I was blown away by the roasting hot hybrid appeal of the reborn Honda Prelude

Introduction

As a one-time owner of a 1995 Honda Prelude, I was really eager to try the reborn sports coupe. It has, I think, all the right looks in the same way as Toyota’s GR86 and falls nicely in line with the previous five generations of the car, which are now a rare spot on the UK’s roads.

For a reasonably niche new arrival, the options are quick and simple to decipher. Prices start at £41,495. There’s one trim level, Advance, and some interesting paint options including Moonlit White Pearl, Meteoroid Grey Metallic, Crystal Black Pearl and Racing Blue Pearl. However, I think the Prelude should have been offered in something altogether racier, like a lime green or yellow. I guess the bean counters at Honda would never have signed that off though.

Nevertheless, the Honda Prelude looked like a great proposition on paper and in the pictures, so I couldn’t wait to get behind the wheel and give it a go. And, being a hybrid, there was no need to recharge it, unlike most of my electric test cars, with Honda underlining the possibility of getting up to 472 miles on a tank of fuel. What’s not to like?

The styling

I used to love the look of my old Honda Prelude and this one was just as lovable. My test car was finished in a bright solid blue, while those other paint options are fairly subdued. I thought this was a car that could really pop in a livelier colour, but even so, the exterior cuts a real dash especially fitted with the 19in gloss black multi-spoke alloy wheels and Brembo brakes. This really does capture the essence of earlier Preludes and will also likely appeal to fans of the Toyota GR86 with the purposeful stance that looks the business from front to back.

Inside, the cabin is finished in black throughout, save for the Prelude logo picked out in a contrasting colour on the passenger side of the dash alongside the stitching. Funnily enough, as I ran my hands over the dashboard panel, I thought just how much it reminded on my old Prelude. That’s what I like about Honda; their cars feel like they’ve had a lot of care an attention paid to all the component parts. The build quality throughout feels typically Honda too with a satisfying door clunk that’s up there with the best of them.

There is also plenty of familiar stuff seen in other current Hondas on the inside mind, like the air vents and infotainment screen that looks slightly odd propped on top of the dash. By default, I also found it very bright at night against the darkness of the cabin, which I thought made it a hindrance pulling out of very dark junctions. Despite there being four proper seats, nobody would want to be in the back for long what with the sloping roofline and miserly legroom, but that’s also something inherited from the Prelude’s of old. The boot space can be improved a little by dropping the back seats but, again, this isn’t a car for moving house with.

The drive

My old Prelude used to drive like a dream. It was low-slung and I always felt like I was in it rather than on it. That feeling has been emulated with the new car. Being just over two metres across, the reimagined Prelude feels wide (without being bloated) and low. The driving position was great, with the same enveloping feel provided by the sculpted seats as was found in the earlier examples of the car.

I also thought it handled fantastically. Around town it’s super easy to drive and I particularly liked the steering setup, which was made better by the deliciously comfortable sports steering wheel.

The really neat thing about the new Honda Prelude is the S+ Shift transmission setup, which can be used to pep up the drive appeal above the core Comfort, GT or Sport drive modes. S+ Shift effectively provided me with a virtual eight-speed gearbox, with shifting up and down done using the paddles in front of the steering wheel. When this mode wasn’t being used, I could also call on them to increase (or decrease) the regenerative braking. Considering my old Prelude used to be an automatic anyway, this felt like a step up even though the overall effect is a bit of trickery. I thought it added another dimension to the car, with the experience being enhanced by sportier dials dropping into place on the dash when selected. They could have amped up the sound effects a tad, though.

The 2.0-litre petrol engine may be supplemented by a brace of small electric motors but the Honda Prelude isn’t especially fast. An 8.2-second 0-62mph acceleration and 117mph top speed seeming tame compared to some cars. However, I found this was more than compensated for by the overall driving experience. There was some tyre hum from the 235 Continental’s all round when cruising on motorways and the like, but on more interesting roads I thought the drive appeal of the Honda Prelude was top notch and great fun too.

Even with spirited driving taking up most of my time with the Prelude, I found the hybrid powertrain to be very efficient. Overall economy was easily over 50 mpg, even with the Sports and S+Shift modes engaged most of the time.

The technology

I’ve said it before, but the tech in a lot of modern Japanese cars always feels a little behind the times compared to models from the Koreans and Chinese. The same can be said about the Prelude, with Honda’s repurposed and rather dinky 9in infotainment screen getting the job done in workmanlike fashion.

The graphics looked a little quaint, with chunky old-school icons and a resolution that didn’t appear to be all that great. The voice control also struggled with a seemingly simple request for ‘Heathrow Airport’. Oh well. Wireless Apple CarPlay was offered, as was Android Auto via a cabled connection.

Elsewhere the eight-speaker Bose audio system was impressive, with enough bottom-end rumble to make even the dulcet tones of Radio 2 sound chunky. I thought there was also enough practical tech on offer, from a wireless charging pad through to the numerous USB ports. Fiddling around with the buttons on the steering wheel also allowed me to customise the dashboard dials within the 10.2in digital cluster, which was a nice touch. Everything was basically sensible, adequate and not at all baffling. Very Honda.

Honda Prelude verdict

There might have been 25 year gap since the last Prelude, but Honda’s reborn sports coupe is better than ever. The design looks gorgeous, the proportions feel so welcoming after years of being subjected to bulky SUVs and the drive appeal is unquestionable. The Honda e:HEV powertrain delivers zesty rather than fast performance while tempering it with plenty of solid fuel economy.

Better yet, the suspension plunders some juicy inspiration from Honda’s Civic Type R, which combined with the Honda S+Shift setup, takes the fun level right up to eleven. If you still class yourself as a keen driver, try the Honda Prelude – you may well love it.

Honda Prelude technical specifications