Honda was the first to create a luxury sub-brand with Acura in 1987.
My first new car was a 1984 Honda Civic I bought while I was a sophomore in College ($6,900 "out the door").
I took the Civic with me to my first job out of school, working for Fords in 1987.
I had access to the test track in Dearborn, where I worked. Might have been in 1988, I got to borrow an Acura Legend coupe for an hour. I took it to the test track and drove it around (there was a low speed and a high speed track; on the high speed track, you can hit about 130...).
I remember being very impressed with just about everything about the car. One of the features that sticks in my mind is the quarter windows. They went down nearly all the way. In order to accomplish this, the glass went down and then rotated to go down as much as possible...
Also, the pleated leather seats looked and felt very luxurious.
I can't remember if the car was a manual or not...
This reminds me of getting to drive a Honda Prelude with four-wheel-steering around the same time.
The 4WS was pretty amazing. Almost drove into the curb the first time I made a 90 degree right hand turn...
