From pudgy infant to strapping superstar, Honda's practical answer to high-priced, high-maintenance Euro coupes
Honda established itself in America with the Civic and Accord both good, solid but basic cars. But big profits in the automotive world don't come from basic cars that sell for commodity prices. Those profits come from cars that get consumers so excited that they'll pay a premium price just to have one. The Prelude was Honda's first attempt at an exciting car.
The Prelude was Honda's technological leading edge. Features that are now expected from Honda, like the double-wishbone suspension under the Accord, fuel injection, and VTEC electronic variable valve timing system showed up first on the Prelude before migrating across the Honda line (though VTEC first showed up on the 1990 Acura NSX). The Prelude was also a test bed for some technologies that went nowhere, like four-wheel steering.
When it debuted in 1979 the Prelude wasn't much more than an Accord with all the pesky utility removed. By the time it left production 22 years later, it was, arguably, the finest handling front-drive car ever built and home to one of the world's great four-cylinder engines.
First Generation: 1979-1982
Let's be blunt: the 1979 Prelude wasn't exactly handsome. With its high beltline and stubby proportions, it gave no hint to the sleek sport coupe it would become in later years.
Built atop a 91.3-inch wheelbase (2.4 inches shorter than the '79 Accord), the first Prelude's chopped notchback body left little room for actual human accommodations. The front bucket seats were OK, but the rear seats were a joke and not a very funny one. Beyond that, the dash was an eccentric mishmash that included radio knobs that protruded out the side of the instrument binnacle and a weird combination tachometer and speedometer where both instrument's needles swept along the same arc.
Honda's designers indulged themselves with the first Prelude and it showed. But the first Prelude did have two big advantages: It was the most muscular Honda and it was, after all, a Honda.
The Prelude's sole power plant was a 1,751cc version of the Accord's CVCC SOHC four producing 72 hp at 4,500 rpm and 94 pound-feet of torque at 3,000 rpm, backed by either the Hondamatic two-speed automatic or a five-speed manual transmission. That sounds pathetic today, but back then the Prelude was peppy compared to some of the competition Motor Trend measured an early Prelude completing the quarter-mile in 18.8 seconds at 70 mph.
Riding atop P175/70SR13 Bridgestone radials, the Prelude was the most generously shod Honda and the all-independent suspension provided both good grip and an excellent ride. "It is," wrote Brock Yates for Motor Trend, "by any sane measurement, a splendid automobile. I know; I own one. The machine, like all Hondas, embodies fabrication that is, in my opinion, surpassed only by the narrowest of margins by Mercedes-Benz. It is a relatively powerful little automobile by anybody's standards. (Can one imagine the ecstatic yelping if Porsche produced a 1.7-liter OHC capable of 100 mph for $7,000?)" Yet Road & Track fretted openly that "we just can't get past the car's styling and basic layout." Car and Driver whined about the car's instrumentation, murkily observing, "Honda management obviously concluded that the difference between a sporty car and a sedan is gadgetry." The pundits at our sister publication Sports Car Graphic joined in the widespread denouncement of the Prelude's interior especially its miniscule rear seat; "being inside the Prelude borders on claustrophobia," was the semantic sideswipe they chose to describe the confines of the car.
Honda replaced the Hondamatic with a three-speed automatic for 1980 and added some electronic warning bells for 1982, but otherwise the first-generation Prelude remained very much the same car throughout its production life.
The first Prelude had its hard-core fans, but the next Prelude would impress everyone.
Second Generation: 1983-1987
The second Prelude was nearly perfect. From bumper to bumper and side mirror to side mirror, every detail of the 1983 Prelude's engineering made perfect sense.
"The '83 Prelude is longer, wider, quicker, faster, and far prettier than its immediate and only predecessor, with entirely new suspension systems front and rear, a brand-new engine, new cabin appointments and a slick styling job that reflects its new drag coefficient of 0.36," wrote Motor Trend on the car's introduction.
Sharing the Accord's 96-inch wheelbase, the '83 Prelude had a full 100 hp (at 5,500 rpm) at its disposal due to the new 1,829cc SOHC 12-valve four with a head cast from an aluminum and titanium alloy inhaling through twin 34mm Keihn carbs.
