Honda's Attempt at Luxury Midsize Cars: The First-Generation Inspire

Original: Honda Magazine | Japanese Car Enthusiasts Magazine
Updated: Today at 10:00:00

🚘 The Honda Inspire: First launched in 1989, it derived from the Accord chassis and competed against the Nissan Laurel and Toyota Cresta.
🌟 Luxury Highlights: Frameless doors, plush interiors, and a revolutionary longitudinal 5-cylinder engine design!
📏 Dimensions: Evolved from 4690mm to 4830mm in 1992, matching the Honda Legend.


The Honda Inspire is often referred to as the “Dongfeng Honda Accord” by Chinese consumers, as their understanding of the name stems from the currently available Dongfeng Honda Inspire. However, the Inspire's history dates back to 1989, when the first-generation Inspire was launched.

The first-generation Inspire was a derivative of the Accord chassis, one of many derivatives, including Honda’s Vigor, Saber, Acura’s TL, and even the early Prelude coupe, which also originated from the Accord family. Many readers may wonder why Japanese automakers, like Honda and Toyota, create so many different names from the same chassis. This practice is closely related to their dealer networks.

For instance, if I am a Honda dealer with 100 stores nationwide and each store sells 1,000 Accords annually, the total is 100,000 units. To avoid competing on price or overlapping too much with other groups, I could approach Honda to customize a specific version of the Accord, with features tailored to my customer base, and request exclusive sales rights. Inspire, Vigor, and other models were products of such exclusivity agreements, and the Inspire was sold through Honda’s Verno network in Japan.

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The Inspire was positioned as a luxury midsize car, intended to compete with contemporaries like the Nissan Laurel and Toyota Cresta. Honda’s Inspire featured the low and sleek body typical of high-end Japanese cars of the time. Its short front overhang design often gave the illusion of a rear-wheel-drive layout, though the Inspire was a front-wheel-drive vehicle.

The first-generation Inspire and the third-generation Vigor (CB5), both derived from the Accord, were marketed under different sales networks.

The first Inspire adopted the "HardTop" styling common in Japanese luxury sedans at the time. A HardTop refers to frameless doors and a B-pillar-less structure. However, the first-generation Inspire wasn’t a true HardTop—its B-pillar was extremely thin and hard to notice when the doors were closed.

The first-generation Inspire was available in three trims:

AX-i
AG-i
AZ-i

The AX-i and AG-i trims featured wood-grain panels manufactured by Tendo Woodwork, a Japanese premium furniture brand. AX-i used North American wood, while AG-i used West African wood. The base AZ-i model came with black resin panels. The interior reflected the classic layout of late 80s Accords, with the sunroof button positioned on the driver's outer side before the introduction of U.S.-spec Accords—a detail familiar to CD5 owners.

Most versions came with 4-speed automatic transmissions, though the 2.0L model was also available with a 5-speed manual.

Luxury Japanese cars of the era often avoided leather seats, opting instead for plush materials that were warm in winter and cool in summer.

The Inspire retained the Accord’s chassis, designated CB, but introduced a straight-five engine not available in the Accord lineup. True to Honda’s philosophy, this engine prioritized high revs and output.

Key Design Highlights
Despite being a front-wheel-drive car, the five-cylinder engine was longitudinally mounted in the engine bay.
To achieve the short front overhang design, the differential was placed next to the engine, requiring the drive shaft to pass through the oil pan—a revolutionary layout at the time.

The engine tilted 35 degrees to the right, reducing the center of gravity, a design adopted by Honda’s luxury cars for years.
The early version of the Inspire shared the chassis with the fourth-generation Accord (CB series) and used the transverse straight-five G20A engine, with a body size nearly identical to the Accord at 4690mm/1695mm/1355mm. However, its higher engine specs and price resulted in poor sales.

To address this, Honda expanded the Inspire’s dimensions in 1992, aligning it with the Legend in size and introducing the more powerful G25A engine. This version was designated CC2, while the G20A version remained as CC3. This change explains the gap between CB and CD in Accord chassis codes—the CC designation was used for the Inspire.

After this upsize, the Inspire became the best-selling generation, with over 200,000 units produced.

The early Inspire’s smaller body and unremarkable performance led to average sales. In its mid-cycle update in 1992, the car borrowed the Legend's larger dimensions, growing to 4830mm/1775mm/1375mm.

Legacy
The first-generation Honda Inspire marked Honda’s entry into the luxury midsize car market, gaining consumer recognition at the time. In Japan, the Inspire nameplate spanned five generations over 23 years, while in overseas markets like North America and other parts of Asia, later generations were marketed as the Acura Vigor/TL or the U.S.-spec Accord.