RE: Shed of the Week: Honda Prelude
Discussion
Loplop said:
A friend has two of these, both 2.2 VTECs.
One is a ratty thing that's been lowered, loud exhaust and a smokey engine.
The other he bought for <£500 with an engine running on three. Wasn't sure what to do until he took the skirts off to reveal the sills, the car is 100% spotless. So he dropped a H22a7 from an Accord Type R with matching gearbox into it. Quite the sleeper!
Not Jack Galley by any chance?One is a ratty thing that's been lowered, loud exhaust and a smokey engine.
The other he bought for <£500 with an engine running on three. Wasn't sure what to do until he took the skirts off to reveal the sills, the car is 100% spotless. So he dropped a H22a7 from an Accord Type R with matching gearbox into it. Quite the sleeper!
Lover of preludes that he is.
These cars are on a second dip - they went really expensive (relatively) about 5 years ago.
I would have liked one when I was in my "Honda-phase", the closes I got was liberating the engine from a crashed one and 'popping' (if only it were that easy) into a stripped out EG civic - with hilarious if never-got-it-running-properly consequences.
I would have liked one when I was in my "Honda-phase", the closes I got was liberating the engine from a crashed one and 'popping' (if only it were that easy) into a stripped out EG civic - with hilarious if never-got-it-running-properly consequences.
These are one of those cars I really regret not owning. Wanted one 15 years ago but was too skint. Then moved on to other things. Would love one still but I feel like that ship has sailed given that they are rare as rockinghorse st these days, and any that do come up (present SOTW excepted) tend to be ruined by chavs or just neglected. I see one regularly driven around Edinburgh city center that fits the "chavved/rough" description, but also had one follow me the other day that looked tidy as F (I was half tempted to jump out at traffic lights and go and speak to the driver, something I'd never usually contemplate, but didn't want to be a weirdo!). Apart from those 2, just never see them about.
I mean if I was local, quick enough and had the cash I'd love to snap up this SOTW, but it's not meant to be.
I mean if I was local, quick enough and had the cash I'd love to snap up this SOTW, but it's not meant to be.
s m said:
soad said:
s m said:
Isn't this a VTEC one with over 180bhp or have I missed a bit?
You're right. Later model gained another 20bhp (same engine as Accord Type R?) iirc.One of Honda's best designed cars imo
This was what I should have bought back in 2008 but instead I compromised and got 5th gen non-vtec 2.2 auto because it was in excellent condition only 60k miles and under 2 grand. It was slow, thirsty, expensive to insure because it was an import. 6 months later I'd had enough and got rid of it. Live and Learn.
I love these things.
Had a UK 4th Gen 2.2VTI back in the day. Cracking car. Kinda wish I hadn't sold it now but one lives and learns.
The 4WS I had mixed feelings about. On one hand, it made parking and turning in tight spaces ridiculously easy, and made high speed cornering very stable - you could even hold slides far longer than your have any right to in a FWD car.
However, the downside is that it sometimes made the car feel artificially sharp / pointy. Going around hairpins and tight stuff quickly made that obvious.
Had a UK 4th Gen 2.2VTI back in the day. Cracking car. Kinda wish I hadn't sold it now but one lives and learns.
The 4WS I had mixed feelings about. On one hand, it made parking and turning in tight spaces ridiculously easy, and made high speed cornering very stable - you could even hold slides far longer than your have any right to in a FWD car.
However, the downside is that it sometimes made the car feel artificially sharp / pointy. Going around hairpins and tight stuff quickly made that obvious.
I had one of these back in 2000. It was a one previous owner car with about 60,000 miles on the clock. An excellent vehicle, and IMHO much better looking than the model that replaced it. Fast, comfortable, economical and generally great to drive. It was one of the better cars I've owned.
They're getting very long in the tooth now, but if you can find a nice one for shed money you'll be on to something good.
They're getting very long in the tooth now, but if you can find a nice one for shed money you'll be on to something good.
Seeing all the love for these cars makes me very happy.
I had one in back in 2002 ish. 2.2 VTEC BB4 non-4WS dark green import.
Did loads of track days in it including a few trips to Spa, it took a beating and never let me down.
I still miss it.
I never should have sold it.
If they were RWD I don't think I would have.
I had one in back in 2002 ish. 2.2 VTEC BB4 non-4WS dark green import.
Did loads of track days in it including a few trips to Spa, it took a beating and never let me down.
I still miss it.
