Anyone into Preludes?
 

Do any of you cats have experience with the 5th gen Prelude?

Ever since I nearly bought a 3rd gen Si as my first car (wound up with a Mk2 Jetta Coupe), the Prelude has kind of been "the one that got away," and I think the 5th gen seems pretty sharp. Searching online for a possible rust-free beater, I came across a low-mileage, bone-stock '01 that looks really clean. If it's still available when I have vacation in a couple of weeks, I'm thinking about flying out and driving it back home across the country to use as a light-duty commuter. Part of this is motivated by the fact that I can fly to basically wherever I want for nearly nothing, and I've always wanted to drive across the country.

I know that these cars won handling shootouts when new, and I took a brief spin in one once which suggested the H22 to be an entertaining engine. Do these things hold up to Honda's old reputation for reliability and durability? Are they relatively easy to maintain? Can anyone suggest the mt.net of 'lude forums?

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...2e3a81564d.jpg

reliable and durable? yes. handling? lol gas mileage? ehh not so much

I wanted a 4th gen prelude for years, it was my high school dream car. When I finally got one I was very unimpressed with it; handled like a boat, bad gas mileage (for a honda at least), and it was slow. The car was pretty beat up, rusty, and high mileage, so maybe it wasn't a fair representation. Mine was an Si, H23. I'm sure the H22 would be better as well. I only had it a couple months and flipped it to someone else.

If you're looking at Hondas, I'd imagine a clean H22 5th gen would run you awfully close to what a RSX-S would cost. I really can't imagine any kind of justification for picking the Prelude over a similarly priced type-S. The type-S is a lot more common, easier to find parts, way more aftermarket support, a much better motor, better gas mileage, better handling, lighter, more power, just all around better at everything.

i has one!

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...19eaf37f2c.png


this is our second. my wife drives it, loves it. 2001 5sp that eats and drips oil. i want to sell it.

they are not nimble, the handling sucks, and the turning radius is retarded. vtak is fun.

ours gets good mpgs on the highway, like 30mpg. day to day it gets like 17-18. they all eat oil. they all leak water in trunk. the headlights are useless, and the interior lights are too. really easy to work on becuase honda. ive done the clutch and shocks in that garage on jack stands.


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...84eb5c6c56.png

Came in here to post all of this. Aftermarket never really caught on for the H22, even during the import tuner craze. If you absolutely have to have one, I believe the 5 speed, 'type SH' cars had a factory LSD

Yes you want the super handling package. The rsx is a pos. Quote possibly one of the worst interiors ever.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...199ace7ed4.gif

RSX is a masterpiece of spartan design. No touch screens, no synaptic response bullshit, no waterfall of unnecessary buttons...ergonomically everything is right where you want it. Might be one of my favorite interiors ever.

It's ugly as sin.

First it's an Acura so it's cheap shit under the guise that it's a high end brand. The interior, besides the seats, is comparable to a Nissan.

The steering wheel is bubbly and cheap.

The middle.console is rounded and ugly. As are all the buttons.

The stereo is unnessecarily large and some even came with a fucking tape deck.

Everything is the same color and cheap plastic material. Everything about the interior scream Dodge neon economy car.

You're either trolling or lost your mind.
RSX had an excellent interior. Even by today's standards it's pretty decent.

My 2nd car ever was a dark blue 1983 Prelude 5spd, first year for the 2nd generation. I drove it through college and a couple years after (94-02). It was extremely reliable and actually pretty fun to drive given it had 4 wheel independent suspension and factory manual steering.

not trolling. When our 97 died, i tried to get the wife into an RSX instead. We test drove a few and both of us nearly puked on the interiors. Plus they don't look as good as a prelude from the exterior, and the visibility out the back sucked.

I have conceded the seats are nice. but those interiors are cheap economy car trash. They are low-end materials, and reminded me of every time I had to have a Pontiac or Nissan as a shitty rental car. Everything about it rubbed me the wrong way; I've always considered the RSX one of my most hated interiors ever since. I think I told you this back in 2010 when I was looking at them.

Another thing that stinks about the prelude is the big doors. One thing I love is the throttle response. Ever since going to drive-by-wire, the prelude is a joy to get back into and have a car actually respond to throttle inputs. the H22 is peppy, it never feels under powered, and like I said vtak is fun.

The car feels light to me (but I drive a heavy German car), but like I said, the turning radius sucks so it doesn't always feel nimble -- it absolutely can't do what my MB can do.

