition is actually a front wheel drive model as well being that it is the second generation es300. Edit:OK 10 seconds later I see you did know what car it was lol.
I actually did at the time think the es3000 was rear wheel drive for some reason...even though I show a shot of the engine which is clearly horizontally mounted 🤦♂Not sure what I was thinking!
I had the GS model and my favorite was that it had the multi disc changer in the trunk!!! every time the hood was opened mechanics would scratch their heads ( 5 cyl) 😅.
Here in New Zealand I had a JDM 96 Inspire - same G25A power. With the exhaust it came with from Japan, it almost sounded like a flat-4 the way it idled. Loved it, it was such a wonderful sounding engine and the ride was Wonderful.
I've been somewhat of a Honda-Acura collector and have owned 200+ of them since I got my license 10 years ago. I owned a 1996 Acura TL 5 cylinder fully loaded that I restored mechanically and cosmetically.. the original paint shined like brand new, engine would come alive with a flick of the key, 25 mpg city 29 on the highway and it just turned over to 112k miles when I was cruising around in it going home from a doctors appointment when a new driver ran a stop sign doing 2-3x the speed limit of 25 and totaled it.. very sad day but I walked away from the accident with no injuries. I miss the car to this day and would love to own another one like it. Never had any problems with it at all A.C system was original and blew ice cold, never burned or leaked a drop of oil and you could glide down the highway at 70-80 not feel a single vibration or shake throughout the wheel or the whole car. I did everything I could to avoid the accident.. my car took the hit better then the 2018 Honda Civic that hit me did.. the whole engine bay was gone while I had fender-hood and bumper damage. Even the airbags had a high quality feel to them 🤣 sadly it went through auction.. I should've kept the car.
@AcuraAdvice Yes it is but I'd like to think it was repaired by someone and is living another life somewhere. I loved everything about it. Just had it fully detailed the day before. Used to have yellow fog lights in the oem projectors. My first accident ever and it took out one of my babies of course.
Glad you found out about the ultra rare manual transmission ES300, the best part too it was built in Japan with the most priority as most Lexus were built meaning that fresh manual es300 was probably so smooth and slept on, speaking of that is one of the sales gimmicks Acura should of taken into consideration “MADE IN JAPAN” because a lot of people actually care, I’m surprised myself I thought I was the only nut and everyone is normal and thinks it’s all the same built anywhere but no, the factory setup is different and the work efficiency is way different where in the USA(I mean can’t say I’d be any different as an American) but if the car was built on a Monday or a Friday better cross your fingers
They (allegedly) eventually planned to bring a V8 to market in the 2010s, but the 2008 economic crisis happened, so they canned that project and brought a hybrid to market in the MDX instead.
I've been a Honda guy for over 25 years. They were my life for a good 15 years, i've been waiting for them to do a V8, even more so the older i've gotten. And now that EV is coming it will never happen. It really has caused me to not respect Honda nearly as much as i used to. My next car will probably be a first gen Chevy Bolt.
Unfortunately the Vigor was targeted at a narrow niche market. Someone who wanted more than an Accord, but less than a Legend. Just offer an upscale Accord variant. Yes, the Acura dealers might miss out on some sales, but Honda is still pocketing the money.
hated working on the Acura 5 cylinder, just changing the oil was a major job, tune up idiotic, where they placed the filter and the main replacement scheduled part stupid you can have them
Why a 5 cylinder? Inherently less balanced than a v6 or even better a straight 6. The early Colorado znd canyons came with a 5 cylinder and you really feel it...
5 cylinder engines are one of those high hopes for engineers. IF you can keep it balanced, it's as good as a six. IF you use the right system it gets six (close enough) power with four (close enough) economy. Plus not needing as much space under the hood. Honda had a good history with decently powerful fours that are smooth enough that don't sound like a buzz bomb when you push them. I guess they thought they could do better than Audi or Volvo. VW got around the size problem with their 15° six. Just a bit bigger than a traditional V, but still smaller than an inline.
