|
By
EWAN KENNEDY
19 July 2004
Honda
Prelude is an attractive sporty coupe from a Japanese company with
excellent credentials in high-performance cars. Honda is also a major
player in the top levels of car racing, having taken out world
championships in both Formula One and IndyCar racing with its
competition engines. And Honda's exploits in the top levels of
motorcycle racing are legendary.
Prelude is engineered to a high standard and built to specifications.
The result is a quality vehicle which is popular on the used car market.
You will generally be asked to pay top dollar to buy one, but that will
be compensated for at resale time, provided, of course, you look after
it in the meantime.
Back seat room has always been a weak point in Preludes. Sure this is a
sporty coupe, but many competitors can manage a better back seat than
the Honda. The 1997 Prelude is noticeably better in the rear than the
1991, but still not great.
Over the years Honda has vacillated over whether to make Prelude a
full-on sports coupe, or a good-looking cruiser. The 1991 model tends to
fall into the latter category, but its replacement, which came out early
in 1997, is a genuinely sporty car. Unfortunately, Honda discontinued
the Prelude in 2002, feeling that the Integra had moved sufficiently up
the sports rung to be able to replace it.
The Prelude has frequently been used as a test bed for new automotive
designs. These include four-wheel steering, offered in the more
expensive versions of the 1991 car. Active Torque Transfer System (ATTS),
a sort of electronic differential senses when one of the front wheels is
starting to slip and adds extra power to the other one to help the car
around the bend. ATTS was offered in the more expensive versions of
Prelude from 1997.
The sporting Honda is easy to drive, certainly not a cranky machine at
low speeds as is sometimes the way with older European sports coupes.
Engine performance is good, or very good, depending on which version you
buy. The Prelude engine in the period being examined here has a capacity
of 2.2 or 2.3 litres. But there is a big variation in power output
depending on the level of technology built into it. If you want really
big performance go for one of the V-TEC engines. These are based on
racing engine technology so, although they are excellent at high revs,
tend to be far less exciting at lower engine speeds. If you are not
prepared to use the gearbox to get the best from the V-TEC engine you
are probably best to opt for one of the lower-power standard motors.
Gearbox options are a five-speed manual and a four-speed automatic. From
the 1997 model there is the option of a sequential manual over-ride on
the automatic transmission.
Honda once had a reputation for charging a lot for spare parts and for
having availability troubles. Thankfully that now seems to be a thing of
the past and we haven’t heard of any real complaints about the last
couple of Preludes.
The dealer network is reasonably widespread, though it is on the sparse
side at times in the bush.
Insurance costs are lower than you might expect for a sporty car. But
always check on premiums for you’re your specific circumstances before
becoming too committed.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
Check that the paint has a good lustre and isn’t fading on the
bonnet, roof or boot. At the same time look for signs of rust in the
lower areas of the body and for indications that the car has been
repaired following a crash.
Look at the condition of the interior trim and be wary of any with
damage or plastic-dryness in the dashpad or rear parcel shelf.
The engine should start almost instantly and idle smoothly from the
moment it fires up. Acceleration should be smooth and almost constant in
its intensity. As mentioned, the V-TEC engines are less powerful than
the standard ones at lower revs but considerably more powerful at high
revs. Indeed, they can feel almost sluggish at the bottom end.
Honda manual gearboxes are a model of slick, positive changes so if the
one you are looking at is noisy, slow or has a rubbery feel there could
be troubles.
Automatic transmissions are also well built so if one changes too
frequently or is slow to go into gear it could be about to hurt
someone’s wallet.
During your test drive listen for untoward noises in the engine,
transmission, brakes and suspension.
It’s certainly wise to get a professional report, but you can push
aside any obvious duds by doing your own initial examination.
CAR BUYING TIP
Sporty models are seldom driven in a genuinely sporting manner,
expect, perhaps, for the odd squirt away from traffic lights. If one has
been driven hard it’s smart to give it a miss.
© Copyright
Marque Publishing Company
|
|
