This is actually a 1995 Prelude, but finding photos of this car in stock condition is harder than you’d think.
A few months after I turned 14, my mom gave me a heads up that if I wanted to drive when I turned 16, it’d be in a car I paid for myself.
That summer, I joined the army of young people who have mowed grass for their neighbors. Before I knew it, I was spending several days a week behind an old mower that I picked up at a yard sale, slowly building up funds in a little checking account at the bank down the street. When I turned 15, I found a part-time job that allowed me to make even more, and slowly the numbers in my ledger started growing.
About 8 weeks before I turned 16, I started looking for a used car. I knew I wanted a Honda or Toyota, but my hopes were quickly dashed. Anything Japanese with fewer than a million miles on it was way out of my price range. Each week, I’d pick up a new Auto Trader and thumb through it, occasionally making a call to go see a car.
After several weeks, a family friend called my mom, telling her that they knew a guy who was selling a Honda that may be a good fit for me. That weekend, we drove over to a car lot full of Volvos and Range Rovers. In the back, behind an old BMW was parked a Honda that I hadn’t dared to hope for: a Prelude.
Being a 1993, this particular example was 4th-generation model. Painted a lovely light blue that my friends would later mock for being a little too purple for their taste, the car was in shockingly good shape. Clearly someone had tinkered with it; a lift of the hood revealed a cold-air intake kit and the stock wheels were long-gone, but the car cranked immediately and idled smoothly, as if was eager to please.
After some re-arranging on the lot, I was able to take the car for a spin, and I was in love instantly. While it lacked the four-wheel steering found on the high-end model, the DOHC motor was responsive and the suspension crisp. I could tell the car was faster than the other cars I had test driven up to this point, but didn’t offer that opinion out loud.
Upon returning to the dealer, we sat down with the salesman who broke the news that the car was about $2000 more expensive than I could afford. In a classic rookie move, I put all my cards on the table as I could feel my mom letting out a slight sigh of relief that the two-door car wasn’t a possibility. Upon hearing my tale of woe, the salesman sat back, clearly thinking back to buying his first car.
He then asked about my job situation. Upon hearing that I was working and cutting grass, he proposed a solution: if I paid a large amount down, he could finance that last portion of the car, interest-free, as long a I didn’t miss a payment.
I could have hugged the guy. After the adults spoke, the deal was done, and I was on my way to owning what would be way too much car for a 16 year-old guy.
For anyone familiar with this generation of Prelude, there’s no hiding that under the gentle curves of the body work, there’s a decent little car waiting to be unleashed. While I don’t think I was every truly reckless in the Prelude, there’s no doubt that I pushed it as I honed my driving skill. Like most Hondas, the Prelude could take a beating, and more than once it paid off.
Not my exact car, but the color is right.
One evening, I went out with some friends and got caught in a torrential downpour. After the storm cleared, we decided to go grab dinner. Being inexperienced, I wasn’t fully aware of just how slick semi-wet pavement can be, and ended up seeing the tail of the car go around me twice after taking a wide curve way too quickly. I got it under control just in time to realize I was facing the wrong way on the wrong side of the street. Thankfully, there wasn’t anyone coming, or it would have been the end of my little blue Honda.
The car did attract some attention from our local suburban police department. About a year into owning it, the exhaust system lost an epic battle to some rust, and suddenly the car was *much* louder than it had been. Coupled with the looks and the fact that a high school student with long hair drove it, more than once I picked up a buddy on the way home from taking my girlfriend home.
I don’t remember having a rear wiper on my Prelude, but this brochure shows one.
To this day, I stand by my opinion that this is the best-looking generation Prelude. While pop-up lights certainly had their time, the low front-end, swooping A-pillar and high deck lid found on this car form a nearly-timeless design. In typical Honda fashion, visibility was great out the front, even if the C-pillar was a bit chunky.
The 4th-generation Prelude had an interior to match. Mine was donned in black with dark gray cloth, and was a great place to be. The seats were low and comfortable, with the pedals and wheel just right where you wanted them. The dashboard was a weird mixup of the old, and new though, as you can see in this photo:
Image courtesy of pinthiscars.com
The tach and speedo, in addition to the temperature and fuel gauge, were fully digital in my 93. This meant that if the car were off, the entire dash was black, but it had some other interesting side effects. While the gauge was subdivided into small segments, it was hard to determine exactly how much fuel was in the tank.
This setup also unfortunately dated the interior. Even in 2002 when I bought it, the gauges felt older than their 9 years. Thankfully, while some owners had issues with the gauges failing, mine worked flawlessly.