Omg thats insane! I think we have found the #1 Acura Vigor fan right here! 😂 I dont know if I've even seen more than 5 of them in my lifetime they are so rare nowdays haha! I'd love to find myself a jade green 5 speed someday.
That was a terrible car awkward work on very quirky made a mess when you just change the oil and it didn't match up to anything that Honda built before and I hated working on those cars
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I bought my Vigor over a month ago. It has 400,000 km and a 5 speed. It’s one of the most unique driving experiences I’ve ever had, and the fact that it still drives smooth after being in storage for 10 years, blows my mind. Your video was awesome too. I love learning about this strange car
That's awsome! I'd love to find myself a 5 speed Vigor!
These videos are up there in quality with tofers car tales and my old car
Got sent this because I own a 94 Vigor lol
Very well researched and detailed! But you forgot one very niche detail about the g series, The S2000 nearly got the five cylinder. If you look at the concept car of the S2000, the Honda SSM, it has a DOHC VTEC G20 inside it! But Honda obviously didn't go that route sadly :(
Oh man that would have been awsome!
That would have been so good! Imagine the sound
I feel like one of biggest fans of manual hondas and acuras ever they’re amazing… I’d still drive a manual swapped RL or Ridgeline even 😂 Glad I found your channel!
As a car-crazy kid in Ireland in the 90s, we didn’t get Acura but I do remember a police appeal for information about a car stolen from Americans who had recently moved here called an Acura Vigor and wondering what the hell those words meant! We got a lot of used Japanese market Hondas (because we’re also right hand drive), many of which would’ve been sold as Acuras in North America
I owned a 93 real with the peanut butter interior 5speed. It was so nice to drive and the low end torque was amazing. It was very fun to drive too. Great video keep up the good work.
So nice, had to say it twice
I own a 92 and I absolutely love it. With a solid exhaust system it’s one of the best sounding sedan in my opinion.
Hey man, I’m currently looking at a 92 as well. How would you recommend it as a daily driver? I have little experience working on cars but I know that Hondas are reliable. I would love to have this car but do you think this would be a good choice for me? I have about a 35 minute commute 3 days a week, and the specific one I’m looking at is at 112k miles, 2 owners and the recent owner taking great care of the car. Thanks in advance
I need to see an engineering break down on the vigor and 2nd gen legend, 1st gen TL. Why did they have longitudinally mounted engine, and why did they not keep developing it, especially with as common as awd is now, s2000 closest we came to a rm or fr Honda
Passat b5 is the same
My guess is the longitudinally mounted engine was initially installed in the Vigor because it allowed for one of the new Vigor's selling points - 60 /40 front to back weight distribution - which was unheard of for a 4 door sedan in 1991. Of course, only sporty driver's noticed the benefits of it, but the idea of even weight distribution sounded exotic to every one. One of the drawbacks of that weirdly shaped engine may have been less back seat room for a car of that size. Only children felt comfortable in the back of the Vigor if the front seats were pushed all the way back.
In fact, the smaller Accord had more adult friendly back seat room because the engine was mounted conventionally. Also back then, 5 cylinder engine's weren't as fast and smooth as 6 cylinder.
Back in 1991, I would have loved to have a normally positioned 6 cylinder version of the Vigor because at that time Accords didn't come in 6 cylinders and I would have loved to have a mighty 6 cylinder version of a luxury Accord at a more accessible price than the Legend. And I never drove a car hard enough to feel the benefits of even weight distribution.
ok thats the end of my rant.
Fun fact: Honda did make a turbo version of the 5 cylinder engine. They also did make a V8. They put it in the JGTC500 HSV-010 cars that replaced the NSX on the ring.
I had a black '94 with a tan leather interior that I bought at a great price. It had been used as a demo, and they drove it off the showroom floor into the parking lot for me to test drive. it was sharp, quick, and handled great, and I loved it. The backseat was small, making it more of a four-door 2+2 than a four-seater, but that fit my needs.
