I'd love a Prelude!
Discussion
I was getting a bit misty-eyed and nostalgic earlier, because for no evident reason I found myself recalling my Honda Prelude ownership days.
I had a 92 Prelude, 2.2 VTEC and when that got a bit long in the tooth I imported the latest 4-th generation Prelude I could find from Japan, a '96 2.2 VTEC again.
They were lovely cars to drive! Loads of power, great roadholding, and looked great! I never liked the look of the 5th-gen version that came along in 1996.
I'd love to get one again! But a cursory look around revealed none of that spec available!
(See, I'd like an auto - it's a good electronically-controlled box).
So if anyone knows of one around, please let me know!
Andy
I had a 92 Prelude, 2.2 VTEC and when that got a bit long in the tooth I imported the latest 4-th generation Prelude I could find from Japan, a '96 2.2 VTEC again.
They were lovely cars to drive! Loads of power, great roadholding, and looked great! I never liked the look of the 5th-gen version that came along in 1996.
I'd love to get one again! But a cursory look around revealed none of that spec available!
(See, I'd like an auto - it's a good electronically-controlled box).
So if anyone knows of one around, please let me know!
Andy
I am aPrelude fan
Ive had a black Jap 1992 2.2 SI, a dark blue 1996 UK 2.2 VTI, and 2 UK year 2000 red top 2.2 VTI Motegi's, both blue.
All manual.
Wouldnt bother with the auto, really doesnt exploit that engine.
I keep looking hoping a minter will turn up, and I would snap it up.
Problem is most are dogs now.
Ive had a black Jap 1992 2.2 SI, a dark blue 1996 UK 2.2 VTI, and 2 UK year 2000 red top 2.2 VTI Motegi's, both blue.
All manual.
Wouldnt bother with the auto, really doesnt exploit that engine.
I keep looking hoping a minter will turn up, and I would snap it up.
Problem is most are dogs now.
I was stuck for a car quite a few years ago and ended up in Chelmsford car auctions needing to come away with some form of transport, regardless of what it was.
It panned out that I 'won' a V6 Calibra after the Prelude that I was looking at went for too much money, I really wanted a digi dash and 4 wheel steering
It panned out that I 'won' a V6 Calibra after the Prelude that I was looking at went for too much money, I really wanted a digi dash and 4 wheel steering
Fantastic little cars. I remember years ago when I used to flick through the Parker's book in WH Smiths and in the 'coupe' section the 2.2 VTEC mk4 was ranked as 4.5 stars.
Bought a rough one as a weekend car many moons later for £650, not realising it was the JDM 'BB4' lightweight version with 2ws and a factory LSD. It had a tendency to try and pull me into hedges on full throttle but apart from that the engine characteristics (torque and vtec cam change), build quality, comfort and handling was a class above the EP3 civic i'd had previously from new.
Not surprising so many previous Prelude owners want another one! Just a shame there are so very few decent ones around now.
Bought a rough one as a weekend car many moons later for £650, not realising it was the JDM 'BB4' lightweight version with 2ws and a factory LSD. It had a tendency to try and pull me into hedges on full throttle but apart from that the engine characteristics (torque and vtec cam change), build quality, comfort and handling was a class above the EP3 civic i'd had previously from new.
Not surprising so many previous Prelude owners want another one! Just a shame there are so very few decent ones around now.
I miss my old one loads - I had a 94 4th gen in dark metallic green. It was a 2.3 manual and had the usual 4WS, cruise, leccy everything etc. Extremely reliable, suffered the usual rot around the rear arches (got that sorted though) and one I truly regret selling.
They are huge fun but the majority of cars for sale now are dogs - VERY few decent ones available.
They are huge fun but the majority of cars for sale now are dogs - VERY few decent ones available.
I am just about to put my 5th Gen up for sale. Having bought a new car I need to pass it on to a good home. Message me if interested in further information.
98 2.2vti manual, 101k miles, 3 previous owners, MOT Oct 13, Tax Jan 13, Cambelt replaced recently, 2 new front tyres.
Pics from the summer, please note I had to rear bumper resprayed back to it's proper colour after this pic was taken after poor spray from a previous owner.
Message me if interested.
98 2.2vti manual, 101k miles, 3 previous owners, MOT Oct 13, Tax Jan 13, Cambelt replaced recently, 2 new front tyres.
Pics from the summer, please note I had to rear bumper resprayed back to it's proper colour after this pic was taken after poor spray from a previous owner.
Message me if interested.
Edited by Sam1990 on Tuesday 11th December 22:38
Had a Prelude 2.2VTEC, the swoopy one before they ruined it with the last model.
On the right road, in the right mood, in the right weather, with enough room, it was an awesome drive!
The other 99.99% of the time it was an utterly dreadful, miserable car.
VTEC engine was utterly gutless till 5,000rpm, then it took off with a wonderful howl to 7,000rpm. In second (from memory) that took you from about 45mph to 60mph. Then changing right on the red line would see 5,000rpm in third which would scorch you to 80mph ish. So basically there was this narrow powerband where the car was epic, and the rest (most) of the time it was just flaccid. So all the time you were changing down, changing down, trying to make the fecking thing go. As I say, on the right road in the right conditions with no traffic it was great, but that was one bit of one journey in every 100.
