This car is all about the handling without punishing you with a too-firm ride.

Interior room is a bit lacking. Don't plan on hauling a lot of stuff, although, a little creativity goes a long way. Rear seats are barely usable, with little toe-room, but there's actually more headroom than in some cars of a similar size that I have been in. Before purchasing, sit in both the rear as well as fronts seats (but that's good advice for all cars, eh?).

To the person who complained about the interior, the Prelude does not come stock with stuck-on stainless-steel dash parts! Nor does Honda make a stainless-steel accessory kit. What you saw was some 3rd party product, not Honda's. I have the (accessory) Honda carbon fiber dash treatment, and it is pretty nice looking; 3 out of the 4 parts are replacements (and one is stick-on). This adds a bit of variety to the Prelude's quality, but a bit stark, interior.

I am not a big fan of fabric seats (although I think the Prelude's are OK), so I replaced it with leather. It really dresses up the interior nicely. (Note that anyone can have this done at your local auto upolsterer for about $1100 or so, so I would not list the lack of leather as a disadvantage.)

3 years, and I still love this car. The stock tires are not so great, and the car handles SO much better after getting some sticky sports car tires!

To get the max speed out of it you have to not be afraid to rev up the engine.

The most annoying problem has been with the shifting, and that has cleared up once I started using Honda Manual Transmission Fluid. (Unless told otherwise, my dealer puts regular oil in! Don't let them do that to your Prelude.)

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'88 RX-7 Turbo, V6 Firebird, '99 Cougar. The Prelude compares well, performance wise. If you want to get something else that's faster, you'll need to step up to a V8. The Prelude has a lot more torque than my RX-7 had!

1. Handling
2. Acceleration
3. Looks

1. Back Seat
2. Poor rear view visibilty
3. Cramped cockpit

I push my Prelude to the limit, the car is so perfectly balanced that understeer and oversteer are virtually non-existent. On windy back roads this car excels, at fairly high speeds (60-80MPH) there is NO body roll and the tires seem to stick to the road. It is also a very forgiving car, if you push too hard and oversteer becomes a problem easing off the throttle very quickly gets this car under control. Because it's only a 4 cylinder engine and low on torque, shooting off the line is a little slower than I'd like but once you get tach up over 4k, the car is like a rocket. I've yet to lose a stoplight drag. At high speeds, I've had mine at 130+, the car is as stable as it is at 60, though interior noise does become very apparent. I've done some additional aftermarket mods to my engine so results may vary but, make no mistakes about it if you want race car-like handling and acceleration over comfort then this is the PERFECT car for you.

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I tested the Mustang GT, Eclipse GTX. Neither was even close in the handling dept.

looks nice from the outside

interior ... especially the second time i got in.

i loved the prelude until i went to test drive it. i was surprisingly estatic when i saw one with two-tone leather and stainless steel trim. i drove it and thought it was pretty nice. but the second time i got in ... i noticed that the stainless steel was indeed made of plastic and stuck on top of the existing dash. yack!!!

from then on it was a downward spiral and continued even after test driving the vw jetta glx.

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jetta glx

It's been taken care of like royalty. It's got 182,467 miles on it and it drives like it just pulled off the showroom floor. It's got tremendous power and it never let's me down. The biggest problem I've had with it has been not going crazy over it. I wash it constantly and keep it in good shape. I'm going to start racing it soon.

It's hard to find aftermarket parts for it, and when you do they're expensive. That's about it.

If you can find one, get it. They're built by Honda, so they'll last forever if you take care of it. They're had to find, no one wants to get rid of Si's. Great car to supe up! Looks great with rims, low profile tires, lowered, and a wing. It's a great car for younger people into the import scene, and people who like to race.

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'89 Toyota Celica ST-not even close...Celica has no pick up.
'94 Honda Accord LX 2dr. 5spd-It's close in acceleration, but I think the 9 year older Prelude can take it.

it is absolutely beautiful...black on grey and black interior...all options minus aws and abs...drives like a dream...corners like a hooker BADLY in need of crack...smooth. quick as hell for a non-vtec dohc 4.

as has been attested to, small back seat...autop trans is a little sluggish

If you want a good deal for your dollar, i'm talking quick, fuel efficient, dependable, handling like a dream, and just basically being a rad automobile (flip up headlights are sooooneat) buy it if you can get your hands on it, you won't regret it.

