2.2L VTEC engine
Smooth shifting 5 speed transmisson
Heated seats
Heated mirrors
Aggressive looks
Screaming acceleration off the line
Great handling

Not much back seat room.
Goes through oil, but I talked to a Honda tech and they all do it, its just the design of the engine, especially if your hard on the throttle.
Gas mileage is not the best for a 4 banger, but again its up to how you drive the car.

One word for this car, unbelieveable. I was searching around for my first car and wanted something sporty and fast and definitely got that. Having driven a 1990 Toyota Tercel given to me, this car was quite a large step up. 100000km (63000 miles). The 2.2L vtec engine has half decent tourque from 2000-5200rpm but once you hit 5200rpm, the engine just absoulutely screams. I put full length intake on it, and now if I accelerate from a stopsign/stoplight and there are people walking nearby, as soon as it hits 5200rpm, and the VTEC kicks in, everyone turns their heads to look at whats making that unbelieveable sound. Anyone who owns a Prelude with the 2.2L VTEC and has an intake, try starting your car, make sure its heated to normal temp and just hold your foot down on the accelerator, the rev limiter will kick in at 6500rpm but the sound from the engine is so throaty and sweet sounding. I bought a manual transmission Prelude, which has a nice smooth shifting 5 speed manual gearbox. I would not reccomend the auto version, mainly because you lose 5 HP, and can only hit 6600RPM, instead of the 7500RPM on the manual transmisson. So far, I have had no problems at all with the car, I do regular maintainence and have switched from conventional oil to synthetic, the best choice being Castrol Syntec. Stock tires that came on the car were pretty crappy, so I took the car to an empty parking lot, locked the parking brake and smoked the remaining rubber off the tires just before I put a set of Bridgestone Potenza G009's and at only 125 CAD a piece they are super tires for the Prelude for the price, good on dry wet and even snow and ice. Not bad for a H speed rated directional tire, and they also have builtin rim guard which is basically rubber that sticks out a bit past the rim, just incase you get a little close to a curb. They provide excellent handlinng too. The Preludes handling is superb, im sure you could get better, on a Ferrari or Lamborghini, the Prelude handles very well. Im not sure what the few reviewers at the beginning were talking about but I think they are wrong. I own the SE version of the Prelude, which in the USA is known as the Type SH. The colour is a head turning Milano Red. The interior, is a bit of a weakness for this car, Honda could have done a little better of a job making the interior more modern and not so 1990-1995ish. My car came stock with 2 level heated seats, which in the winter heat up nice and quick to make your bum nice and toasty. The A/C cranks out nice and cold still after 5 years, and unlike the other reviewers, I notice very little power loss from the engine even with it cranked at full. The back seats are pretty small, but then again, I bought the car for me, not for other passengers. The roof is a little low for me (being 6'2"). But if I slide the moonroof's cover open, I get a little more room. As far as leg room, I actually have to slide the seat forward four or five notches to get the perfect seating position. Trunk space is relatively good, although I had a heck of a time squeezing a 12" subwoofer and box in the back. The audio system is pretty decent, when its cranked, it almost sounds like there could be a small subwoofer in the trunk. As far as the exterior goes, the Prelude has killer good looks, especially from the front or the rear. The paint is slightly starting to fade, but I got the shine back up with a full application of Turtle wax. The 5 star rims look good and suit the car well. 5 years later, and the battery is still in perfect condition, the breaks have been done only 2 times, and if your the do it yourself type, they are very easy to change yourself. I changed the rotors once, because the stock ones got a little wobbly. The Honda manual reccomends that you run premium gas, and if you don't they say that you wont get the best performance from the engine. With todays gas prices, you have to be Bill Gates to run premium all the time, so I run mid grade normally and sometimes regular if im feeling really cheap. Overall I don't see very much performance change from regular to midgrade to premium, although, I do notice that the car runs beatiful if you put a tank of Sunoco's Ultra 94 in it from time to time. I also run gas/fuel injector cleaner in a full tank of gas from time to time, which keeps the car's fuel system running clean and efficient. Overall, I think the 2001 Honda Prelude is a excellent buy if you want a sporty, fast vehicle with lots of Honda's latest technology encorporated into it. I would recommend this car to anyone who wants a sporty, quick and great looking car.

BTW, Ive had my Prelude hit 160 MPH on a open 3 laned highway late at nite. What other car in its class can do that???

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Handling, Reliability, Exterior Style and Power.

Honda is known for transmission problems, but nothing that can't be fixed.

The prelude is a very reliable car. I've had no serious problems until about 140,000 miles, when my transmission was having some trouble. Once the transmission was fixed, it performed normal. Handing is great, acceleration when the V-tech kicks in is awsome. The styling is unique yet sporty. I get good mileage at times.

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N/A

Sporty yet classy appearance.
Handling.

The rear seat headroom is unmatched in its class to this day as far as I know.
Honda build quality.

Stereo system in pre 2001 days was the best in class as far as I know.

Never fails to start or run except when the battery died at 5 and 1/2 years.

