New Company Car

Whew, I'm finally back at the pc, with enough time to catch my breath. So much happens so quickly around here! Tracy and I had a great time riding our DH bikes on the weekend, but again didn't slow down enough to take pictures. I'll make that a priority next trip to the tall mountains.

My company provides a car to the Personnel Director, and that car since 1991 has been a Honda Legend. It was handed down through the ages until Tracy and I began referring to it as the 'Dark Legend of FIA'. The previous DoP was able to secure an Audi A4 from the president for business use, and so the Dark Legend was relegated to be the assistants' work car.

The automobile certification and registration process in Japan requires all cars to have a substantially expensive 'inspection' every two years. The viable road-life of a car then becomes dictated not at all on reality, but on where the utility curve crosses an artificial cost-of-ownership curve. There is no resale value. At least this makes the life-cycle predictable, so the replacement car was ordered last February in anticipation of the Dark Legend's 14th, and final, birthday.

The replacement was carefully chosen to maintain the president's timeline of Honda cars, and to be the pinnacle of the lineup, as the original Legend had been. It arrived last Friday, with only 9km on the clock.


2005 Honda (Acura RL) Legend http://www.acura.com/models/model_index.asp?module=rl

This is the first Legend to be sold in this part of Japan with the 'night-vision' option. That was the biggest factor in the 3-month build time. Also, the car was outfitted with the company logo, and the names of past directors from 1972 to present, painted on the sides.. Here you can see my name as the present 'Director of Feeling Imagination Action Spirit'!


Directors' Names

Anyway, the list of technological breakthroughs on this machine is extensive.. Intelligent AWD, infrared cameras, internet-navigation-communication, keyless everything. I am most interested in what's under the hood, though. Let's just say that this town is waaayyyy too small for 300 hp. I hope to get out of second gear sometime soon though, and will report my impressions then!