The additional power was great, but the most significant development on the new Prelude was the suspension. "The low nose is the key to the new front suspension," Motor Trend explained. "Honda designers left no room for conventional MacPherson struts, so the final car has a most unconventional upper and lower arm layout. The lower arm leads, and carries a coil/shock unit mounted directly to the body on top and straddling the half-shafts to connect to the lower arm. The upper arm mounts to the car behind the top strut mount and is ball-jointed to the upright. The forged upright passes very close to the inner tire/wheel surface, and is twisted forward and down to join the hub/brake assembly. According to Honda suspension designers, the system is short, light, compact and capable. With upper and lower arms, the wheel has zero caster in the straight-ahead position, for lighter manual steering, solid feel and quick response. In cornering or braking, the deflection in the upper pivot causes increased caster, while the tires remain upright through the corner."
That basic front suspension design (called "double wishbone") quickly became a Honda hallmark and it's still used on current Accords as well as Acura's TSX and TL. The '83 Prelude's rear suspension, on the other hand, used long, stamped transverse arms and more conventional MacPherson struts.
More than two decades later, the '83 Prelude is still handsome. With its low beltline, large greenhouse and crisp lines, it still looks contemporary. And inside, its no-nonsense interior only looks dated in some details like the ventilation controls. Clearly, the second-generation Prelude was a car well ahead of its time.
In a three-way comparison test pitting the '83 Prelude against the Dodge Shelby Charger and Volkswagen Scirocco, Motor Trend concluded "for our money, the most appealing car here is Honda's new Prelude. Not only does it deliver most of the Shelby Charger's maximum performance and all of the Volkswagen's quality and refinement, and more technical innovation than the other two combined, it is also just so incredibly nice. There are no real flaws in it anywhere. From the conception of its engine and suspension right down to the treatment of the tiniest detail, careful and thorough thinking shows through. The engineering that has gone into it has a positive and immediately evident effect."
Rear disc brakes came aboard to match the front pair on the 1984 Prelude, but other changes were scant. Midway through the 1985 model year the Prelude Si appeared featuring fuel injection atop a 2.0-liter version of the regular Prelude's engine. The Si also got a so-very-'80s monochromatic exterior that included spoilers both fore and aft, and an interior stuffed with luxury equipment like power windows, cruise control and a sound system with a graphic equalizer to ensure that the driver's Depeche Mode cassette sounded totally rad.
The Prelude and Prelude Si continued through the 1986 and 1987 model years essentially unchanged. The second-generation Prelude set the tone for much of what Honda would produce for the next two decades. In most ways it was the first modern Honda.
Third Generation: 1988-1991
"What do you do with a car that leads the field in total performance and offers great comfort and convenience to boot?" asked Motor Trend somewhat disingenuously about the 1988 Prelude Si amid its seven-coupe comparison test. "You place it high on the charts, that's what you do, and that's what we've done with the Prelude Si.
"Newly designed for '88, the Prelude delivers handling that's superior even amidst this stellar field. This is truly an aim-it-where-you-want-it car. The steering is effortless, the double-wishbone front and rear suspension willing and incredibly precise. Though not equipped with antilock brakes, the Prelude still led in braking on the strength of superb balance between its front and rear discs."
Honda didn't mess much with the second-generation Prelude's successful formula when it was designed the third. The proportions of the car were similar (the wheelbase grew 3.3 inches to 101 inches and the overall length grew from 169.1 inches to 175.6) and the updated looks strictly evolutionary revisions. Under the skin, however, the chassis was updated with double wishbones now suspending each corner and two new 2.0-liter four-cylinder engines. The base Prelude "S" ran with a twin-carbureted SOHC, 12-valve version of the new 2.0-liter power plant rated at 104 hp at 5,800 rpm while the Prelude Si's fuel-injected, DOHC, 16-valver made a full 135 hp at a whirring 6,200 rpm. At the time, that was the most powerful engine Honda had ever put into a production road car.
But the Si wasn't at the top of the Prelude line any more as the Prelude Si 4WS took that position. "4WS" of course meant that four-wheel steering was aboard, and the 4WS did carry a mechanical four-wheel steering system in which the rear wheels would move slightly (counter to the front wheels at parking lot speeds) to improve maneuverability. At $17,945 the 4WS was $1,300 more than a regular Si which was plenty maneuverable enough for most buyers. The 4WS model would persist into the fourth-generation Prelude, but buyers did a good job of ignoring it.
Carrying through 1989 essentially unchanged, the Prelude got a small tweak to its appearance for 1990. But more importantly Honda also planted a new 2.1-liter, all-aluminum, 140-hp, DOHC, 16-valve engine in the nose of the Si. It also treated the base Prelude S to fuel injection, and that engine produced either 104 or 105 hp depending on whether a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmission was ordered.
The third-generation Prelude was a worthwhile extension of what the second generation had established. The fourth-generation Prelude would be more than an extensionit would be an expansion.
