Acura Vigor VIN Decoder

Decode any Acura Vigor VIN free in under three seconds. Type the 17-character vehicle identification number into the decoder above and pull the model year, engine, trim, transmission, assembly plant, and any open NHTSA recalls. No account, no credit card, no email gate.

The Vigor is one of the odder cars in Acura’s history: a mid-size sedan built for exactly three model years around a 2.5-liter inline-five engine mounted longitudinally, sideways to how nearly every other front-wheel-drive Honda or Acura is built. This page covers the real WMI, chassis code, and model-year characters that show up on genuine Vigor VINs, verified directly against NHTSA’s vPIC decoder rather than guessed at.

About the Acura Vigor

Acura sold the Vigor in North America from mid-1991 through May 1994, badged as a 1992 through 1994 model. It slotted between the compact Integra and the flagship Legend, aimed at buyers cross-shopping the Lexus ES 300 and Infiniti J30. Only one body style was offered, a four-door sedan, and only one engine ever powered it: a 2.5-liter, 20-valve, single-overhead-cam inline-five rated at 176 horsepower and 170 lb-ft of torque across all three model years.

What makes that engine worth a paragraph of its own is how it sits in the car. Nearly every transverse front-wheel-drive Honda or Acura mounts its engine sideways, crank running left to right. The Vigor’s five-cylinder is mounted longitudinally, front to back, the way you’d expect on a rear-drive car, even though the Vigor itself is front-wheel drive. Honda did this because the Vigor descended from the Japan-market Honda Vigor and Honda Inspire, where a narrower, longitudinal engine bay kept the car under a Japanese vehicle-tax width bracket that a wider transverse layout would have busted. Honda never repeated the layout: the Vigor’s successor, the TL, went back to a conventional transverse V6.

Model years	Engine	Output	Transmission	Trims	Assembly plant
1992-1994	2.5L SOHC 20-valve inline-5 (commonly cited as G25A1)	176 hp @ 6,300 rpm / 170 lb-ft @ 3,900 rpm	5-speed manual (standard) or 4-speed automatic (optional)	LS (base), GS (upscale, leather and moonroof available)	Sayama, Saitama, Japan

A note on that engine code: enthusiast sites, OEM parts catalogs, and Honda’s own G-series documentation consistently label the Vigor’s engine G25A1. NHTSA’s vPIC decoder, however, returns “G24A1” in the Engine Model field for every Vigor VIN we decoded, which looks like a data-entry quirk rather than a real variant, since it contradicts every parts and factory-literature source we checked. Separately, some general references mention a “G25A4” engine alongside this car; that code is real, but it belongs to the 1995-1998 Acura TL that replaced the Vigor, which ran G25A1 for its entire three-year run with no mid-cycle power bump.

Because it sold in low volume for only three years, the Vigor is a comparatively rare VIN pattern to find today. Everything on this page is checked against real, checksum-valid Vigor VINs pulled from public listings (Cars & Bids, Bring a Trailer, Classic.com, and dealer inventory) and decoded through NHTSA’s vPIC API, but the pool of surviving cars is small, so treat the tables below as accurate for what we could verify rather than an exhaustive catalog of every trim-and-option permutation Acura built.

Acura Vigor WMI codes (positions 1 to 3)

The first three characters of a VIN form the World Manufacturer Identifier, assigned by SAE on behalf of ISO. Every genuine US-market Vigor VIN we decoded, across all three model years, both transmissions, and both trims, carried the same WMI:

WMI	Country	Manufacturer	Notes
JH4	Japan	Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (sold as Acura)	Every North American Vigor, all three model years

The Vigor was built at a single Honda plant for its entire run, so its WMI doesn’t vary between listings the way it does on a nameplate assembled across several factories. If a VIN presented as a US-spec Vigor doesn’t start with JH4, decode it with the tool at the top of this page before trusting the listing; it may be a different Acura or Honda model, a JDM-spec Honda Vigor or Inspire never federalized for the US, or a data-entry error.

How to read an Acura Vigor VIN: position by position

Every Vigor VIN uses the 17-character ISO 3779 standard, split into a World Manufacturer Identifier, a Vehicle Descriptor Section, a check digit, and a Vehicle Identifier Section.

Positions 1 to 3: World Manufacturer Identifier

See the WMI table above. J marks the country of manufacture as Japan, H identifies Honda Motor Co., and 4 narrows it to the division and vehicle class sold as Acura. Because the Vigor was only built in one plant for one export market, this block is the most stable part of the VIN.

Positions 4 to 8: Vehicle Descriptor Section (VDS)

Every Vigor VIN we decoded opened its VDS with CC2, matching Honda’s internal chassis code for this generation of Vigor (the same CC-series family used on the related Japan-market Honda Vigor and Inspire). That much is consistent and verified. What we can’t responsibly hand you is a clean single-character split between LS and GS trim at positions 7 and 8: across our sample, cars with different trims and transmissions didn’t sort into a tidy one-code-per-trim pattern, and NHTSA’s own decoder doesn’t return a trim value from those two characters either. Trim on a Vigor is best confirmed by the full decode above, a build sheet, or the factory options sticker, not by eyeballing positions 7 and 8 alone.

Position 9: Check digit

The check digit catches typos. It’s calculated from the other 16 characters using a fixed weighting table and modulo-11 math. Every VIN used to build this page passed NHTSA’s check-digit validation; mistype a single character anywhere in a Vigor VIN and the math stops matching, which is why any compliant decoder rejects it.

