How the Honda Prelude Became the Beloved Icon It Is Today

You’ve probably heard by now about the Honda Prelude’s triumphant return. The Big H confirmed its revival after teasing the world with a concept at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2023.

If instead you’re wondering, “Wait, what’s a Prelude?” … well, that’s because it’s been almost a quarter of a century since Honda last made one.

In human age terms, that’s more than a couple of generations ago. In car terms, that’s eons.

Why the Honda Prelude is such a big deal

Honda

Truthfully, the excitement around the new Prelude isn’t just about its revival. It’s also about its heritage and how integral the model was for Honda’s rise to prominence both internationally and in North America.

Sure, it may not be as bewitching or exciting as the NSX that came a decade after the Prelude’s 1978 introduction. But the Prelude served as a prime example of relatively affordable, practical, and reliable performance for the masses.

More so, it rose to popularity during an era when it was only possible to get two or three of those four attributes in a single bundle.

Honda

Additionally, the Prelude tickled the fancies of those who truly appreciated driver-focused experiences, innovative technologies and brilliant engineering. Albeit, in a package that didn’t cost an arm and a leg, despite its humdrum front-wheel-drive Accord-based economy car roots.

Honda

For example, it was one of the first mainstream sports cars to feature clever four-wheel steering. And it earned a reputation for being one of the best-handling cars of all time. Each generation also consistently represented a masterful showcase of its traits, all the way up to its discontinuation in 2001.

Needless to say, the new Prelude has some big shoes to fill.

1978: Honda enters the affordable, practical sports car wars

Honda

When the first-generation Prelude broke cover in Japan, it arrived to challenging times. The world was still reeling in from the global oil crisis five years earlier and a heightened awareness for efficiency and environmental friendliness.

Nissan had already set the affordable sports car stage with the original Nissan/Datsun Z in 1969 and Toyota had already proved its worth with the Celica in 1970. Thus, it was Honda’s move, even if it was almost a decade later.

Honda

All three automakers experienced exponential growth in the North American market at the time. And, with the oil crisis turning US buyers away from the insanely powerful but outrageously inefficient muscle cars, the Japanese automakers saw a grand opportunity to seize.

And seize they did. Honda launched the Prelude in America in 1979 with its 72-horsepower 1.8-liter gasoline four-cylinder and a paltry 84 pound-feet of torque. But power wasn’t the Prelude’s appeal.

Rather, it featured complex four-wheel independent suspension when such engineering was often reserved for far more expensive and premium vehicles. It was one of the first small-engined cars to come with standard power steering, all of which made it one of the most exquisite-handling cars of its time.

And the icing on the cake: it was the first production Honda to come with a power moonroof. That feature became a trademark for the Prelude and other succeeding Honda models that came with it.

Needless to say, the Prelude was very well-received.

“It is, by any sane measurement, a splendid automobile,” wrote the legendary auto journalist, Brock Yates, in his MotorTrend review at the time. “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.”

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1982: The Prelude gets a new platform, more power and signature pop-up headlights

Honda

The second-generation Prelude arrived rather quickly to make use of Honda’s next-generation platform. But it dramatically catapulted the model into more contemporary times with its innovative features.

With the science behind aerodynamics serving as a more defining factor in automotive design, Honda’s engineers introduced pop-up headlights to the Prelude for the first time.

Honda

While a signature design element, Honda’s engineers equipped the them to improve aerodynamics, in a form-following-function approach.

Half-way through its series production run, Honda’s powertrain division upped the gas four-cylinder’s output across the board, thanks to huge advancements with fuel injection technology. By this time, the Prelude produced more than 100 horsepower (and later 110 at its peak).

Honda

But with the Prelude maintaining its lightweight construction, weighing only 2,260 pounds, its power-to-weight ratio increased. The result was a much quicker vehicle that handled just as well as the previous model. And the pop-up headlights made the second-gen Prelude all the more cooler.

1987: The Prelude becomes a trailblazer

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The introduction of the third-generation Prelude catapulted the model’s status as a true technological innovation. With the advent of computer-aided design and all that came from it, Honda introduced a plethora of iconic features.

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While keeping with the original car’s formula, the Prelude achieved one of the lowest drag coefficients for any vehicle at the time, at 0.34 Cd. With rollover safety taking the safety stage, it was one of the first mainstream cars to utilize reinforced high-strength alloy roof pillars.

It’s most defining innovation, however, was its mechanical four-wheel steering system. Although optional, it was the world’s first mass production vehicle to feature such technology.

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When equipped, not only did it make the Prelude one of the best-handling cars of its time. But automotive press, such as Road & Track, found the Prelude 4WS (4-Wheel-Steering) to out handle nearly every exotic on the market in their testing, including some Porsches and Ferraris.

Topping it all off was styling that shared elements with the then-incoming NSX.

1991: The Prelude matures and loses one of its signature features

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The fourth-gen Prelude saw a bit of maturation. As such, it nudged slightly closer to becoming more of a grand tourer than a sports car.

But it retained its four-wheel-steering system and signature handling. The system benefitted from simplification in the form of electrical assist, versus the original system’s hydraulic dual steering box setup.

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Sadly, Honda discontinued the pop-up headlights, which were no longer required to aid in aerodynamics. This was due to the third-gen’s more curvaceous shape.

It also gained more luxurious features from Honda’s attempt to move more upmarket. And it was the first Prelude to truly benefit from higher displacement engines well above 2.0-liters as well as the introduction of Honda’s iconic VTEC variable-valve timing system.

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Some purists argue, however, that the third-gen Prelude is when the car lost some of its machismo. Not only did it grow in size and heft, it saw a more forward-biased weight distribution (58% front, 42% rear), which some would say, compromised the balanced handling compared to preceding models.

1996: The end of an era…but not for much longer

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Honda introduced the fifth and last Prelude — at least until the new one comes out – in 1996. By then, it had grown significantly in size and the weight distribution became even more front-biased at 63% front, 37% rear.

Sales had slumped with the previous generation from all the relatively radical changes at the time. In what some would call brash attempts, Honda went back to more squarish styling to summon some of the spirit of the original cars.

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Honda’s engineers ditched the optional four-wheel-steering system for Active Torque Transfer System, or ATTS. Although not the same, ATTS was essentially one of the industry’s first attempts at electronically-controlled torque vectoring.

However, some didn’t find the ATTS system to be effective as it was overwhelmed by the car’s strong forward weight bias.

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The fifth-generation Prelude was the first model to also feature a semi-manual +/- shifting mode for its optional automatic transmission. With the increase in weight came more power as this generation was also the first to produce more than 200 hp.

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