Whenever you’re younger and have not pushed a lot of something but, it is smart to overcompensate by studying as many details and figures as you’ll be able to. Driving automobiles is pricey, however studying first drives, opinions, comparability checks, and the rest you could find on ad-supported websites is principally free. At the same time as an grownup, it may be straightforward to get caught up during which automobile has the most effective specs for the cash. However does that at all times matter?
Some time again, BMW despatched me an M3 Competitors with some attractive paint to get to an occasion the place I drove a number of new Mini convertibles. Objectively, it was an extremely succesful automobile that accelerated laborious and cornered even more durable. You might not love the design, however there is not any denying it is a severe efficiency machine. The issue was, the whole lot that will have made the M3 Comp a delight up within the mountains or on a monitor meant it wasn’t all that pleasurable as a each day driver.
The seats had been impractical at finest, the whole lot about it was too stiff on damaged pavement, and getting it up and down the driveway at my mother and father’ home was far more work than it was value. So many youthful lovers, whose mother and father cannot afford to purchase one for them of their 20s, dream of sooner or later proudly owning a automobile just like the M3 Comp earlier than they flip 40. The issue is, by the point your fortieth birthday rounds the ultimate nook, your physique’s not in its 20s anymore, both, and your priorities are most likely a bit completely different. That is the place the 2026 Honda Prelude is available in.
Full Disclosure: Honda wished me to drive the brand new Prelude so badly, it flew me to the Indy 500, put me up in a flowery lodge, after which provided to let me drive a Prelude if I wished. As a lot because the web hates the Prelude, how may I say no?
Enjoyable with out the numbers
On paper, the brand new Prelude appears to be like fallacious. Honda constructed a front-wheel-drive Civic Coupe with a hybrid powertrain, the Civic Kind R suspension, and no handbook transmission. How is anyone speculated to have enjoyable in that? You may’t do donuts, you will lose each drag race, and the identical cash may purchase you a used M3 that is higher in each approach and likewise has a handbook transmission. Clearly, it is a silly, dumb automobile, and everybody at Honda is a bunch of morons for promoting a coupe with out an simply comprehensible transmission.
Besides, when Honda tossed me the keys to the Prelude you see right here, that wasn’t my expertise in any respect. In actual fact, I truly loved it. Lots. Granted, I used to be driving the automobile via the larger Indianapolis metropolitan space, not flogging it at ten-tenths on a race monitor, however Honda nonetheless discovered some fairly good roads for the drive route. In individual, you actually do not discover the Prius styling comparisons I hold seeing thrown round on-line, and particularly with that attractive blue paint, I feel it appears to be like implausible.
That mentioned, contemplating the place I took the images, I also needs to most likely make clear that I did not try to rally the Prelude. Not out of any want to be accountable with the $45,000-ish automobile I did not personal, although. Since you’re truly a brief service street that dead-ended a stone’s throw from the place I parked to take the images.
Even with out room to slip it round within the filth, the Prelude was nonetheless a enjoyable automobile. The torque from the hybrid powertrain’s electrical motor made it really feel fairly fast. Not pin-you-back-in-your-seat quick, however fast sufficient to maintain issues fascinating. Since roads often have pace limits and different automobiles on them, who cares? Particularly since a whole lot of automobiles that provide faster 0-to-60 instances usually really feel rather a lot slower than their official instances would recommend if the automobile’s already rolling. I believed we believed in gradual automobile quick ‘spherical these components.
Neglect S+ Shift
The Prelude might not include a handbook, however for this automobile, I would argue the two-motor hybrid system borrowed from the Civic Hybrid is the next-best factor. At the very least if we’re coping with the actual world, not “simply make the brand new NSX front-engine, give it a V8, and promote it for $30,000” nonsense. Whereas a daily previous computerized cannot speed up till the pc finds the fitting gear, the Prelude’s 232 pound-feet of torque is technically out there at zero rpm. Except you hammer it when the sunshine turns inexperienced, the Prelude accelerates extra like an EV than the phrases “hybrid” and “eCVT” most likely recommend (at the very least till the engine kicks in). And if there is not any handbook or DCT on the desk, give me a style of that electrical torque, please.