Parking becomes a challenge because you have to swing wide to make the 90° turn (I could easily make 180° turns in my MB in spots where the prelude needs a k-turn). Then once you're in a spot, it's impossible to get out of the car cause the doors are 30 feet long. But I'm getting tired of 2-doors in general and I'm going to sell my MB soon and get a sedan.

I do get compliments every now and again when driving it, we've kept it in pretty good shape for a 2001. I still think they look really cool.

I'm not sure if it's our cheap tires on the front, but I ALWAYS spin the fronts when I drive that car, and in inclement weather it always spins and plows.

I also daily a cushy, c350 7-sp automatic with AWD that thinks for me, so that take it all with a grain of salt.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...2b0501c0f6.png


we've owned that since 2010, and our first was in ~2005/6. The first was a 97 automatic and the transmission died. the only issue that ever gave us was a failed o-ring on the power steering pump, and a failed gasket on the oil pressure sensor. The 01 5-sp needed a new battery, shocks, motor mounts, clutch, TB, radiator (cause the shop broke it when doing the TB). It had a misfire for a while, but doing the valve clearancing fixed that. Working on a Honda really is amazing -- the valve job was stupid easy, it's designed to be able to do it. same thing with the shocks -- there's an access port behind the rear seat to get to the upper bolt.

Wasnt/Doesnt Luke race/ing one of those?

@Efini~FC3S ?

My buddies just destroyed class in a gen4 chump a couple weeks ago.

Best friend had an 00 SH. Was a fun car, ATTS was cool. However, the transmission for the SH is NLA (he had to replace his due to too many flat shifts and general ham-fistedness, and it took over 2 months to get one shipped over from Japan (he worked for a Honda dealer).

ATTS bro.

I really wish we got an SH. When we started shopping for a new one, a perfect one showed up at a local dealer and was gone like instantly. tried to hold out for one, but they always went instantly.

They also had a better shock/spring combo IIRC.

if the pic the OP posted is the one he's looking at, that's an SH.

VTAKSS bro

ATTS is the active torque transfer system.

VTAKSS into a corner and don't understeer!

I even had ATTS in my head, but my fingers betrayed me.

Ive seen the H22 do incredible things swapped into other chassis. Transmission feels great too, better than the factory k series shifters IMO.

That being said Ive never driven a Prelude. Ive just always head they were uninspiring due to the weight.

just turbo it. I've run into plenty of local guys that slap a turbo on it and VTAKed your mom last night. cast t3 manifolds are $70 on ebay.

I'm sitting on the sidelines watching the show here; interesting how the same car causes such different reactions in people.

I still haven't found a very good Prelude forum, with most of them having very little action in the last few years, and only finding info on them by googling the issues you guys have mentioned. That's how I found out about the "water in trunk" issue, and am glad to know to check for rust in any potential purchase. I also read how it's not unusual for guys to talk about burning 1 qt per thousand miles, which seems annoying, even if it's "normal." 1-1.5 qts every 3,000 miles wouldn't faze me, though.

I'm seeing split opinions on the ATTS. Some say it's essential in order to not have an understeering pig, while others say it's not worth the hard-to-find block/transmission/whatever that it comes with. For the record, the specific one I'm looking at is a Canadian-market SE, which I understand has the drivetrain and suspension of a US base (I know it doesn't have ATTS), but to my eyes looks identical to the pic I posted - same colour, spoiler, sunroof, wheels. I've seen claims that the SE also has the SH's suspension, but not sure on that. ~85k miles and looks immaculate in pictures other than some driver seat wear. That's extremely rare where I come from. The RSX Type S is now also on my radar, but costs a good bit more for an equivalent condition/mileage as the Prelude in question.

I already have the Miata for handling/track stupidity. Right now I'm looking for something with a bit of comfort, durability, and economy while still not making me hate life, so a bit of extra girth isn't necessarily a problem, especially given that 3,000 lbs is new-Golf territory. For reference, I'm currently driving a 150k mile Concorde with blown shocks, so the bar isn't very high.

My prelude doesn't go through oil that fast...

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...32606b384e.jpg

I also have gotten the Honda bug I guess it's going around. I'm looking to locate a clean EP3 in blue or black. I thought about all the Hondas: Prelude, RSX-S, Integra, CRX Si, even CR-Z... In the end I want that EP3. It's an Si, a proper hatchback, and relatively modern.

dupe