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Honda established itself in America with the Civic and Accord both good, solid but basic cars. But big profits in the automotive world don't come from basic cars that sell for commodity prices. Those profits come from cars that get consumers so excited that they'll pay a premium price just to have one. The Prelude was Honda's first attempt at an exciting car.
The Prelude was Honda's technological leading edge. Features that are now expected from Honda, like the double-wishbone suspension under the Accord, fuel injection, and VTEC electronic variable valve timing system showed up first on the Prelude before migrating across the Honda line (though VTEC first showed up on the 1990 Acura NSX). The Prelude was also a test bed for some technologies that went nowhere, like four-wheel steering.
When it debuted in 1979 the Prelude wasn't much more than an Accord with all the pesky utility removed. By the time it left production 22 years later, it was, arguably, the finest handling front-drive car ever built and home to one of the world's great four-cylinder engines.
First Generation: 1979-1982
Let's be blunt: the 1979 Prelude wasn't exactly handsome. With its high beltline and stubby proportions, it gave no hint to the sleek sport coupe it would become in later years.
Built atop a 91.3-inch wheelbase (2.4 inches shorter than the '79 Accord), the first Prelude's chopped notchback body left little room for actual human accommodations. The front bucket seats were OK, but the rear seats were a joke and not a very funny one. Beyond that, the dash was an eccentric mishmash that included radio knobs that protruded out the side of the instrument binnacle and a weird combination tachometer and speedometer where both instrument's needles swept along the same arc.
Honda's designers indulged themselves with the first Prelude and it showed. But the first Prelude did have two big advantages: It was the most muscular Honda and it was, after all, a Honda.
The Prelude's sole power plant was a 1,751cc version of the Accord's CVCC SOHC four producing 72 hp at 4,500 rpm and 94 pound-feet of torque at 3,000 rpm, backed by either the Hondamatic two-speed automatic or a five-speed manual transmission. That sounds pathetic today, but back then the Prelude was peppy compared to some of the competition Motor Trend measured an early Prelude completing the quarter-mile in 18.8 seconds at 70 mph.
Riding atop P175/70SR13 Bridgestone radials, the Prelude was the most generously shod Honda and the all-independent suspension provided both good grip and an excellent ride. "It is," wrote Brock Yates for Motor Trend, "by any sane measurement, a splendid automobile. I know; I own one. The machine, like all Hondas, embodies fabrication that is, in my opinion, surpassed only by the narrowest of margins by Mercedes-Benz. It is a relatively powerful little automobile by anybody's standards. (Can one imagine the ecstatic yelping if Porsche produced a 1.7-liter OHC capable of 100 mph for $7,000?)" Yet Road & Track fretted openly that "we just can't get past the car's styling and basic layout." Car and Driver whined about the car's instrumentation, murkily observing, "Honda management obviously concluded that the difference between a sporty car and a sedan is gadgetry." The pundits at our sister publication Sports Car Graphic joined in the widespread denouncement of the Prelude's interior especially its miniscule rear seat; "being inside the Prelude borders on claustrophobia," was the semantic sideswipe they chose to describe the confines of the car.
Honda replaced the Hondamatic with a three-speed automatic for 1980 and added some electronic warning bells for 1982, but otherwise the first-generation Prelude remained very much the same car throughout its production life.
The first Prelude had its hard-core fans, but the next Prelude would impress everyone.
Second Generation: 1983-1987
The second Prelude was nearly perfect. From bumper to bumper and side mirror to side mirror, every detail of the 1983 Prelude's engineering made perfect sense.
"The '83 Prelude is longer, wider, quicker, faster, and far prettier than its immediate and only predecessor, with entirely new suspension systems front and rear, a brand-new engine, new cabin appointments and a slick styling job that reflects its new drag coefficient of 0.36," wrote Motor Trend on the car's introduction.
Sharing the Accord's 96-inch wheelbase, the '83 Prelude had a full 100 hp (at 5,500 rpm) at its disposal due to the new 1,829cc SOHC 12-valve four with a head cast from an aluminum and titanium alloy inhaling through twin 34mm Keihn carbs.