I never should have sold it.
If they were RWD I don't think I would have.
Edited by Usul on Friday 30th September 15:33
Usul said:
Seeing all the love for these cars makes me very happy.
I had one in back in 2002 ish. 2.2 VTEC BB4 non-4WS dark green import.
Did loads of track days in it including a few trips to Spa, it took a beating and never let me down.
I still miss it.
I never should have sold it.
If they were RWD I don't think I would have.
Were you a member of HondaRevolutions?I had one in back in 2002 ish. 2.2 VTEC BB4 non-4WS dark green import.
Did loads of track days in it including a few trips to Spa, it took a beating and never let me down.
I still miss it.
I never should have sold it.
If they were RWD I don't think I would have.
I vaguely recall a bunch of the guys on there with Preludes organising Spa trips.
Were diffs optional on both UK and JDM cars?
If I remember correctly a viscous diff was offered on the JDM BB4 models?
If I remember correctly a viscous diff was offered on the JDM BB4 models?
Usul said:
Seeing all the love for these cars makes me very happy.
I had one in back in 2002 ish. 2.2 VTEC BB4 non-4WS dark green import.
Did loads of track days in it including a few trips to Spa, it took a beating and never let me down.
I still miss it.
I never should have sold it.
If they were RWD I don't think I would have.
Sherwood green pearl by any chance? Looked almost black.I had one in back in 2002 ish. 2.2 VTEC BB4 non-4WS dark green import.
Did loads of track days in it including a few trips to Spa, it took a beating and never let me down.
I still miss it.
I never should have sold it.
If they were RWD I don't think I would have.
Barchettaman said:
Does anyone have a link to the Setright article on the Honda Prelude?
No, but I have a transcript. I'm not sure if this is legal, so mods please delete if not:Tuesday, 2 March 2004
So long as they remain in contact with the road, all four tyres of the car share its weight. They also share the task of stopping it; in four-wheel-drive cars they share the burden of making it go; and in all cars, in case you had not realised it, they share the duty of steering.
Conventional cars being what they are (gross travesties of engineering ideals), the rear tyres only get steering instructions by devious means. You turn the steering wheel: the front wheels turn, their tyres begin to generate a lateral force to move the nose of the car.
What happens next is a complex sequence of changing forces, all time-consuming and most of them destabilising, which result in the rear tyres taking on their share of making the car follow the desired course. By stages the car settles into a steady-state cornering mode which should continue until you do something else.
With active steering, all four tyres assume their new duties simultaneously. All those intermediate phases are eliminated: the car responds with alacrity and accuracy, regardless of how fast or how hard you are cornering.
Engineers have been investigating four-wheel steering for a long time. An Italian named Amati built a fine prototype in 1927; a couple of Britons, Freddie Dixon and Tony Rolt, built a frightful one a decade later.
The first hint of modern active steering came in 1983 when Mazda revealed that they were working on a four-wheel-steering system. First in production, though, came the Honda Prelude of 1987, with a system whereby the rear wheels were steered according to the steering input by the driver, and in which road speed was irrelevant.
I was enchanted by it: a succession of 4WS Preludes has served as my personal transport ever since. My present one will have to last the rest of my life, for they do not make them any more.
Deftness, adroitness, sensual gratification, agility, accuracy: all these terms come flooding to mind when trying to explain why this car is nicer to drive than anything else. What may matter most is the supreme ability to dodge, which has saved me from an assortment of accidents involving either errant road-users or things falling off lorries. As a lane-changer, especially at high speeds, the Prelude must be without peer.
Every other manufacturer pronounced it rubbish while privately trying to find a way of equalling it without paying royalties to Honda. Nissan and Mitsubishi produced approximations made farcical by an electronic time-delay, which ruined the effect. BMW tried a version in their 850 coupe, but failed to persevere. The French and Audi VW offered rear-wheel steering that was a disgusting system of squishy suspension mounts, The remainder waited for 4WS to go away, and their judgement was good: it went.
What killed active steering? Car salesmen. People who are good at selling things are not the sort who can explain the dynamic benefits: the most they could do was to point out how much easier it made parking.
It was a tragedy. All sorts of things matter from time to time when driving - brakes, accelerator response, gearbox - but the one thing in use all the time is the steering. To make do with second-best is not merely risky, it is heart-rending. Fancy technology sells cars today, but it has to be something that can be seen. Something that can at best be felt, however worthy, is unlikely to open wallets.
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