Honda relability - nothing actually failed on the car to where it was unusable or unsafe.

fairly good view all around except when surrounded by SUVs

Ricer Image. Lack of Torque. Rear seat legroom. Lack of options like leather, heated power seats and climate control. Clunky rear suspension. Auto-tensioner unit. ATTS unit. Lack of headroom when seat is upright. Lack of telecoping steering wheel. Brake pads warp the rotors terribly. Large overhangs past the wheels. Engine noise. Front seat belts don't retract very well.
Did I say body sway with stock suspension? AC power. Car will literally never warm up in cold weather at idle. Aftermarket parts way expensive. Most available performance upgrades kill reliablity and do little to improve performance and are very expensive. Trunk space is poor even in its class. Put the Honda cd changer in and it's way worse. Windows may stick if used often. If the tensioner where to actually fail it could be a costly failure as Honda's have an interference design which realistically means that if something goes bad that engine damage will likely occur. The side windows have required lubrication several times because of sticking in the run. The sunroof clanks while closing and rattles when open. A/C power is quite lacking. Even in the DC area, summers can be a real bear without tinted windows and the car's black interior. It can take 30 minutes to cool the car down, ugh!. It is also very difficult to find a comfortable climate setting.

With the demise of the RX-7, 300Z, MR2 and 300GT, this was a great car for 1998-00. When I was in the market for a quality, practical, and economical sporty Japanese or German made car that wasn't a hatchback in 99 and 2000, there was the Impreza RS and the Lude. Those were the only options that were really seemed to fit the bill. The Impreza performance was nice but topped out at a mild 165 hp. The sportier appearance, higher hp and better build quality of the Honda won out in the end. I got the SH version because it came with the rear spoiler built-in and came with much better looking wheels. I also got basically every dealer option (the only options available). After driving the car, doing basic maintanence, reading forums, and slightly modding this car for 6+ years, I pretty much know all the ins and outs with it. At first it was a very smooth and mild mannered sport coupe but my happiness with the car has steadily declined from about 15,000 miles.

ISSUES:

Stock tires: RE92, are well documented as some of the worst sport tires out there.

Suspension: Unlike other hondas this one is a little more frail. I pretty much wore out the entire suspension in about 3 years. I attribute this to fairly aggressive driving over fair roads, not serious pot holes but not smooth either. While the handling is very good, there is quite a bit of sway in the stock suspension. This has the effect of wearing the outside corners of tires terribly and unevenly. Above 95 MPH the stock suspension was also too bouncy, and hence a little dangerous. So when time came to replace the suspension, I tried to upgrade it. At 4 years I replaced the stock suspension with a TEIN SS model at $850. Also neccessary were $400 adjustable ball joints. It was quite an difficult and expensive ordeal ($750) to get the suspension on the car, partially because of SH suspension. The base model is much simpler to work on and has less to go bad. For for these reasons alone I would absolutely steer clear of the SH if I had it to do over. Once the suspension was on at aligned, the sway was completely gone, but the ride height was a serious problem to deal with, especially with the large overhangs this car has. This constantly poses a problem at driveway entrances. Finally the common problem with the rear upper spring seats compressing and going bad over time causes clanking below 60 deg F. To remedy this with 4 pillow-ball mounts would cost between $700 - 1000 including labor. Also, the ATTS unit can act up (did or me) or go bad and is very expensive to either replace or get calibrated. It is simply not worth it.

Drivetrain: The 5-speed is inadequate for this car. It most certainly deserved a 6-speed. My auto-tensioner went out at 30k miles and cost a total of $680 to replace after they checked my valve timing first.

With usual normal driving style but very occasional upto an in redline driving, my engine has lost some torque and has become very noisy over the years, especially below 60 deg F. It is quite bothersome actually. One or more of the rings have likely worn and/or scarred the cylinder walls, as the valve timing has been checked.

Now goes through oil about 1 qt every 1000 mi.

Engine bogs down with the A/C on.

Engine bogs down when raining.

Other:
The low fuel indicator went bad after years. I believe this to be caused by the tiny piece of circular sheet metal that hinges over the fuel opening. It likely broke off and probably ended up at the bottom of the fuel tank.

When it is cold outside (i.e. 35 deg F) and you get in and go in the morning, count on it taking up to and over 10 minutes for the engine to warm up if you are not at highway speeds. Without the heated seats which were only available on a few Canadian cars you will freeze in the meantime.
cont in weaknesses

SUMMARY:
I would say that this was a great car in Japan where people are shorter, the roads are better, and the car has more options. This car would likely hold up much better for people who are not going to push the car hard, but then what's the point of the ATTS and 200 hp? For the American market this is not the best choice. For Honda afficinados the civic or accord coupes are a much better choice. While buying this car seemed to be a good choice at the time, a BMW 3 series, Mazda Protege ES, or Impreza RS probably would have been better choices. Now that I have a good deal invested in it I will drive it until it dies. Just replaced all belts, CV joint, wter pump and tensioner at 72 k miles so hopefully it will last another 6 years.