I drove it until the first engine died (in 2009), then bought a used engine from Japan for $750, had my mechanic install it, and drove it until that one died too, somewhere around 220,000 miles on the car. I had it towed to my mechanic, who said it was done for.
I called a scrap company that paid me $175 to tow it away, and drove to my mechanic the night before to clean out the glove compartment and center console, and sit in it one last time.
And yes, I had to wipe away a few tears writing this.
Always loved how the Vigor looked like.
I owned one a couple of year's ago. It was a 92 with 50k miles on the clock. I bought it from a very elderly old man who barely drove it since he bought it brand new back in the day so i got lucky, it sat for a while so i had to restore and replace some parts but i had it running like a top in no time. I didn't even have the car a year before someone ran a red light and struck me. I was devastated when i lost the car since my brother had 2 of these and i had a lot of memories with the Acura Vigor. A month after that a buddy felt bad and sold me his Acura Legend which I still own today.
My most favorite car I have ever owned and definitely the funnest to drive. It just looked cool. 93.. Acura Vigor. White, black tuxedo leather interior, custom wheels and spoiler on the trunk.
This is an absolutely phenomenal video. I just wanted to point out a fun quirk and I’m not sure you care or not but the Lexus model that you showed at 5:16 when talking about the competition is actually a front wheel drive model as well being that it is the second generation es300.
Edit:OK 10 seconds later I see you did know what car it was lol.
I actually did at the time think the es3000 was rear wheel drive for some reason...even though I show a shot of the engine which is clearly horizontally mounted 🤦♂Not sure what I was thinking!
Honda never could quite figure out how to do luxury interior. It was always a class below Lexus.
I had the GS model and my favorite was that it had the multi disc changer in the trunk!!! every time the hood was opened mechanics would scratch their heads ( 5 cyl) 😅.
Here in New Zealand I had a JDM 96 Inspire - same G25A power. With the exhaust it came with from Japan, it almost sounded like a flat-4 the way it idled. Loved it, it was such a wonderful sounding engine and the ride was Wonderful.
I've been somewhat of a Honda-Acura collector and have owned 200+ of them since I got my license 10 years ago. I owned a 1996 Acura TL 5 cylinder fully loaded that I restored mechanically and cosmetically.. the original paint shined like brand new, engine would come alive with a flick of the key, 25 mpg city 29 on the highway and it just turned over to 112k miles when I was cruising around in it going home from a doctors appointment when a new driver ran a stop sign doing 2-3x the speed limit of 25 and totaled it.. very sad day but I walked away from the accident with no injuries. I miss the car to this day and would love to own another one like it. Never had any problems with it at all A.C system was original and blew ice cold, never burned or leaked a drop of oil and you could glide down the highway at 70-80 not feel a single vibration or shake throughout the wheel or the whole car. I did everything I could to avoid the accident.. my car took the hit better then the 2018 Honda Civic that hit me did.. the whole engine bay was gone while I had fender-hood and bumper damage. Even the airbags had a high quality feel to them 🤣 sadly it went through auction.. I should've kept the car.
Beautiful car... what a shame! 😭
@AcuraAdvice Yes it is but I'd like to think it was repaired by someone and is living another life somewhere. I loved everything about it. Just had it fully detailed the day before. Used to have yellow fog lights in the oem projectors. My first accident ever and it took out one of my babies of course.
I wonder if it’s possible to make a dohc cylinder head for this engine 🤔 and imagine if this engine had dual vtec like the h and b series engines 😳
Great video man, subscribed
Glad you found out about the ultra rare manual transmission ES300, the best part too it was built in Japan with the most priority as most Lexus were built meaning that fresh manual es300 was probably so smooth and slept on, speaking of that is one of the sales gimmicks Acura should of taken into consideration “MADE IN JAPAN” because a lot of people actually care, I’m surprised myself I thought I was the only nut and everyone is normal and thinks it’s all the same built anywhere but no, the factory setup is different and the work efficiency is way different where in the USA(I mean can’t say I’d be any different as an American) but if the car was built on a Monday or a Friday better cross your fingers
That original Japanese Honda Vigor looks so much like a late 80’s USA version Honda Prelude!
