Used Car of the Day: 1988 Acura Legend

by Tim Healey

Published: May 6th, 2024

Today we have a project car for you: A 1988 Acura Legend.

Our seller bought it for his/her son to learn how to drive on -- and to fix up. But apparently it's too much work for the kid. That's not a shot, I can relate to being young and too broke to fix up your ride.

This car does run and drive, and it has a manual transmission. It also has new tires, new rims, and a new battery.

There's about 190K miles on it.

Click here if this sort of thing interests you. The car is in Southern California and the asking price is $1,900.

[Images: Seller]

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Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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2 of 18 comments

Spectator on May 07, 2024

This was an amazing vehicle. Back then Acura knew how to make a plush and comfy seat!

1 Reply
Keith on Jul 23, 2024

Good starter car for a young enthusiast who's willing to learn a few skills. $2.5 would be fair. Only if it was a mint 5 speed coupe, then $5k may be warranted.

Had an 89 Legend sedan.These are pretty much peak Honda anvils, but at it's age it will probably quickly throw an alternator. ignition module or O2 sensor. And you'll want proof the timing belt is up to date, or make plans to immediately replace it, along with waterpump. But with cheap parts online express delivered, YouTube repair videos, plus a good tool set, most issues could be easily handled by someone who can change their own oil. My Legend had a cramped engine compartment, but was far more logical and easier to work on than any Audi I've owned.

My only major complaint about my Legend was its terrible gas milage, otherwise I loved it. Low 20s on flat interstate with criuse control set at 70. A modern VW Atlas gets over 30 hwy, and my Legend was barely bigger than an Accord from that period. On a longer commute, I could see someone growing weary with one after burning through much more gasoline than one would think it would need. And by modern standards, they would be considered slow, and their automatic transmissions while reliable, hampered them further as iit could never seem to downshift without a long pause, followed by a sudden clunk after it was finally persuaded.

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