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better than an old celica...nicer too

It's fast, handles well, and looks good. The car has excellent pickup even on hills. The acceleration overall is just tremendous, you can to the 0-60 in under 7 seconds without much practice. The handling in this car rivals that of Integra's and Civic's.

front wheel drive, fuel economy is marginal, and the trunk and back seats need to be bigger,

I would recommend this car to anyone who is single and doesn't have a family who wants a more comfortable mid sized sports car. The car has some understeer problems just like all front wheel drive cars and it's impossible to put people in the back seats for more than a short trip. The trunk is smaller than that of a civic and space is a valuable commodity. Do not buy this car if you plan on carrying alot of stuff, I can barely fit groceries in my trunk. This car is a performer, it made to be fast and handle well, it is not a family car. Plus if you want to do aftermarket, after market for the new preludes is not cheap. Be ready to shell out big bucks if you want anything for this car. Once again this is a very fast import car and will beat all new stock imports under $30k, with the exception of the Integra Type R.

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1999 Civic SI, 1999 Integra GS and GSR, 1978 Z28 Camero,

Everything. Handling, acceleration & rush of VTEC, clean look (that can be altered as much as you want w/ the slew of aftermarket parts), Honda Reliability. Whoever favors a Celica GTS to this car probably hasn't driven both. The Celica simply lacks the refinement and feel of the Prelude. I stress the word refinement; something those cheesy looking clunky American cars will seemingly never have either. I also love the rarity factor where I live. I know Preludes are relatively common in California and Florida, but not here in Missouri. However I do see Mustangs around here, they're a dime a dozen, and don't turn any heads. Not to mention unreliable with little resale value. Only comparable car in this price range is an Integra type R, but I needed more of a daily driver. I could go on and on, but let me just say: "drive one!" And get a manual tranny, for god's sake.

A slightly dated interior, but this matters not to me. It's still extremely functional, and, after all this is a sports car. If you really don't like it, it can be highly customized with aftermarket parts as well. Leather not even an option (though sometimes a specialty dealer option).

The Prelude is a true sports car in every sense of the word. Minus the stereotypical unreliability of a sports car (these things seemingly last forever). Like I said, the only comparison is an Integra Type R, however the Type R isn't really much of a daily driver.

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Celica GT-S - Quickly getting the image of "chick car". No Torque, not as smooth. Though I do like the styling (except the rear end and some of the cheap interior materials).
Mitsubishi Eclipse - This car just plain sucks, why do you think they're offering 0 down low interest etc.?
Camaro/TransAm/Mustang: Cheap, unrefined, unreliable. Fast in a straight line, and that's about it. Large and unwieldly.

The prelude has excellent handling. It can take corners very fast without the tires losing their grip on the street. It's very nice looking and sporty.

It's kinda slow, but compared to other '87 cars, it's fast. My power steering is all jacked up, the fluid always leaks from underneath, and I always lose power steering, have to put in a new bottle of fluid every couple of days.

If you got the money, buy it, don't say no.

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None

This car has decent speed with AMAZING handling... Imagine doing a u-turn on a one lane road... I love 4WS. Stock audio system is decent, tweeter location is very good (on dash). Easy to maintain and easy to work on yourself (just pick up a chilton repair manual). Trunk is a decent size. Honda's last forever! (as opposed to domestics :P )

Wish it was vtec... Wish it had some REAL back seats, all it has are 2 little storage "pods" to store my textbooks. Otherwise, I love it.

I would definitely recommened this car... It is pricey over here in Canada due to the demand, but it's in demand because it's a wonderful car. I love the GEN4 body styling. If I had to choose a car over again, I would definitely go for a Prelude..

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1995-2000 Cavalier Z24
1993-1997 Ford Probe (V6)
2000 Toyota Celica (not the pre-2K models, those were too slow)
1994-1996 Honda Accord EXR (V6, vtec)

This car is a solid performer. It has handling, ample power and comfort all rooled into one.

Could use a little more torque, but for a normally aspirated 4 cylinder, it's quite impressive.

This car will easily out perform any 4, 6 and some 8 cylinder's on the street. While I admit it is a bit over-priced(which import isn't?) it combines all the handling, power and even luxuryy that make it comfortable even for great distance driving.
I think with the tremendous aftermarket following this car can suit anyone's needs.

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'92 Mustang GT ( the Prelude will smoke a 5.0 mustang.)
'96 Eclipse GS-T (the Eclipse could take it off the line but lose later, also they are a mechanical nightmare)
'97 Celica GT-S ('nuff said, this car is a joke)