Honda Ballade
| Honda Ballade series SS/ST (1st gen) AJ/AK (2nd gen) |
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| Overview | |
| Also called |
Triumph Acclaim (1st gen) Honda Civic (2nd gen) Rover 200-series (2nd gen) |
| Production | September 1980-September 1983 (1st gen) September 1983-1986 (2nd gen) |
| Assembly |
Suzuka, Japan Cowley, Oxford, United Kingdom Longbridge, United Kingdom |
| Body and chassis | |
| Class | Compact |
| Body style | 4-door sedan |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | 1.3L EJ I4 (1st gen) 1.5L EM I4 (1st gen) 1.3L EV I4 (2nd gen) 1.5L EW I4 (2nd gen) |
| Transmission | 2-speed Hondamatic (1st gen) 3-speed Automatic (2nd gen) 5-speed manual (1st and 2nd gen) |
| Dimensions | |
| Wheelbase | 2,320 mm (91 in) (1st gen) 2,450 mm (96 in) (2nd gen) |
| Length | 4,095 mm (161 in) (1st gen) 4,160 mm (164 in) (2nd gen) |
| Width | 1,600 mm (63 in) (1st gen) 1,630 mm (64 in) (2nd gen) |
| Height | 1,345 mm (53 in) (1st gen) 1,385 mm (55 in) (2nd gen) |
| Chronology | |
| Successor | Honda Concerto (sedan) |
The Honda Ballade was a subcompact automobile built by Honda of Japan. It began as a four-door higher equipment content version of the Civic in 1980. The Ballade was developed at the same time the Honda Vigor appeared, which was a higher content Honda Accord. The Ballade was sold exclusively in Japan at Honda Verno dealerships alongside the Vigor, Prelude, CR-X, and Quint. In the UK it was launched at the same time as the very similar Triumph Acclaim with which it shared a Honda built engine.
The name of the car was taken from "ballade", the French word for a ballad. Because both the four-door Ballade sedan and the five-door hatchback Quintet were both high luxury content vehicles derived from the Honda Civic, the Ballade represented a type of music, and the Quintet represented a musical group. The Ballade competed in Japan with the Toyota Sprinter, and the Nissan Laurel Spirit as the Civic competed with the Corolla, and the Sunny.
It was launched in September 1980, nine months after the agreement between Honda and British Leyland to produce their own versions of the car and work on future cars together. Although the original Ballade was never sold in Europe, British Leyland produced its own version of the Ballade - the Triumph Acclaim]] - from 1981 to 1984.
After 1984, the Ballade shared most of its body panels with the Civic, except for a sportier front end, and formed the basis of the CR-X sports car and the original Rover 200. Of this second generation Ballade the top model - EX-i - featured a 1.5L naturally aspirated 12 valve all-aluminium engine with multi-point fuel injection (using Honda's PGM-FI system) developing 100 brake horsepower (75 kW), the same engine was used on the first generation Civic CRX. Other features of the EX-i included electric windows all-round, electric and heated wing mirrors, metallic paint, vented front disc brakes and hydraulic power-assisted steering. Lower specification models featured the same 1.5L engine but with fuelling provided via a carburretor, giving 85 brake horsepower (63 kW). In keeping with the styling trend shared with other Honda Verno products, the second generation car adopted partially concealled headlights starting in 1983, shared with the Vigor, Quint Integra, Ballade Sports CR-X, and the Prelude.
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