GTP Cool Wall: 1991-1996 Honda Prelude

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1991-1996 Honda Prelude

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  • Poll closed .
Wiegert

Wiegert

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1991-1996 Honda Prelude nominated by @Liquid

1994-honda-prelude-special-edition-1.jpg


Body Style: 2-door coupe
Engines: 2.0L, 2.2L and 2.3L I4 engines of varying VTEC and/or injected configurations
Power: 131-198 hp
Torque: 142-158 lbs-ft
Weight: 1288 kg
Drivetrain: Front-engined, front wheel drive
Transmission: 4-speed automatic, 5-speed manual​

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Integra that's been stretched here and squished there, 197hp is surprising though. Meh.
 
Strictly speaking, Preludes always shared a lot more with whatever was the hottest Japanese market Accord on sale at the same time than they ever did the Civic or Integra. Especially after the Japanese Accord split off from the American one in design. The final generation Prelude even had the same notorious 4 speed automatic as the second generation Honda Odyssey.
 
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These are not as affected by the ricer crew as the final gen, I only see these as clean as they can be, either way has a interesting engine with the interesting 4ws. But I always thought these are under-powred, fat (although 1288kg is fantastic) and it should be a RWD coupe. Always thought they had so much potential than they actually showed. These can scrape a very low cool.
 
Was never keen on the 4th gen exterior. It may have done a good job of shaking things up as the range entered the '90s, but they still end up looking about as unremarkable as the majority of Hondas from that period. Whereas the 5th gen somehow continues to stand out as a surprisingly modern, well-aged model even if they weren't particularly pretty to begin with.

Can't even remember the last time I saw a clean RHD example of either generation. Most I see now have been brought over from the Poland or the Baltics and often in need of some TLC.
 
Tornado
Strictly speaking, Preludes always shared a lot more with whatever was the hottest Japanese market Accord on sale at the same time than they ever did the Civic or Integra.
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I (I don't presume to be the one this was directed at, but I referenced an Integra so I wanted to touch on it again) was speaking only to the design when calling it a stretched/squished Integra, and was largely referring to the passenger compartment forward until the front wheel arch. I don't do Hondas--that is to say I've never been up on what vehicles share what platforms, particularly the ones kids like to modify--though we did own a Pilot and currently own a ZDX.

And upon further investigation, the Integra in question appears to have come about three whole years after this, so perhaps the Integra is a squished and stretched Prelude. :P
 
I think this was the car I started out with in either GT3 or GT4, so it does sort of hold some value to me...sort of. With that said, it isn't overly interesting, nor is it bad. About meh.
 
It's a decent tuner in the right hands. Just because it got that ricey respect,, gets barely a low cool. It's also my favorite version of the Prelude, with the front and rear ends like that.
 
Full electronic dash, a H22A and a stylish exterior.

The VTi-R is most certainly Cool, the lesser versions are less Cool but overall the car is still Cool. Cool!
 
The87Dodge
Almost any car can be a decent tuner.
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That's not really true, though. Certain cars can take to modifications much better simply by nature of the quality of their initial starting point; and certain cars benefit massively from similarity to factory performance models.


Think of something similar in size and market position to the Prelude. Let's say the Beretta, which came from the factory with tons of parts adaptability with other GM models (think of all of the powerful but not terribly heavy engines that can easily fit in the engine bay of one, for instance, because GM basically used a modular drivetrain design for all of its FWD cars for 20 years; or how many Cavalier aftermarket parts will bolt right into it since they are extremely similar cars mechanically) and a highly capable track package from the factory that is still used in amateur races which was (in theory anyway) directly comparable to the top spec Prelude. It sounds like the sky could be the limit with one. But it also has a famously floppy chassis and a cheapo suspension design right out of the rental-grade Corsica brother. And even the best engine the car got from the factory (the Quad 4 HO) was a hand grenade stock.
 
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When I vote for cars, I never judge it's image. So if I vote a car uncool, its's not because it's riced frequently, or driven by drug lords.

Anywho, I'd take a Prelude over any 90's Civic or Integra any day. Looks better than the both of them, thanks to it's good looks, and it isn't overdone. Prelude SiR certainly packs a punch with 198 horsepower and is probably very fun to drive.

Solid cool.
 
Its a decent enough little car, but its been ruined by the ricer image. Brings it down from meh to just uncool.
 
The87Dodge
Almost any car can be a decent tuner.
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Any car can be tuned. But that doesn't make them decent tuner cars.

I tuned my Protege's itty-bitty 140-ish hp 2.0 to the point where my car could hit a rev-limited 140 mph. But I spent a ton more money and time on the tuning than a guy with a Honda K20 or a Nissan SR20 would have.

Also, you've obviously never seen people blow up pedestrian motors and transmissions with a small arse turbocharger. When your motor blows a headgasket with just 10 psi of boost, or your transmission grenades itself with even a modest bit of extra power (like mine did), that's a sign you probably should have started with something better in the first place.

The Honda H22 is "something better". The K20 is even better than that, in my opinion, but that motor came much later.

And because it was a good motor, a lot of racers spent time tuning it. Which meant a wealth of parts and information available for wannabe tuners.

On my build, I had to start nearly from scratch. One-of-a-kind race cams. Rare cam gears that I still had to modify to work, mixed with custom built adjustable cam gears*, custom wiring and tuning for a supposedly plug and play engine management chip, a one-of-a-kind intake that makes double the power of a standard aftermarket one, and a custom exhaust.

All to make slightly less power than a bog standard H22.

Yay.

Was it a decent tune? Yes. Was it a decent tuner car? Hell no.

A Prelude, on the other hand, is a decent tuner car.

-

Uncool. Tuning is for nerds.




I designed custom adjustable cam gears and had them machine shopped before I found a place that sold the real deal. Order real deal... it arrives, and since I only needed one "nice" cam gear for the intake side to trigger the cam position sensor, I sold a mismatched "nice-ghetto" pair to another owner.

Gods, I am so uncool.
 
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