That mentioned, I performed round with the S+ shift mode and, similar to Daniel, rapidly misplaced curiosity. I perceive why Honda affords it, and possibly it could make a day up within the mountains extra fascinating, however I do not know. It did not do something to make my drive extra pleasurable, so I ended utilizing it. Oh nicely, no automobile is ideal, and you do not have to make use of the S+ characteristic. I would additionally choose it if Honda had angled the infotainment display screen towards the driving force and included a greater backup digital camera. It is a small factor, however once you work together with one thing like the middle display screen so continuously, the small issues matter. Additionally, individuals who prioritize passenger comfort often do not buy coupes.
I am additionally a famous push-button gear-selector hater, and the Prelude’s exhaust notice is not precisely what I would name invigorating. It was simply laborious to get too mad about these issues whereas driving a coupe with the suspension that was roughly borrowed from the Civic Kind R. It is lacking the CTR’s stiffest suspension setting, however I could not get mad about that, both. The Prelude is agile, the steering really feel is nice, it desires to show, and it does all of it whereas nonetheless being extremely comfy. Even in Sport mode.
Oh, that suspension
Why purchase the Prelude as an alternative of a Civic Si, a Civic Hybrid, or an Acura Integra A-Spec? That suspension. It is simply so good. That is not one thing you’ll be able to measure with a quantity on a spec sheet, so you will by no means have the ability to really respect how good the Prelude is to drive with out experiencing it your self. As a result of, once more, I am speaking about enjoyable and pleasure right here, not lap instances at Street Atlanta. Vehicles aren’t speculated to really feel as nimble because the Prelude with out sacrificing journey high quality and luxury. The place are the cruel, disagreeable jolts and vibrations that I am pressured to simply accept in trade for higher dealing with?
I’ll find yourself consuming my very own phrases right here, however contemplating how dissatisfied I used to be with the final automobile I street tripped (a Mercedes-Benz CLE450 cabriolet), when Honda informed me it had a Prelude within the Atlanta fleet that will be out there once I wished it, I began planning one other journey to Savannah. The 2 automobiles aren’t rivals in any approach, however for the reason that Prelude’s suspension — and due to this fact its consolation — is the star right here, why not see if the Prelude makes a greater grand tourer than a convertible that prices twice as a lot? Having pals who reside near the seaside is nice.
On the very least, the journey itself ought to price much less, for the reason that Prelude is rated at 44 mpg mixed, whereas the CLE450’s solely rated at 26 mpg. Oh, and did I point out the Prelude calls for normal? Even in Georgia, premium is already nicely over $5 a gallon, and never each fuel station has had premium out there not too long ago. Placing dearer fuel in your automobile as a result of you’ll be able to is typically enjoyable once you’re younger, but it surely’s rather a lot much less enjoyable as soon as you have seen precisely how a lot cash you will want for those who ever need to retire.
Benefit from the drive
If we’re heading to the monitor, there is a lengthy listing of automobiles I would somewhat drive than the brand new Honda Prelude. As a one-time expertise, you’ll be able to positively discover extra memorable automobiles. First automobile you purchase after beginning an grownup job with a wage and advantages? The Prelude is simply too accountable a choice for you, whether or not you’ll be able to afford it or not. Nonetheless spiritually 27, it doesn’t matter what the birthday in your driver’s license claims? You may most likely hate it. However for those who’re a grown-ass automobile fanatic who may be trustworthy that you simply’re virtually 38, it is laborious to beat the 2026 Honda Prelude.
This isn’t a automobile for doing laborious launches at intersections, however when you begin to respect Costco’s typically superior high quality and quarter-free purchasing expertise over Aldi’s decrease costs, you most likely do not do a whole lot of laborious launches anyway. That does not imply you do not nonetheless desire a coupe that makes in any other case boring drives extra enjoyable and encourages you to go sooner and push it more durable than you’d have in any other case. That is the Prelude. It might be higher with a handbook, however it could even be worse, as a result of then it would not recover from 40 mpg.
If that sounds just like the form of sports activities coupe that will make your life higher, go take a look at drive the Prelude. You may determine whether or not the value works for you as soon as that is taken care of. Since you do not buy the Prelude for the spec sheet or to impress strangers on the web. You purchase it for the best way it feels once you drive it. Not everybody’s searching for that particular feeling or courageous sufficient to decide on one thing simply because it makes them comfortable. For individuals who are, I do not assume roughly $5,000 lower than the common new automobile transaction value is an excessive amount of to spend on a automobile that makes you content.
