The Prelude certainly looks the part as a fun sports car.Kunal D'souza/The Globe and Mail
The enthusiast community has been let down by the new Honda Prelude. Online comments on social media platforms range from disappointment to unbridled fury.
Visions of the old manual coupe with a high-revving dual-cam VTEC engine and manual transmission will have to remain visions for now because the new Prelude is an automatic hybrid that uses electric motors as its main source of propulsion.
The hybrid powerplant, consisting of a two-litre four-cylinder engine and two electric motors, is actually brilliant on its own. It’s the same one that’s used in the Accord, CR-V and Civic hybrid and is a marvel of efficiency and smoothness. In the Civic hatchback it’s probably the perfect powertrain; in the Prelude, it’s underpowered, but does deliver 5.4 litres per 100 kilometres.
There's premium feeling materials on the dash and centre console and a Bose stereo system.Kunal D'souza/The Globe and Mail
The trunk is a fairly spacious hatch, although the lift over is high for a low car.Kunal D'souza/The Globe and Mail
It’s not just the performance or even the fact that many on the internet will tell you that the 200 horsepower it makes is exactly the same amount the last Prelude made 25 years ago. It’s not that it’s now a liftback and not a traditional two-box coupe like it always was. The biggest issue is that at $52,961 it’s just too expensive.
At that price it runs up against the Nissan Z ($53,857), Ford Mustang GT with a five-litre V8 ($55,325) and even Honda’s Civic Type R ($53,100), all of which come with a manual transmission and much more power. Fifty grand would even buy you a really nice used Porsche Cayman (also with a manual gearbox).
Two door sports coupes aren’t exactly a popular item right now. Few car companies offer them and I’m not sure what the business case is for Honda to bring the Prelude here and who exactly it’s for, although I am happy there’s another one on the market.
Enthusiasts who grew up with the first five generations are all old enough to be in Honda’s target, which Honda Canada says is Gen Xers, but from the online response so far, many don’t seem interested.
Vice-president of business operations Hayato Mori says “the Prelude has the efficiency of a Civic Hybrid but the legs of a Civic Type-R covered in styling that stirs emotion.”
Mori says the company is well aware premium coupes are a low-volume segment but expects the Prelude to resonate with mature singles/couples. “The point for Prelude was to showcase technology and desirability for the brand,” he says.
A few initial sales reports show a soft launch for its first month, with 73 units sold in December in Canada and 174 units sold in the U.S. It has sold well in Japan where demand has far surpassed the supply, but there doesn’t seem to be the same amount of enthusiasm for it here as when the new Civic Type R and Acura Integra Type S was launched.
If it was $40,000 it would line up with cars such as the Toyota GR86 and Mazda Miata, and make much more sense from a performance/price perspective. It’s unfortunate because the Prelude is a thoroughly refined automobile and a lot of fun to drive.
It’s based on the Civic, which is an excellent starting point, and has the front suspension from the Type R, including the wider front end. There are standard adaptive dampers and four piston Brembo front brake calipers for excellent stopping power.
There are standard adaptive dampers and four piston Brembo front brake caliper, which may be overkill for this little power.Kunal D'souza/The Globe and Mail
The new Prelude has pop-out door handles.Kunal D'souza/The Globe and Mail
Honda is calling the new Prelude a grand tourer and has even gone as far as giving it a new “GT” drive mode in addition to Sport and Comfort. In any mode, the Prelude has a nicely damped ride that never feels harsh and Comfort mode is genuinely comfortable. There’s also an excellent pair of sport seats with embroidered Prelude script on the headrests, premium feeling materials on the dash and centre console and a Bose stereo system.
The quick ratio steering has and a good amount of feel and lets you know just where the front tires are allowing you to chuck the Prelude into corners with gumption. It’s like a Civic Type R with the suspension at 50 per cent stiffness, which makes it an excellent combination for our winter ravaged roads.
And because it only has 200 horsepower, you can drive it harder than any of the other sports cars mentioned above and not worry about getting your car impounded.
The Prelude has historically introduced new technology to the brand with every iteration. It was the first Honda to get VTEC after the NSX, the first to get four-wheel steering and the first to get a torque vectoring system designed to work on a front-wheel-drive car. It’s always been a “prelude” of things to come.
The sixth-generation Prelude also introduces something new: Honda’s “S plus” shift system. When it’s on you can use paddle shifters on the steering wheel to change gears, but the Prelude doesn’t actually have a transmission. It uses a direct drive similar to an EV because that’s essentially what it is.
The electric motor does almost all of heavy lifting of moving the car and the gasoline engine is essentially a generator that powers it. The engine only powers the wheels directly when driving more than 100 kilometres an hour. When switched on, the new “S plus” system simulates an eight-speed automatic by manipulating the revs and playing engine sounds through the speakers. It also uses electric motor regen to provide a small jolt in between shifts, further enhancing the illusion of a real gearbox.
It all works really well and is quite convincing. If I didn’t know how it worked, I would have just thought it was a regular automatic. But the problem for me is that a fancy flappy paddle shift system is a poor replacement for a true manual transmission in a sports car.
It’s irritating knowing that Honda makes some of the best manual gearboxes in the industry and have chosen not to put one in their new sports car. Give it a six-speed manual option and the two-litre turbo from the Civic Type R and let the people have what they really want.
The Prelude gets the new Honda letters on the rear, similar to the all-electric PrologueKunal D'souza/The Globe and Mail
The rear seats are definitely not made for carrying adults.Kunal D'souza/The Globe and Mail
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