Position 10: Model year

The 10th character maps to model year on the standard 30-year cycle every VIN-compliant vehicle uses. Because the Vigor was built for exactly three consecutive model years, its table is short and complete, with no gaps to skip over:

Char	Model year
N	1992
P	1993
R	1994

We confirmed N, P, and R directly against real Vigor VINs decoding to 1992, 1993, and 1994 through NHTSA’s vPIC database. The letters I, O, and Q are never used because they can be misread as 1 and 0.

One thing worth flagging for anyone cross-checking a VIN by hand: the year-character cycle repeats every 30 years, so N, P, and R also mean 2022, 2023, and 2024 on a modern Honda or Acura. That’s never a real ambiguity for a Vigor specifically, since no current Acura reuses the CC2 chassis code, but it’s a reason to lean on the full decoder above rather than reading position 10 in isolation.

Position 11: Assembly plant

Every Vigor VIN we decoded, across all three model years, carried the same single character:

Char	Plant
C	Sayama plant, Saitama, Japan (Honda Motor Co.)

Honda’s Sayama plant, in Saitama Prefecture, built every North American Vigor, the same complex that built the JDM Honda Vigor and Inspire it was based on. The Vigor was never assembled anywhere else, so this position doesn’t discriminate between cars the way it does on a nameplate built at multiple sites.

Positions 12 to 17: Serial number

The final six characters are the production sequence stamped on your specific Vigor as it left the line. Combined with the previous 11 characters, this makes every Vigor VIN globally unique, even between two cars of the same model year and trim.

Where to find the VIN on an Acura Vigor

• Lower-left corner of the windshield, visible from outside the car
• Driver’s side door jamb sticker
• Stamped on the engine bay firewall or radiator support
• Vehicle title, registration, insurance card

The windshield and door jamb are the fastest to check on a used-car lot. The firewall stamp is the one to check if you suspect a cloned or re-titled car; it’s physically tied to the vehicle and far harder to alter than an adhesive label, which matters on a 30-plus-year-old car that’s changed hands several times.

Check Acura Vigor recalls and safety information

As of this writing, NHTSA’s recall database returns zero open recall campaigns for the 1992, 1993, or 1994 Acura Vigor. We checked NHTSA’s recall API directly for all three model years rather than assuming; none turned anything up. That doesn’t mean a Vigor can’t have a recall added later, and it doesn’t cover technical service bulletins, which aren’t safety recalls but can still flag known mechanical issues on a car this age. All-disc antilock brakes and a driver-side airbag were standard across every model year, a notable spec for an early-1990s mid-size sedan.

To check your specific Vigor:

1. Decode the VIN with the tool above to confirm the exact model year and trim
2. Cross-reference the 17-character VIN with NHTSA’s recall database
3. Contact an Acura dealer or independent Honda/Acura specialist for any open campaign repair, since the Vigor is old enough that not every dealer keeps parts in stock

Recall repairs are free regardless of vehicle age, mileage, or ownership history, on the rare chance one is ever issued for this generation.

Frequently asked questions

How do I decode an Acura Vigor VIN?

Type the 17-character VIN from the windshield, door jamb, or title into the decoder at the top of this page. Results return in seconds and include model year, engine, transmission, plant of origin, and any open NHTSA recalls. No sign-up.

What made the Acura Vigor’s engine unusual?

It’s a 2.5-liter inline-five, an unusual cylinder count on its own, mounted longitudinally (front to back) even though the Vigor is front-wheel drive. Almost every other transverse-engine Honda or Acura of the era mounted its engine sideways; the Vigor’s layout traces back to a Japanese vehicle-tax rule that rewarded a narrower engine bay on the JDM Honda Vigor and Inspire this car was based on. Acura never repeated the layout after the Vigor was discontinued.

Where is the VIN on an Acura Vigor?

The two easiest spots are the lower-left corner of the windshield, readable from outside the car, and the driver-side door jamb sticker. The firewall stamp in the engine bay carries the same number and is harder to tamper with, which is worth checking on a car this old before you buy it.

Why was the Acura Vigor discontinued?

Acura built the Vigor for only three model years, 1992 through 1994, before folding its market position into the redesigned TL for 1996. Sales never caught up to the Lexus ES 300, and Acura chose to consolidate rather than keep developing the Vigor’s unusual inline-five platform.

Is the Acura Vigor’s engine code G25A1 or G25A4?

G25A1, for all three model years, with no mid-cycle change. G25A4 belongs to a different car, the 1995-1998 Acura TL that replaced the Vigor; the two share the same G-series family but aren’t the same engine. NHTSA’s own VIN decoder separately returns “G24A1,” which looks like a database quirk rather than a genuine third variant, since no parts catalog or factory documentation backs it up.

Does the Acura Vigor have any open recalls?

Not as of this writing. NHTSA’s recall database shows zero open campaigns for 1992, 1993, or 1994. Still worth a check through the tool above, since campaigns can be added at any time.

Is the Acura Vigor VIN decoder really free?

Yes. VinDecoderPlus decodes every Acura Vigor VIN free of charge with no sign-up. The basic decode covers everything the factory stamped into the VIN. A full vehicle history report (accident records, odometer history, prior ownership, salvage status) is available as a paid upgrade, useful on a car this age where paper title history can be thin.

Decode any Acura Vigor VIN free

Type your 17-character Vigor VIN into the decoder at the top of this page for an instant breakdown. To go deeper into VIN structure or check other Acura models:

• Acura VIN decoder hub for the brand-wide guide
• How to read a VIN number for the general standard
• What every character in a VIN means for a position-by-position reference
• Classic car VIN decoder for pre-1981 vehicles
• VIN decoder vs. vehicle history report for what a decode covers vs. what it doesn’t
• How to check if a car is stolen by VIN for verifying a used Vigor before you buy