Honda Prelude First Impression from The Drive
 

The drive was invited/visited Honda's testing grounds in Tochigi, Japan for a test drive of the new Prelude.

-Price is still not released.
-Impressions seem favorable overall.
-Engaging motor with a more momentum based approach at the track.
-The new S+ Mode seems to be quite nifty considering how the Prelude doesn't quite have a transmission.

At an estimation of around $42K, not sure who this car will be for, and who it competes with.

On a personal note, on my recent trip to Kyoto, Japan. I walked past a Honda dealership and was able to get close to the Prelude. It is quite beautiful and the interior looked very nice. Pictures don't quite do it justice, I think my only gripe was the lack of fluidity between the front and the rear. If it wasn't because of the price, and possibly the lack of actual manual transmission, it would be a great buy for those wanting something slightly above or equal to a Civic Si and below the Type R.

Another aspect to this is tariffs, buying parts from Japan currently is very expensive as you are required to pay UPS or whoever the carrier is before getting your package, even though you may have paid shipping fees via Blackhawk Japan. How much this will increase the price on the MSRP, is also unknown. Plus any incentives Honda may or may not enable for possible buyers.

The Drive Review

It's big, it's heavy, it's ugly. That's no Prelude...

To my eye, there is something particularly ugly about fwd 2-door 2+2 coupes with fast(ish)backs. It looks awkward as hell as you've got all this SPACE behind the doors to the rear wheelwells, they try to make it "sporty because 2-doors and roof slants down aft of front-seaters, so 'SPORTY'!" and it just looks TERRIBLE.

Preludes of old looked GREAT. This one looks awkward AF. Totally off on proportions and design language. I hate it...

Make a 3-door shooting-brake version and I might be interested...

I mean really, this looks laughably, embarrassingly bad. Swollen overhung front, super-extended wheelbase, pinched profile. YUK.

Bruh. We get it. It's not for you; you don't need to spam the thread three posts in a row.

https://i.imgflip.com/ac5jy0.jpg

It actually doesn't look that bad to me. However, the rear looks basic Japanese car. Looks like it wants to be RWD.

I guess I can agree it doesn't look "that bad" but it doesn't look great either. IT seems as far as their cars, Honda has gone full "Telsa" where they have to all look the same on the outside, and bland.

I guess it's all subjective, but I like the looks of it in general and I'd say it's the best looking Honda available right now.

The only thing I don't quite dig aesthetically is the black air dam. I can't decide if it should be all body colored, or should wrap around at the bottom. My really crappy edit job has me lean more towards mostly all body-colored with just the inner part black. Or wrap around but reshape the lower opening.

https://i.imgur.com/14g1hgm.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/Ta1lPYc.jpeg

Since first seeing the new prelude pictures I could not figure out why it was not getting me more exited,
well it just dawned on me the other day thinking I had already seen one in the wild...

https://www.motorbiscuit.com/wp-cont...pg?w=902&h=602

https://toyotacanada.scene7.com/is/i...train&wid=2200

Compare the front of the prelude to the 2025/2026 Camry and tell me it looks "cool" or different. Bland and boring.

Price released.

$43,195 including delivery.

According to The Drive

"That’ll include adaptive dampers, Brembo brakes, leather-trimmed seats (and steering wheel), and an eight-speaker Bose audio system. Additionally, Honda’s confirmed the Prelude’s EPA-rated fuel economy, and it’s a tick behind the Civic Hybrid it borrows its powertrain from, at 46 miles per gallon city, 41 mpg highway, and 44 mpg combined."

Well fuck that.

I'm overall OK with the looks of the thing, though I hadn't actually put my finger on the Prius similarity. That's pretty uncanny! I'm sure it will look great in the wild.

Not sure about everyone else but near me, cars in general are rare on the roads any more, let alone sporty coupes. Even if it had a manual trans and was as fast as a CTR I wouldn't be interested personally, I'm just glad they're doing it. Too bad its priced to fail.

I knew it was gonna be stupid expensive based on the price in Japan but I was figuring they'd find a way to get it below 40. oof.

That's how much the CTR started at in 2023, which seemed brutal at the time. One could argue there is close to as much car here considering hybrid system but.. this is why I say to folks hoping for an affordable performance hybrid: hope for something else. In the 5-figure price bracket, hybrid can make a normal car better. More economical, extra pep. But it won't make a sports car a better sports car.