By EWAN KENNEDY 
21 August 2006

Honda is back in the prestige market with a new-generation Legend sedan that’s positively crammed full of high-tech equipment.

For example, the climate-controlled air conditioning system uses global positioning satellites to establish in which direction the car is facing. That way it can tailor the air conditioning to the position of the sun as it enters the car windows.

Fascinating stuff that will not only appeal to the tech-heads, but also give passengers a more comfortable life. Not to mention save fuel by only running the air conditioning at sufficient levels to suit the car’s immediate requirements.

Honda Legend also has what is arguably the most sophisticated ESP system of any car on the market. It uses all-wheel drive that can provide different levels of traction to each of the rear wheels to best help the car around corners safely. As well as to divide torque between the front and rear wheels.

Honda gives the system the very-Japanese title of "Super Handling – All Wheel Drive", usually abbreviated to "SH-AWD".

Our initial test drive out of Honda's head office in Melbourne showed the car to have a lot of road grip, yet at the same time provide comfort of the sort demanded by drivers of cars in this luxury class. Mind you, there were some road surfaces where the new Legend’s suspension was struggling to tame rough Australian conditions.

Then there is the standard reversing camera, and the bonnet that pops up 100 mm at its rear edge if the Legend senses the car has struck a pedestrian. Thus helping cushion the shock as the unfortunate person hits the bonnet.

Not to forget a noise-reduction system that uses speakers to send out signals to cancel out unwanted noise in the interior where possible. It’s hard to work out just how much influence the noise-reduction had over the interior sound levels, but this is certainly a quiet, refined car to ride in.

The headlights are adaptive both horizontally and vertically. Therefore they not only turn with the steering wheel to give you a better view around corners, but also move up and down to try and counteract suspension movements caused by changes in the road surface.

Of course, there's much more to the latest Honda Legend than simply ultra-high technology. This is a full-on luxury sedan – indeed, it probably deserves the tag of ‘saloon’ rather than mere ‘sedan’. There is high-quality material throughout the cabin, including genuine timber to complement the soft leather of the seats.

Legend’s interior layout carries the company’s usual top quality finish. Yet functionally is to the fore, as the dials are large and easy to read and the controls are in logical spots and operate in a pleasant fashion.

Power comes from a 3.5-litre V6 engine with 217 kW and 351 Nm. It sits alongside a five-speed automatic transmission that has a tip-shift semi-manual function. However, we would have expected a six-speed auto in a car in this class in this day and age.

The best news of all is the price. Honda Australia, aided by favourable currency movements, as well as greater cost efficiency in the Japanese factory, has slashed an impressive $12,000 from the price of the previous Legend.

At only $74,500 it costs many thousands of dollars less than competitors such as the BMW 5 Series or Mercedes S-Class.

Honda Australia sees a ready made customer base in people moving up from its Accord models into this new flagship. But would also love to capture customers from the big name Germans. Certainly any lover of the latest in high-tech car features should have this legend sitting on their short list of cars to consider.