RECOMMENDATIONS:
Get the base model only if in good condition and at a good price, only if you live in a warm climate, only if you are under 5' 10". Forget the underbody kit and then put on the MUGEN suspension which is only a mild drop and has built in upper mounts and tint the windows. Finally, cross your fingers and hope that the Auto-tensioner unit doesn't go bad.

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2000 base model.

very strong pull at the vtec range

absolute none.

I just performed a h22a honda prelude swap into a 1990 accord 4door. I am telling you that this is the fastest 4cylinder non turbo engine you will ever feel. The vtec feels like a turbo. I mean my car pulls soooo hard in 3rd gear, it just climbs. I can do an easy 105 in 3rd.

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none

vtec engine, 4 wheel disc brakes, 5 spd transmission, style, handling,

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the car was actually worth $2000 when i bought it (the seller didn't know that). I was 16 when i bought the car. I can honestly say that it was the best car i have ever owned (no, it wasn't the first). it handled very well, accelerated extremely fast and topped out at 140 mph. unfortunety i let the power go to my head and i flipped it twice. my passenger and i are fine, the car however is not. i managed to sell it for $400 (buyer wanted the vtec engine). i will be buying another one and will NOT ABUSE THIS ONE!!! this all happened about 3 or 4 months ago. im 17 right now. feel free to e-mail any questions about the car or the accident.

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your kidding, right? nothing comes close

Mod acceptance Looks Handling Fun to drive if it's your first Vtec car

Ricer image even if it's stock Crappy paint Small sunroof The "fun" Vtec wears off after about 3 - 4 weeks

Honda's are supposed to be reliable. My car has an idling problem that the local dealer can't seem to fix. Often it causes it to stall. Now it started some other problem that when I am letting the clutch out in first and occassionaly second the car will start to go and then just kinda stop accelerating no matter how hard I push the pedal and then it will kick in and jerk me around. They charged me $282 for a frickin tune-up that I didn't ask for ($17 per spark plug, distributor cap, rotor button, and labor, plus $80 to diagnose the problem and they were wrong). They eventually said that someone messed with my valves and they were closed (couldn't get the feeler gauge in) they tinkered with them and that helped but didn't solve the problem. My NGK plugs weren't even a week old and they said the ceramic was cracked. BS i looked at them and they were fine. Anyway, the car isn't fast like some people say and has 0 torque compared to any sports car. Sure you can take on a cavalier, neon, civic or some other "riced" out rides but it's nothing special. I just put some Toyo Proxes on and these tires are unbelievable. I had some crappy kumho "Z" rated tires on prior to the toyo's. The car does handle really well. Vtec only has a significant effect in 1st and 2nd gear...Lots of noise and not a whole lot of performance. If you're into modding you can do it and at not much of a price depending how far you want to take it. I didn't see throwing any more money into this piece b/c I'm going to sell it when I graduate and step up to either an '02 330ci or an '01 M3 if I can find one in my $25 - $28K price range. In the 11K - 12K price range I would look at Mustang GT's (questionable reliability), Z28. Or something that isn't necessarily a "sports" car but has some torque, the car that comes to mind is a maxima. Anyway, there are definitely better ways to spend your money if you're buying this car for its speed/performance unless you're going to be racing on devil's backbone.

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1996 Dodge avenger ES ~An even bigger piece of junk My most reliable cars were the two that were given to me, I should have kept them -1993 saturn SL2 (first car) -1994 Jeep Cherokee sport 2WD - had 170K and no problems whatsoever except a leak in the windshield. The 4.0L I-6 is something else.

4 weel steering motor (optional v-tec is not stock untill 1994 Si modles) smooth shifting a good trans "right out of the box" Honda craftmanship

unexiting enterior cramped

Ive owned my Honda Prelude for about a year and a half and wouldnt trade it for anything. Its a Honda so there is no shortage of upgrades. The 4 weel steering really improves the handling to a great degree.

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picks up speed lightning fast burns out in first 3 gears

chugs gas when floored not enough leg room in thr rear passenger seats

I have owned my prelude si for over 2 years i am in high school its a 5 spd manual i have an ice man cold air intake custom exhaust its lowerd with a front bodykit i have a brand new spoiler and a fresh gun metal black paint job with black rs limited rims i have flat out smoked every car i have raced (smoked list)2001 vtec accord,1995 vtec accord,this car eats thugged up civics for breakfast,1992 nissan sentra,1990 crx,v6 toyota tacoma prerunner

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Corners well with Z-tires. Good power and a nice VTEC sound at 5K RPM. Very reliable and sturdy.

none

This car is great and reliable. After 50K miles, not a single repair! The car does not rattle or squeak, unlike other older cars I've driven. Plenty of power and torque. However, if they ever do bring back a Prelude, they should make it 6 cylinders... 200 HP is just not enough to make it a serious sports car.

Strong engines that will last a "lifetime". interior and exterior is unique and looks awsome.

ungreasable fittings eg. ball joints and tie rod ends. Body like any other honda rust out.

its a 1992 honda prelude s.I bought it 2 years ago and its sitting at 425,000km running strong. I have done nothing to the engine but regular "pm". I love the look and drivability of the car and intend on keeping it.

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88 honda prelude si 2.0 DOHC love that car