Mugen Legend Max: The Closest We've Come To A Road-Going V8 Honda. #TZJblog

For decades now, many respecting car enthusiasts and Honda fans alike, after witnessing and experiencing the engineering gold that they’ve masterfully crafted into reality from the “lowly” Civic Type R way up to the game-changing NSX, have requested Honda to develop V8 engines for their road cars, of which has yet to be fulfilled. Many an online search via Google or similar search engine will lead you to many sources which show representatives stating that, in a nutshell, they have no need to develop said motors. Why they don’t see the need is beyond me, as I personally would be head over heels to see a Honda sports car sporting a Honda V8, as would many others. Several theories have been made by outsiders as to why they say this. Honda isn’t too wrong. I mean, they’ve been having great business for some time now getting by with automobile engines no larger than their V6s, with their largest displacing V6 being 3.7 liters. However, with the competition only getting fiercer, we’ll see just how well and for how long Honda stays firm to their words.

Though, at one point in time, we almost had a road-going V8 Honda. Well, technically it was a one-off. Also, it was technically not an in-house project. And technically said V8 wasn’t designed for the road to begin with. But here, let me explain just what I’m talking about here, if you could, please.

I introduce to you, ladies and gents, the Mugen Legend Max Concept.

Introduced to the public at the 2005 Tokyo Auto Salon, the Legend Max was a project executed by the Japanese Honda engine tuning and parts manufacturing company, Mugen, in order to bring together what was described as “a combination of racing technology and tuning philosophy” upon its unveiling.

Briefly going over Mugen’s background, it was established back in 1973 by Hirotoshi Honda, son of the Honda Motor Company founder, Soichiro Honda, and by Masao Kimura, a then Japanese professional wrestler who was best known by his ring name of “Rusher Kimura” and was a five-time IWA World Heavyweight Champion. Mugen, meaning “Without Limit”, “Unlimited”, or “Vast”, set out to do just as their company name suggested: To produce high quality OEM Honda parts, as well as tune some of the best known Honda cars and motors out there. Mugen is not, and has never been an official part of Honda, despite family connections and working exclusively with Hondas, and owner Hirotoshi Honda has been the major shareholder in Honda since his father’s death back in 1991.

Coming back to the Mugen Legend Max, this car started out as a normal (chassis code KB1) Honda Legend, which was also called, and essentially was the Acura RL, rebadged for the foreign American market.

Being Honda’s and Acura’s full-size car, as well as Acura’s flagship model at the time of its introduction, it came standard with Honda’s “Super Handling All-Wheel-Drive” (“SH-AWD”), a transverse, front-mounted, 60-degree SOHC VTEC J35A Honda V6 that produced 290hp (220kW), and a 5, later 6-speed automatic with sequential sport shift. It won the honor being Japan’s Car of the Year for 2004-2005 and saw positive reception with buyers in the markets of which it was sold.

Let’s begin with the outer appearance of the Legend Max. The body was painted in what’s labelled “Firecracker Red”, and received exclusive work which added aggro to its appearance, on top of slightly widening the car from the original 1,847mm (72.7 in) to 1,905mm (75 in). The wheels have one-off 18x9.5JJ alloy rims which seem like Mugen NRs, wrapped in 275/35ZR18 Dunlop Direzza tires.

As for the motor that powers this monstrosity, is a detuned Mugen MF408S, a 4.0L naturally-aspirated, 32v, DOHC Le Mans V8, down to 500hp from 600+, with a redline of 10,000rpm, mated to a specially-developed 6-speed manual gearbox. While no other specs are officially known of this particular MF408S, the very engine in racing form, as seen in the Vemac RD408R, pushed 590hp @9,500rpm, 383 lb-ft @7,500rpm, and dimension-wise was 559mm in length, 720mm width, 577mm height, and 131kg (288.8 lb) in weight. You can bet that it must sound glorious.

As for other information of the Legend Max, brakes were 5 slit rotors with competition pads and micro mesh brake lines, the interior is black and blue, bucket seats served duty as the front seats, and overall dimensions were a wheelbase of 2,800mm (approx. 110.2 in), length of 4,980mm (approx. 196.1 in), and width of 1,905mm (75 in). Unfortunately, the Legend Max was only an experimental one-off concept, and was never tested to give us information such as 0-60mph/100kmh times, 1/4 mi times, top speed, and the likes, although there’s no mistaking that not only would this have been the most powerful, official road-going Honda ever, it would’ve even gone up against top-tier sports cars with ease. As to where the Legend Max rests now is but another of its mysteries. Wherever it is, though, it’s a spectacular marvel that not only would’ve spiced up Honda’s line up, it also would’ve changed the world’s view of Honda forever.

Honda, where are our frickin’ Honda V8s?

A majority of the information provided in this article was provided by vtec.net. Thanks, vtec.net!