The 2nd generation Honda Prelude launched in 1983 was a big step up in refinement from the previous generation, which always looked like a child’s toy. The pop-up light equipped Prelude also picked up the cool 2.0 liter B-series Honda motor known for its tunability and reliability compared to the older E-series junk. Find this […]
In 1987 Road and Track Magazine tested Honda’s new Prelude 2.0Si and found that it outperformed every other car (included Ferrari 328, Porsche 911, C4 Corvette) that year on the 700-ft slalom with a speed of 65.5 mph. How could a front-wheel-drive Japanese sports coupe out slalom all of the the wide/sticky tire equipped competition? […]
I’ve never owned a Honda Prelude, but if I did buy one, it would be from the fifth and final generation (1996-2001). Many have been turned into Fast and Furious inspired hoopties, complete with coil over suspensions and fart can exhausts, but not today. Today we’ve got one with what appears to be the stock H22A that pushes 195 horsepower into the front wheels — and it wasn’t a slow car back around Y2K. But you don’t drive this car to win traffic light drags, you drive it to enjoy the snick-snick Honda shifter and the feeling when VTEC kicks in (yo). Find this 2000 Honda Prelude offered for $4,000 in San Diego, CA via craigslist.
If you are not old enough to remember the sport compact car crazy of the early 1990s, let me tell you something funny. There was actually a time when front-drive compact imports were faster than domestic rear-drive pony cars. It was a strange time because on paper they shouldn’t have been fast…but the American cars were so terrible at traction and power per cubic inch that a stock ’96 Prelude SI with a 2.0 liter 4-banger could beat a ’94 Mustang with a 5.0 V8 to 60mph by 0.1 seconds. That didn’t last long as domestic car manufacturers figured out how to push more air through their gigantic air pumps, but if you want to re-live the 90s sport compact car scene, do it with this 1996 Honda Prelude SI offered for $5000 in Scottsdale, AZ via craigslist.
This next car has some sticker shock for your cheapskates in the crowd…because ten large for a 32 year old Honda seems a skosh high. But…BUT…this is a mighty clean example of the 3rd generation Prelude that is not only the desirable Si model but it is equipped with desirable options like a manual gearbox, […]
The fifth (and final) generation Honda Prelude was available in the US market with a 200 horsepower 2.0 liter VTEC equipped inline-4 from 1996-2000. Most have been turned into “race cars,” grounded to the ground and covered in mismatched body panels, so finding a stock example is indeed a treat…even if that stock example has […]
People sometimes ask me if there is a car that is too weird, too eclectic, or too crappy to be featured on the front page of Daily Turismo. “NO”, I scream with a foaming rage, “THERE IS NOTHING TOO NUTTY OR ODD TO BE POSTED ON THIS SITE.” And then the men in the white […]
I’m sitting in my living room watching the high-end classics crossing the block at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale and wondering what the auction scene will look like in 20 years. Will people still be dropping $100k into ’60s Suburbans or will things like minty clean 80s Hondas be the bee’s knees? Who knows…but enjoy cheap 80s classics […]
Watch out, he’s got VTEC was the battle cry of the sport compact scene back in the day. I still remember when a stock Prelude on sticky tires felt like, and was, a fast car…but probably because a 5.0 liter Ford Mustang only made 150 horsepower on a good day. Times change and the era […]
The first generation Honda Prelude (SN) is a pretty boring car to drive compared to the stuff available today, but back when new it was lauded by the likes of Brock Yates who once wrote in Motor Trend “by any sane measurement, a splendid automobile. The machine, like all Hondas, embodies fabrication that is, in […]