In my two years of ownership, the Prelude wasn’t perfect, sadly. With over 110k on the clock when I got the keys, it leaked a little oil and had a nasty habit of burning through main relay every 6 months or so. Those issues aside — and the exhaust leaks — I never fixed, it was a great first car. It was easy to work on, fun to drive, economical and good-looking.
But in what will become a pattern in my COAL series, my heart began to wander, and I went in a radically different direction for my next vehicle.
I’ve considered buying one of these Preludes, but 2 things stopped me:
I figured that being 6 ft 4 I wouldn’t fit behind the wheel, and even worse….my know-it-all BIL once owned one of these (before he married my sister) and I didn’t want his “advice” ringing in my ears EVERY time I saw or heard from him.
And while I do see these on the road occasionally, as the write-up says: finding one in “stock” condition is next to impossible. It’s SLIGHTLY easier to find a stock Integra like yesterday’s featured car.
BTW, I’ve owned 4 Hondas with high mileages, needing to replace the main relay every few months is not normal. Of my 4 Hondas, I only had to replace the main relay once and there might have been one “on it’s last legs” when I dumped that car.
Thanks for the COAL. I also had a 4th generation Prelude (mine was a ’92) and I loved the car. It was great to drive and handled really nicely.
I agree with you on the instrument panel–I always thought it was a bit strange–reminded me of a Buick Regal the way it stretched the instruments across in a narrow band. But everything worked and was easy to find, and the seats were very comfortable.
The blue you had was a very unusual color, even when they were new. It was called Fresco Blue Pearl, and only offered for ’92 and ’93.
The rear wiper was never offered in the U.S. market. Would have been useful, though, as the back glass was very sloped and would get easily covered in bad weather.
Ah, that explains the wiper detail! I agree; I was often annoyed at the lack of it.
Main relay failure and oil leaks, how typical from a ´90s Honda. Although I didn´t have to change the relay, my Prelude had a couple of oil leaks, one of them I cured replacing the VTEC solenoid gasket. A rather expensive gasket, almost 60 euros (Honda parts are expensive in Europe), but easy to do.
My Prelude had a rear wiper, I thought every one had it. Perhaps only for the European and Japanese market.
It was a good car and very enjoyable to drive, I miss it.
If you buy parts at a Honda dealership in the U.S. they can be expensive. However, the OEM parts are usually of a higher quality than the similar item at a parts store.
There are/were several cars in the U.S. that would benefit from a rear window wiper but auto manufacturers seem to think customers would rather have rear wings/spoilers that are pretty much decorative rather than something like a wiper that is useful.
Wipers are pretty much limited to hatchbacks and wagons.
When I had my Prelude I often looked at U.S Honda parts webs, and prices were a lot lower than in my local dealer. Shame that Spanish customs started to charge a (more or less) 25% tax to US imported parcels back then. That, and the high cost of shipping, made buying parts in US pointless.
I went to buy a couple of things to a Honda dealer in my city, a dealer that also sold and repaired, of all things, Citroens…talking to the parts store guy, I complained a bit about the prices, and he said “don´t worry, they´re expensive, but being a Honda you won´t need a lot of parts”.
I remember a review of the prelude in an Australian car mag, it described the tail lights as being “XJesque”. I believe that to be true to this day. Was this the first
to have 4 wheel steering?
The Prelude was the first car in the US to have 4ws, but it was the previous generation that debuted it:
http://autoweek.com/article/car-life/four-wheel-steering-demystified
I wonder why they switched from the purely mechanical set-up to the servo-actuated version. Packaging? The need to control rear toe angles in a greater variety of potential circumstances?
My second car was a 3rd gen si with 4ws. To this day it was the most fun car I’ve ever driven. The engine, stick, clutch, suspension, steering, everything was in perfect balance and all worked together to make you feel like you were the car. I loved that car even though it was plauged with electrical gremlins.
And you were right about slick roads. Mine met its end when I skidded on an onramp in cold wet weather. I hit the breaks and the wheels locked up and before I could realize that I was crashing into the curb obliterating the front left suspension and axle assembly.
Btw I think gen3 was the best styled. The wedge front end and solid bars rear end made it look awesome from all angles. Hondas switch to a similar styling for gen 5 showed that.
Sad though trying to find any unmodded Japanese sport coupe today. Theyve all been riced up and beaten to shit beyond any hope. Sad.
I regret that I’ve never owned or driven a Honda Prelude, but I’ve known people who have. I’ve always preferred original, unmodified survivors.
I always thought the front styling of these looked more Olds/Saturn than Honda. Nonetheless I agree the 4th-generation Prelude was the best looking. I may have bought one if the back seat weren’t so uselessly tiny.
