RE: Shed Of The Week: Honda Prelude VTI

RE: Shed Of The Week: Honda Prelude VTI

Author
Discussion

carinaman

21,213 posts

171 months

Friday 28th August 2015
quotequote all
crostonian said:
Good shed no doubt about that, but not for me. Couldn't live with the looks or the interior, and they always smell funny inside! Give me an Alfa GTV or a Fiat Coupe any day, and yes I know these divide opinion as well but each to their own....
Autocar did a piece round about the time production of the Fiat Coupe ended comparing the Coupe to the Prelude. I think their conclusion was that the Coupe was quite a car but the charms of the Prelude were less obvious and took time and familiarisation to get.

I'm a fan of the Fiat Coupe and bit annoyed that one I didn't follow up quickly enough was sold and then reappeared being scrapped for it's engine.

This Prelude is quite an appealing and interesting shed after stuff like that DAF van and Merc. ML430.



Edited by carinaman on Friday 28th August 20:04

mnx42

215 posts

162 months

Friday 28th August 2015
quotequote all
generally speaking if you give him the choice between a nice leggy number and a dried-up prune that hasn't been given a thorough seeing-to for a good while, he'll usually go for the first option.

I lol'd smile

speedtwelve

3,510 posts

272 months

Friday 28th August 2015
quotequote all
I ran a manual 2.2VTI as a daily driver for a couple of years. I'd always fancied one, and was curious as to how it would compare to my old Corrado VR6. It was very well screwed together, fake wood or not. I was surprised at how quick it was in VTEC, as I hadn't expected much from 183bhp. I found the 7-and-a-bit-thousand rpm redline a tad frustrating though, as I'd come from an S2000.

Steering was direct, and the 4WS enabled crazy amounts of cornering 'g' for what it was. In fact I found it to be all grip and no handling, fine if you wanted to make rapid progress, but not that much fun to play with. I didn't ever get it to lift-off oversteer, but I often wondered whether it would snap back due to the 4WS juggling the rear wheels as you made corrective steering inputs. The 4WS steering the rear feels weird at low speeds until you get used to it, that sensation of the car pivoting around its centre as you corner around town.

Paid a grand for it, did 20k miles without any snags until it failed MoT on a few niggles. Couldn't even give it away in the end, offered it here on PH for free but no takers. Ended-up scrapping it. It always amused me to see little bits of Prelude here and there on the driver's side of the NSX.

Nice car, but the Corrado was better in practically every way.






IntriguedUser

988 posts

120 months

Saturday 29th August 2015
quotequote all
I've been lusting after a prelude for a couple of years now!

Only 21, so insurance is still too much!! frown

IntriguedUser

988 posts

120 months

Saturday 29th August 2015
quotequote all
petrolsniffer said:
Love these and was looking to buy recently until I got an insurance quote...

For some reason the compare sites want 2.5-3k! vs my usual 600-800 range??

Very odd!
Same issue here, then again I am 21!

I think next may renewal time I'll have the money to buy one and insure it, I've seen 4 on the road, and I actively look to see them lol

I saw this one like this below, and I leaned out the bus cab window whilst driving and gave the thumbs up, although it seems many people who own these preludes don't actually know or care how cool a car it is!



anonymous-user

53 months

Saturday 29th August 2015
quotequote all
i had a 2.2 Vti Auto. Lovely car, but thirsty about 25 mpg.

It was such good fun when going fast with a lovely engine noise. I bought it for 280 quid but it had a fault and died 2 months later and sold for 200 quid, so 80 quid well spent.

I think a low mileage manual will become a classic.

Glutton

78 posts

124 months

Saturday 29th August 2015
quotequote all
I'm sure CAR did a huge group test featuring this, a 200sx, a Fiat Coupe, a GTV, a 318is, a Rover Coupe and a Calibra! Fairly sure the 200sx clinched it but I can't find it online!

MadDog1962

890 posts

161 months

Saturday 29th August 2015
quotequote all
Gandahar said:
Good choice and well written.

I have this feeling that velour and cloth seats from the 80/90's have lasted a lot better than expensive leather. If you look at Audi 80/90/100's with those cloth seats with the oblong hollow headrests they still look toptrunps all these years later. Leather would be saggy and cracked.
If you take the trouble to care for (good) leather properly it can still look good after 20 years. Thing is most people just don't.

Strawman

6,463 posts

206 months

Saturday 29th August 2015
quotequote all
matt_knowles said:
Love these.



