Honda Prelude 2.2 VTEC
Discussion
Figured it was time to say something about these not so common cars having owned mine for a few months now, especially since it's been detailed. Seems odd that you don't see many considering the performance they offer for very little cash
Picked mine up for £900 with good service history and with the all important 2.2 VTEC engine. This has to be one of the best 4 cylinder engines made for a road car. It's got plenty of torque for wafting along but will quite happily spin to 8000rpm+ should you so desire (and you surely will ). The VTEC cams kick in at about 5500rpm and are quite noticeable when they do, both acceleration wise and noise. It changes from a deepish burble to a manic, race car like howl as you wind it up. In order to remain on the VTEC cams between gear changes, you really have to rev it right up to just before limiter ~8000rpm.
Aside from the engine, there are plenty of other things to love about these cars. Namely the four wheel steering system. As this is the fourth generation Prelude, it has the electrical rear steering system. At low speeds (up to about 15mph) the rear wheels steer in the opposite direction to the front wheels, giving a great turning circle. Once you speed up, they turn the same direction as the front wheels. This gives the car a fantastic turn in which actually takes a bit of getting used to, as it feels like the back end is stepping out on you. Once you learn to trust it though, you can go round corners quite a bit quicker than you first thought.
The dashboard has to be another rather unique feature of the 4th gen Preludes:
It never fails to bring a smile to my face when you twist the key in the ignition and it all comes to life. It’s very 1980’s Nintendo, even though this is a 90’s car! The rest of the interior is traditional Japanese.
The front seats are great and really hold you in:
The rear seats, however, are very much for small children or legless adults only. The combination of no legroom and a steeply sloping rear window mean you wouldn’t want to spend a long journey there:
Other bad points are the small boot and non-foldable rear seats. However you can fit a mountain bike on the rear seats and the wheels in the passenger footwell, so it works for me
So there we go. If you’re looking for a cheap 2+2 coupe with decent performance and something a bit different to the more common Toyota Celica or Mitsubishi FTO, then why not try a Honda Prelude (oh and do make sure it’s a VTEC )
£900 sounds like a bargain, just out of interest how many miles has it done?
I bought my fto about 6 months ago and mainly chose it over the prelude based on looks (the fto still looks really pretty imo).
A decent prelude is probably quicker though and they do seem cheap if you can find a nice example (I couldn't so never got to drive one to see the difference sadly)
nice car though, love bagain jap coupes
I bought my fto about 6 months ago and mainly chose it over the prelude based on looks (the fto still looks really pretty imo).
A decent prelude is probably quicker though and they do seem cheap if you can find a nice example (I couldn't so never got to drive one to see the difference sadly)
nice car though, love bagain jap coupes
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