They were basically just fancy Accords
John Davis is still waiting on a V8. And a full set of gauges.
Honda continues to claim neither are needed.
😂😂 so true!! He must really dislike the new Honda gauges because most models dont even bother with a temp gauge anymore!
They (allegedly) eventually planned to bring a V8 to market in the 2010s, but the 2008 economic crisis happened, so they canned that project and brought a hybrid to market in the MDX instead.
I had a neighbor with a 5spd Vigor...he had sold it and got an S14 before I moved away lol
I've been a Honda guy for over 25 years. They were my life for a good 15 years, i've been waiting for them to do a V8, even more so the older i've gotten.
And now that EV is coming it will never happen. It really has caused me to not respect Honda nearly as much as i used to. My next car will probably be a first gen Chevy Bolt.
I just bought a 94 Vigor and am looking to learn more about it!!!
Nice!!
I've owned 3 vigors, was my first car, and I would buy another if possible.
Maybe I missed this but its worth noting the LAUGHABLE back seat space was also a major reason they didnt sell
It was really a 2+2 rather than a four seater
Unfortunately the Vigor was targeted at a narrow niche market. Someone who wanted more than an Accord, but less than a Legend.
Just offer an upscale Accord variant. Yes, the Acura dealers might miss out on some sales, but Honda is still pocketing the money.
You should make a video on the Acura El
I aleady have! Its in my deep dives/model histories playlist
@AcuraAdvice ohh really I'd have to check it out
Shout outs to the Honda Inspire rebadge
Am I the only one that prefers the JDM Velour that you refer to as cloth?
This engine also came in the Honda inspire Honda rafga and Ascot
Yo i actually love my vigor. I got the only one in my town. I get asked about almost every time i drive it.
Should of been RWD
I owned the 3.2 Tl Type S now I have a TlX 2017 Acura is the only sedan I buy
SUV is a different story
hated working on the Acura 5 cylinder, just changing the oil was a major job, tune up idiotic, where they placed the filter and the main replacement scheduled part stupid you can have them
So do people 2.5 swap their vigors like they 3.5 swap legends? Sounds like it might be a good idea
Gauge cluster is designed after the NSX.
Did this compete with the Infiniti J30?
Why a 5 cylinder? Inherently less balanced than a v6 or even better a straight 6. The early Colorado znd canyons came with a 5 cylinder and you really feel it...
5 cylinder engines are one of those high hopes for engineers. IF you can keep it balanced, it's as good as a six. IF you use the right system it gets six (close enough) power with four (close enough) economy. Plus not needing as much space under the hood. Honda had a good history with decently powerful fours that are smooth enough that don't sound like a buzz bomb when you push them. I guess they thought they could do better than Audi or Volvo.
VW got around the size problem with their 15° six. Just a bit bigger than a traditional V, but still smaller than an inline.
I made so much money taking bets that it had 5 cylinders
Vigor was leaned more toward men than women the Lexus was much more desired by women
Hello, I own five currently and have owned six, total. :)
Omg thats insane! I think we have found the #1 Acura Vigor fan right here! 😂 I dont know if I've even seen more than 5 of them in my lifetime they are so rare nowdays haha! I'd love to find myself a jade green 5 speed someday.
@@AcuraAdvice I'll make a video soon if the collection and all my super rare accessories and JDM parts I've been collecting.
i have the only ever sold vigor in Finland🇫🇮
Why not just make it RWD, fkn Honda, might have sold better, I love 5 pots and the fact Honda made one intrigues me.
Bruh owning a legend in 2020 is ass most parts are hard to find and that car was actually poppular now imagine owning a vigor? 😂
That was a terrible car awkward work on very quirky made a mess when you just change the oil and it didn't match up to anything that Honda built before and I hated working on those cars
Vigors were too ugly compared to the rest of Acuras line up i think thas why