The additional power was great, but the most significant development on the new Prelude was the suspension. "The low nose is the key to the new front suspension," Motor Trend explained. "Honda designers left no room for conventional MacPherson struts, so the final car has a most unconventional upper and lower arm layout. The lower arm leads, and carries a coil/shock unit mounted directly to the body on top and straddling the half-shafts to connect to the lower arm. The upper arm mounts to the car behind the top strut mount and is ball-jointed to the upright. The forged upright passes very close to the inner tire/wheel surface, and is twisted forward and down to join the hub/brake assembly. According to Honda suspension designers, the system is short, light, compact and capable. With upper and lower arms, the wheel has zero caster in the straight-ahead position, for lighter manual steering, solid feel and quick response. In cornering or braking, the deflection in the upper pivot causes increased caster, while the tires remain upright through the corner."
That basic front suspension design (called "double wishbone") quickly became a Honda hallmark and it's still used on current Accords as well as Acura's TSX and TL. The '83 Prelude's rear suspension, on the other hand, used long, stamped transverse arms and more conventional MacPherson struts.
More than two decades later, the '83 Prelude is still handsome. With its low beltline, large greenhouse and crisp lines, it still looks contemporary. And inside, its no-nonsense interior only looks dated in some details like the ventilation controls. Clearly, the second-generation Prelude was a car well ahead of its time.
In a three-way comparison test pitting the '83 Prelude against the Dodge Shelby Charger and Volkswagen Scirocco, Motor Trend concluded "for our money, the most appealing car here is Honda's new Prelude. Not only does it deliver most of the Shelby Charger's maximum performance and all of the Volkswagen's quality and refinement, and more technical innovation than the other two combined, it is also just so incredibly nice. There are no real flaws in it anywhere. From the conception of its engine and suspension right down to the treatment of the tiniest detail, careful and thorough thinking shows through. The engineering that has gone into it has a positive and immediately evident effect."
Rear disc brakes came aboard to match the front pair on the 1984 Prelude, but other changes were scant. Midway through the 1985 model year the Prelude Si appeared featuring fuel injection atop a 2.0-liter version of the regular Prelude's engine. The Si also got a so-very-'80s monochromatic exterior that included spoilers both fore and aft, and an interior stuffed with luxury equipment like power windows, cruise control and a sound system with a graphic equalizer to ensure that the driver's Depeche Mode cassette sounded totally rad.
The Prelude and Prelude Si continued through the 1986 and 1987 model years essentially unchanged. The second-generation Prelude set the tone for much of what Honda would produce for the next two decades. In most ways it was the first modern Honda.
Third Generation: 1988-1991
"What do you do with a car that leads the field in total performance and offers great comfort and convenience to boot?" asked Motor Trend somewhat disingenuously about the 1988 Prelude Si amid its seven-coupe comparison test. "You place it high on the charts, that's what you do, and that's what we've done with the Prelude Si.
"Newly designed for '88, the Prelude delivers handling that's superior even amidst this stellar field. This is truly an aim-it-where-you-want-it car. The steering is effortless, the double-wishbone front and rear suspension willing and incredibly precise. Though not equipped with antilock brakes, the Prelude still led in braking on the strength of superb balance between its front and rear discs."
Honda didn't mess much with the second-generation Prelude's successful formula when it was designed the third. The proportions of the car were similar (the wheelbase grew 3.3 inches to 101 inches and the overall length grew from 169.1 inches to 175.6) and the updated looks strictly evolutionary revisions. Under the skin, however, the chassis was updated with double wishbones now suspending each corner and two new 2.0-liter four-cylinder engines. The base Prelude "S" ran with a twin-carbureted SOHC, 12-valve version of the new 2.0-liter power plant rated at 104 hp at 5,800 rpm while the Prelude Si's fuel-injected, DOHC, 16-valver made a full 135 hp at a whirring 6,200 rpm. At the time, that was the most powerful engine Honda had ever put into a production road car.
But the Si wasn't at the top of the Prelude line any more as the Prelude Si 4WS took that position. "4WS" of course meant that four-wheel steering was aboard, and the 4WS did carry a mechanical four-wheel steering system in which the rear wheels would move slightly (counter to the front wheels at parking lot speeds) to improve maneuverability. At $17,945 the 4WS was $1,300 more than a regular Si which was plenty maneuverable enough for most buyers. The 4WS model would persist into the fourth-generation Prelude, but buyers did a good job of ignoring it.
Carrying through 1989 essentially unchanged, the Prelude got a small tweak to its appearance for 1990. But more importantly Honda also planted a new 2.1-liter, all-aluminum, 140-hp, DOHC, 16-valve engine in the nose of the Si. It also treated the base Prelude S to fuel injection, and that engine produced either 104 or 105 hp depending on whether a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmission was ordered.
The third-generation Prelude was a worthwhile extension of what the second generation had established. The fourth-generation Prelude would be more than an extensionit would be an expansion.
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