Honda Integra Type R (DC2) | PH Auction Block

There's a Honda coupe back in the world; as if any excuse was needed to remember the very best...

Honda can go two ways with the Prelude, it seems. The car can remain as a rare groove hybrid alternative, much as the CRZ always was, interesting and efficient like Hondas often are - but without much enthusiast love. The other path to pursue is to keep the standard car, but add a Type R variant above it that the chassis so desperately deserves. Then the Prelude would really be memorable.

It sounds obvious, and there will be all sorts of reasons not to. The Prelude exists to celebrate what Honda can do with hybrid - a car with a Civic Type R engine obviously wouldn’t do that. There’s the cost and complexity of developing a new model, plus uncertain demand; we’d love to think that people would flock to a two-door Type R, but the influence of the old Civic’s practicality on popularity shouldn’t be underestimated. Making a Prelude Type R might look like a step back in time when the future is calling.

And yet the idea remains inescapable. If Alpine can bid farewell to combustion A110s with a £250k Ultime, and rear-wheel-drive M cars (likely) depart with the £100,000 M2 CS, then a Prelude Type R at, say, £70,000 and limited numbers would surely sell. The final manual, purely petrol Type R would basically sell itself.

Let’s see - stranger things have surely happened. Until then, there’s an heroic Honda Type R coupe from the back catalogue going under the hammer with PH; the icons come little greater than the Integra, especially a UK-spec car. Before you say anything, the rear arches have been replaced, the car undersealed and the front seats swapped around to even out wear. The timing belt was swapped a couple of years ago, and it’s been with the current owner since 2014. That’s a lot of the common Integra problems addressed; this one is sufficiently lovely to point out a slightly wonky Honda badge on the boot…

Sometimes it can feel like there’s not much left to say about the Integra. But as one of the greatest Hondas ever made, one of the greatest front-wheel drive cars ever made no less, the Teg still deserves all the adulation it receives. Hardly like its reputation in either category is under much threat in the immediate future. Fast and front-drive before this wasn’t quite so exotic or so hardcore; a lot of what followed just wasn’t as exciting to drive.

Integras might not have been as practical or affordable as the EP3 Civic Type R, but they were better sorted to drive. As a lot of front-wheel drive cars still struggled with torque steer, the Integra’s helical LSD (and modest torque) ensured no problems. Old engines are typically more exciting generally; the B18 was a gem even in the 1990s, so it’ll feel like a supercar-spec four-cylinder now. Never one for the fashion conscious coupe buyer, the Integra was all about the driving - and it was absolutely brilliant.

As well as what was mentioned above, this Integra has plenty of receipts in its history, a recent respray and wheel refurb, plus some choice upgrades including Ferodo pads and a Fujitsubo exhaust. It really does seem to want for nothing apart from driving for the sake of driving, anywhere and anytime. Whatever you’ve driven before, however fast or however pricey, a good DC2 will feel very special indeed. Maybe it’s best kept tucked away somewhere dry and warm over winter, but come the spring - about when those new Preludes arrive - there’ll be no better seat to find yourself in than the red Recaro.

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Water Fairy

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