Is it just me, or does this Prelude have exactly the same dash as the 2nd-gen Toyota Avalon?
Kind of how the dash of the last N-Body Buick Skylark was recycled by the orignal Ford Focus.
And similar to the last Buick Riviera. And Mark VIII.
A nice read, and I look forward to your further automotive recollections, Stephen. I take it your Prelude was an SI with the DOHC 2.3?
Great read on a great car. I very rarely see these any more, let alone in stock condition.
My luck with 90’s Hondas was very good. I bought my son a ’97 Acura 2.2 with five speed and 160.000 miles for college. I figured the car would only last for a year or two. I don’t know how my son managed to put on an additional 45,000 miles in a couple of years. When he wrecked it, I took it back, fixed it and drove it for a couple of years. I sold it to a guy at a tire store with 235,000 miles. A couple of years later I spoke with the guy and he told me he had sold it to a buddy with over 280,000 miles. They don’t build them like that anymore.
I was pretty smitten by these when they first came out; it was quite a change in design compared to its predecessors. One of my managers at the tv station bought a new one when they first appeared, and he gave me a ride; very sweet.
Was it merely a coincidence that the nose of the 4th-gen Prelude bears more than a passing resemblance to the LH-platform Eagle Vision?
That CANNOT be unseen.
Bingo, I always thought this generation Prelude lost the charm of previous generation Preludes. Especially with the dreaded “bird beak” like front end. So the picture you posted is spot on.
Also mechanically, the people that I know who had these thought they were a money pit to fix. Not sure how this generation got it so wrong. Sure they were hot when they first came out like any car. Then got stale really quick.
I did however, like the digital instruments. Signed owner of a Prelude (2000), that was the best of all the Preludes.
I think these are easily the best-looking generation of Prelude, although I quite like the second and fifth generation models too. I also love the interior even though I recall a lot of Aussie magazines criticising it. Not many Japanese cars in the 1990s had genuinely interesting interiors but these did.
There are a few Japanese cars of the 1990s that I’ve always really, really wanted to drive. This is one of them. The Mazda 929 and MX-6, Mitsubishi 3000GT, Nissan 300ZX, Subaru SVX, and Subaru Impreza WR-X are some others. Dayum, the Japanese were on fire, at least in the beginning half of the decade.
One of my good friends in high school had a ’92 as his first car. It was red and faded to very close to the color in the one photo above. Many good times were had in that car just riding around being stupid teenagers. Driving far too fast, standing out of the sunroof while the car was being driven far too fast, packing 6 teenagers into it’s cramped cabin. Seeing one of these Preludes will probably always bring a nostalgic smile to my face.
It met its demise when he was in college and was rear ended. He still talks about how much he loved that car.
These are super cars. LJK Setright, the UK journalist, owned a few and since his yardstick was Bristol cars, that meant something. After a decade I came to prefer the last Prelude precisely because of its vehemently restrained style. If only Honda could make something like this now. A guy whose Prelude parks near my Citroen feels this way – what is there now that offers the Prelude’s performance and package for the same money?
When this model first came out, I took one look at that dash and utterly dismissed it as having jumped the shark. In retrospect, I wasn’t being fair, but I still like the G3 model the best. It had that essential late 80’s “Honda-ness”, the low cowl, the quality feel of every switch and fitting, the lightness on it’s feet. It was one of the last Hondas to have this elusive to pin down quality. Impossible to have in day and age of crash safety and airbags, of course.
I bought one of these (Si 2.3 DOHC) new in April ’94. Traded in an ’87 Prelude w/100K, and really enjoyed both of them. The ’94 met an untimely demise in 2001 with only 70K on the clock. A woman in an Expedition turned left (on her red) in front of me as I was going thru the intersection of Fitzhugh and Central Expressway. Other than a new A/C compressor right after the warranty ran out on the 94, not one time did either Prelude need anything other than maintenance. I currently have a 2013 Accord EX 6MT and really like it. But, I’d ditch it in a heartbeat if Honda came out with a small, lithe, fwd sport coupe again. Really miss the Prelude.
My wife purchased her blue green VTEC in the fall of 1993 from the dealer as a demo car. She drove it until 05 both summer and winter until we bought a CRV for everyday driving. Her knuckles were white from fear when we had snow on the roads even with siped tires. She washed it religiously so it wouldnt rust. Here it is 2018 she still has the car which is in very very good condtion and we drive it only in the summer now. It is still a joy to drive and it stills moves out . This car is an original survivor.. Still loving the 4th Gen in MN!