So, crap engine then, but it doesn't end there.
The road noise (on puny 15 inch wheels with 195, I think, tyres) was horrific! To give you an idea, at 80mph on a motorway, you could open the sunroof or a side window and it didn't make the car any noisier because it was so deafeningly loud already. Try that in your car, whatever it is. Open a window at 80 and it'll make a big difference to noise levels. I'd pull off into a motorway services and when I got back in the car and turned the ignition on the stereo would come on so loud it'd startle me! It had to be that loud to overcome the tyre noise on the motorway... It would actually give me a headache after two hours on a motorway.
So I'd be deaf, with a splitting headache, driving a car that was gutless unless I changed down two gears, again. But that wasn't the worst. The seats. Oh my god, the seats. Two hours in those and you were crippled. Horrendous!
I actually got home after a five hour motorway cruise once, and was physically sick. I grew to dread any journey much over an hour in it. Hopeless.
And it's not like it's a Lotus Elise where you can say "yeah well, it's a sportscar". It isn't, it's a coupe and was up against things like the Corrado VR6 and BMW 3 Series. I swapped a Golf GTI MK2 for one, back then the Golf was a £12K car, the Honda £22K, which gives you some idea of the perceived market position. I just wish I'd given it more than a 20 min test drive, I'd never have had it.
The interior was awful too, horrible ugly dash with dials that only went a quarter of the way around and stupid LED fuel and temp "guages". The temp one was in four sections too, so you din't know if there was a problem till it was too late. Not that I ever had an overheating problem. Oh no, it was oil consumption that I had a problem with. I used to put more oil in the thing than petrol!
The only thing it had going for it was the looks, it looked fantastic. So Honda changed them for an ugly ungainly squared off thing. Brilliant.
I got shot of it after a year, I don't think I've ever had such a disappointing, hateful and genuinely unpleasant car.
On the right road, in the right mood, in the right weather, with enough room, it was an awesome drive!
The other 99.99% of the time it was an utterly dreadful, miserable car.
VTEC engine was utterly gutless till 5,000rpm, then it took off with a wonderful howl to 7,000rpm. In second (from memory) that took you from about 45mph to 60mph. Then changing right on the red line would see 5,000rpm in third which would scorch you to 80mph ish. So basically there was this narrow powerband where the car was epic, and the rest (most) of the time it was just flaccid. So all the time you were changing down, changing down, trying to make the fecking thing go. As I say, on the right road in the right conditions with no traffic it was great, but that was one bit of one journey in every 100.
So, crap engine then, but it doesn't end there.
The road noise (on puny 15 inch wheels with 195, I think, tyres) was horrific! To give you an idea, at 80mph on a motorway, you could open the sunroof or a side window and it didn't make the car any noisier because it was so deafeningly loud already. Try that in your car, whatever it is. Open a window at 80 and it'll make a big difference to noise levels. I'd pull off into a motorway services and when I got back in the car and turned the ignition on the stereo would come on so loud it'd startle me! It had to be that loud to overcome the tyre noise on the motorway... It would actually give me a headache after two hours on a motorway.
So I'd be deaf, with a splitting headache, driving a car that was gutless unless I changed down two gears, again. But that wasn't the worst. The seats. Oh my god, the seats. Two hours in those and you were crippled. Horrendous!
I actually got home after a five hour motorway cruise once, and was physically sick. I grew to dread any journey much over an hour in it. Hopeless.
And it's not like it's a Lotus Elise where you can say "yeah well, it's a sportscar". It isn't, it's a coupe and was up against things like the Corrado VR6 and BMW 3 Series. I swapped a Golf GTI MK2 for one, back then the Golf was a £12K car, the Honda £22K, which gives you some idea of the perceived market position. I just wish I'd given it more than a 20 min test drive, I'd never have had it.
The interior was awful too, horrible ugly dash with dials that only went a quarter of the way around and stupid LED fuel and temp "guages". The temp one was in four sections too, so you din't know if there was a problem till it was too late. Not that I ever had an overheating problem. Oh no, it was oil consumption that I had a problem with. I used to put more oil in the thing than petrol!
The only thing it had going for it was the looks, it looked fantastic. So Honda changed them for an ugly ungainly squared off thing. Brilliant.
I got shot of it after a year, I don't think I've ever had such a disappointing, hateful and genuinely unpleasant car.
Slow said:
I got this prelude for £200 and i just drove it round a field at 16 till the sump burst and suspension collapsed. Scrapped it for £215 so profit =D
That was like mine, same colour, wheels, everything. Look at that stupid interior. Sunroof switch on the dashboard. Electric window switches side on and only "one shot" on the drivers door. Awful dials, the handbrake that sticks up even when it's down, and a bloody great four spoke steering wheel that looks like it's off of an Accord.
- Shudder**
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