The Honda Ascot was a intermediate saloon car manufactured by Honda and marketed in Japan only from 1989 to 1997. There were two generations of the car, based on the contemporary Honda Accord and Honda Inspire, respectively. Additionally, from 1993 to 1996 a "pillared hardtop" model based on the Accord was marketed in Japan as Honda Ascot Innova, being equivalent to the Swindon-made European- market Accord at that time. The "Ascot" name was chosen with reference to the Ascot Racecourse and Ascot tie, in order to add the model an alleged air of class and elegance. The Honda Ballade was a subcompact automobile built by Honda of Japan. It began as a four-door version of the Civic in 1980. In the UK it was launched at the same time as the very similar Triumph Acclaim with which it shared a Honda built engine. Of the original 1980 models, 1.3 L and 1.5 L engines were offered in Japan. 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 - EXI - 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 EXI 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).