Looks better lit up

(LHD vaersion)

s m

23,164 posts

202 months

Saturday 29th August 2015
quotequote all
Glutton said:
I'm sure CAR did a huge group test featuring this, a 200sx, a Fiat Coupe, a GTV, a 318is, a Rover Coupe and a Calibra! Fairly sure the 200sx clinched it but I can't find it online!
They did one in August 95 without the Rover and BM and GTV

Similar one in February 97 with Prelude, Fiat and 200SX

Performance Car did a similar article in December 95

mik_jg

96 posts

188 months

Saturday 29th August 2015
quotequote all
Makes the 51k miles '99 VTi manual I sold this year for £1k look cheap!

TheFinners

543 posts

126 months

Saturday 29th August 2015
quotequote all
petrolsniffer said:
Love these and was looking to buy recently until I got an insurance quote...

For some reason the compare sites want 2.5-3k! vs my usual 600-800 range??

Very odd!
Insurance seems rather steep on them compared to comparable cars sadly. Found a good Gen 5 Vti and an immaculate Gen 4 when I was looking for cars recently, the latter even had leather(!) but had to rule them out in the end on the grounds of insurance.

RobinBanks

17,540 posts

178 months

Saturday 29th August 2015
quotequote all
The prelude to this version of Prelude looked fking horrible.

These ones look quite good. I still doubt I'd bother with one.

Black S2K

1,462 posts

248 months

Saturday 29th August 2015
quotequote all
blearyeyedboy said:
Is there any modern equivalent? I'm aware of the Renault Laguna Coupé where some models had 4WS. Are there any other more contemporary examples before you get into Porsche 911 or similarly expensive territory?



Edited by blearyeyedboy on Friday 28th August 16:47
BMW "Integral Active Steering" - on some 5s and 7s.

Or an Acura TLX (or RLX), if you are stateside...



ConorNZ

73 posts

188 months

Sunday 30th August 2015
quotequote all
I had a 1997 Type S for four years, the longest I've owned any car. Absolutely loved it. The engine loved to sing once a K&N filter was added. Then I went a bit nuts with Tein coil overs, Konig wheels, Mugen exhaust, and nitrous... And I can attest to the ability to drift it - have some video of me doing just that at a race track. Just use lift off oversteer with a dab of brakes to load up the front and unload the rear. Good times!


daveofedinburgh

556 posts

118 months

Sunday 30th August 2015
quotequote all
I'll echo those PHers saying best shed for some time. Personally wouldn't give a toss about the mileage.

A friend had a burgundy/ maroon (CBA finding the proper paint name) coloured example which as far as I can see was of identical spec.

Was a rather nice old thing, with a cracking engine. Wasn't far off the DC2 Integra that was running in our group at the time, although it was significantly less sexy. I remember telling him 'you've bought the wrong car' after a Motegi example came up for not much more shortly afterwards, in a less naff colour.

His had the same interior, the colour of which is far nastier in the cloth than comes across in the pics. Had a weirdly 90s Yank vibe about it from the inside, showing up fast-food grease stains as readily as it did.

All that said, Id still have this in a hiccup. Jap stuff (mainly coupes) of this era tend to make the finest sheds imho.

RoverP6B

4,338 posts

127 months

Monday 31st August 2015
quotequote all
Not pretty - bland at best, hideous at worst (especially from the front). FWD. Four-pot. Nasty interior. Why?

Sorry, I just don't get it... I actually preferred last week's ML430...

AdamAJP

189 posts

176 months

Tuesday 1st September 2015
quotequote all
Hi all,

I'm the guy who has this for sale (been lurking) and can honestly say I would not be doing so if I had more space and didn't need more doors for family.

Chuffed to have had the car selected as SOTW and nice for new owner also.

Some great comments from all who have driven one of these and for those who have not I would recommend it. Mr Setright knew what he was talking about!

Nice to drive something a little different I think. In fact this has become important to me (as my garage will attest) in light of the number of bland modern cars on the road (my opinion only). My other cars require some serious driving skills or electronic interference to make equivalent progress through the twisties (especially if you want to be able to have your foot all the way down at 10/10ths which is only possible for much shorter periods in my other cars).

I would probably agree that one of the great things about the front is you don't spend much time looking at it (with it looking back) wink

Have received interest from a few people with viewings lined up this week but be sad to see her go...

Black S2K

1,462 posts

248 months

Tuesday 1st September 2015
quotequote all
I loved my Red Top.

So did my mate's daughter's Furby, which was once travelling in the boot; it kept going "Woo!" when VTEC engaged.

AdamAJP

189 posts

176 months

Wednesday 2nd September 2015
quotequote all
This Prelude remains available and will make someone happy I am sure. Please contact me if interested as I could use the space.

Regards

Adam