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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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
You're either trolling or lost your mind.
RSX had an excellent interior. Even by today's standards it's pretty decent.
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.
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.
I had a Gen5 that I bought brand new, only kept it about 4 years. I still think it’s the best looking car that Honda’s ever made. Motor pulled pretty well and it handled OK, but it was a turd compared to my buddy’s S2k. At the time I bought it the same money would have bought an Integra Type R. Not sure exactly what I was thinking with that purchase.
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).
Last edited by boileralum; 04-02-2018 at 02:28 PM.
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.
03-31-2018, 03:19 PM
Anyone into Preludes?
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