drivetofive

Odometer:  496,456

After two days in a loaner “Borealis Blue Pearl” 2011 Acura TL, I picked up my Legend this afternoon from Acura of Tempe, Arizona.  I had been spoiled by the speed, the agility, and the modern creature comforts of the TL!  At only 9,500 miles on the odometer, it was barely broken in.   I even volunteered to be the shuttle to our team luncheon at work yesterday – something I rarely do with my Legend because the back seat on the 2-door is hardly accommodating.

The technician wasn’t able to duplicate some of the creaking sounds I’ve noted in recent weeks from the rear suspension, but I’ve decided to go ahead and have the upper control arms replaced with OEM units in the near future regardless.  I thought some of the comments were entertaining.  Indeed, the driver’s side seat bolster on my (new-in-2004) Katzkin leather kit is getting worn.  “Due to mileage and age of vehicle…” yep, some wear and tear is expected after having traveled this distance:

Driving home from the dealership tonight, back behind the wheel of my old Legend, I had a feeling I can only compare to slipping on an old, worn-out pair of sneakers.  They don’t look the greatest, but they just feel “right.”  I am very much at home in my car and after so many miles in that driver’s seat, it fits me like a glove.  Another page was added to the archive of maintenance records.  I ought to split this out by Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.

I certainly can’t complain about having some creaks and groans from the suspension.  After all, it’s almost entirely original.  Even the struts date back to 1994.  And I haven’t been easy on them — oh, no.  Not at all.  I’ve off-roaded, bottomed out, hauled heavy loads, and yes – even autocross raced in my coupe over the last 400k miles.  In May 2009, at that year’s National Acura Legend Meet (NALM) in Springfield, Missouri, I raced the car in an event hosted by the Ozark Mountain Region Sports Car Club of America (SCCA).  It had only about 375,000 miles on it at the time.  Following are some pictures of the punishment I put it through.

Can you say body roll?  Credit to my friend Rich from PA for this great shot.

In the following shot, you can clearly see my friend Brian from TX in the passenger seat who was probably holding on for dear life.

With a best lap time of 47 seconds, I managed to beat 11 out of the other 56 participants.  Not bad for a completely stock “boat” of a luxo-coupe with that kind of mileage!  My friend Branson caught one of the runs on video in which my Michelin tires are screaming for mercy.  So, the drive to 5 hasn’t been all smooth sailing for this old Legend.

This entry was posted on September 28, 2011 at 2:41 am and is filed under Legend. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.