I have been woefully negligent in scanning and posting the hundreds of vintage R&T magazines Lee J. has been sending me, and there’s more on the way! It’s going to end up being a collection from the mid-60s all the way into 1991. So let’s crank up the old scanner and get more of these time capsules posted.
We’ll start with the all-new gen2 Honda Prelude, a major leap forward from its rather bland “Qualude” predecessor. The styling was fresh, the power was boosted by 33%, and the handling was now best in class, thanks to Honda’s innovative twin A-arm/strut front suspension. It all came together in that inimitable Honda way, making the Prelude the leader of the pack.
Not only were there dynamic improvements, but the new Prelude was larger, with more interior space than the Civic-based predecessor. Styling was admittedly similar to the gen3 Accord, which was of course a good thing.
The new 1829 cc SOHC four had Honda’s latest (and I believe the final one) iteration of its CVCC technology, still using a precombustion chamber to ignite the extra-lean mixture in the main chamber. By now it needed a 2-wat catalytic converter and unleaded gas, and the CVCC technology was running out of steam. But it still worked just fine here, resulting in a very decent 100 hp output and best in class performance, the only one to break the 10 second barrier to sixty (9.7 seconds). Two main Kehin carbs fed the main combustion chamber and a small third carb fed the precombustion chambers. Sounds finicky, but the Japanese were able to still make magic with carbs, although not for too much longer.
The new front suspension, which Honda used extensively in coming years until it finally faded away again for cost reasons, was bench marked against the Porsche 944, and was deemed to be its equal.
The Prelude marked the beginning of “Peak Honda”, a period many will remember fondly.
Here’s CC’s take on this generation of Prelude, by Perry Shoar
Ahh the golden age of Honda. I had an 88 Prude SI 4ws. It was to this day the most fun car Ive ever driven. The build quality to was way better than todays cars (hondas included). It felt like driving a masterpiece of engineering. Back then every Honda was great and they just kept getting better and better. That ended around 2000 when they started cheapening their interiors. Now theyre the same as everyone else. Same grade interior, mcpherson struts in the front, DI engine with cvt….etc. at least they have affordable hybrids.
fyi if you wanna know, the 4ws system on the gen 3 prelude was hardly noticeable. Maybe youd notice it on a track but it made zero difference in daily driving on public roads.
I likewise sorely miss the Honda of old. Test drove one of these, an ’85 I think with the carb motor a few years ago when I was thinking of buying something a bit more offbeat for a commuter car, and I was blown away by how fun and borderline “exotic” it felt to drive something so pure and connected to the road with that super low cowl, little in the way of noise insulation, and that steering feeding such clear info about the pavement. Sweet shifter and awesome mechanical sounding engine, never mind that I was just put-put-ing along at 35mph on a farm road on the test drive, it was an absolute blast.
You’re right the new Hondas just don’t have that “magic,” nor do they have that baked in quality/engineering feel. I have been nothing but disappointed when I have driven my friend’s 2016 Civic TOuring with the 1.5+CVT. Likewise when my family sold our 1990 Civic Wagon in 2006 to buy a 2007 Fit (first year of them in the US), through the “new car” freshness I could sense a loss in quality and fun-to-drive factor, it felt just plain cheap compared to the old Wagon. The biggest consolation was that the Fit was a stick shift (an un-engaging toy-like shifter with no weight and a springy “on/off” clutch), whereas the Wagon was an automatic.
Relive the Civic wagon glory days, gtem:
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1991-honda-civic-rt4wd-wagon/
And snap up a time capsule Supra while at it:
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1980-toyota-supra/
Oh man that thing is awesome. Baffled why someone would lower an otherwise nice stock 4WD wagon on coilovers though lol. Looks totally rust free, and in the current era of nutzo-used car prices and even nuttier BAT prices, the current $8600 price doesn’t even seem that insane. Our own ’90 was a plebian automatic+FWD with the throttle body injected D15B2 (92hp and laggy throttle response to this mill’s much better CRX-borrowed multi-point injected D16A6). Ours was Cappuccino metallic with a tweed brown interior, as an idiot teen I hated that we had a BROWN WAGON (literally the most un-cool combination of Civic you could buy), but now that color both inside and out strikes me as the best of the bunch. Thanks for the nostalgia trip!
My buddy’s ’88 SI 4ws was amazingly easy to fit into tight city parking spots. It was like parking a shopping cart with four swivel casters.
I wanted one of these badly when they came out, but I had just purchased my first house and so that was out of the question. When things financial had improved in a couple of years in the Autumn of 1985, I headed to the Honda dealer, but my practical side won out and I purchased a new 1986 Civic Si hatch in red – I had had enough of trying to make a 1979 Corvette serve as an only car and wanted some real luggage space. That Civic was terrific and probably the best all-around car I’ve ever owned, but I still wonder what life with a Prelude might have been like.
Those years certainly were Peak Honda. Hondas were way ahead of the competition. I remember a friend coming over my house with his brand new stripped 1985 Subaru Hatchback and taking my brand new Civic for a spin around the block. He came back loving my new car and loathing his. I felt bad for him then, but not as bad as I did a few years later, when he passed from lung cancer at the ripe old age of forty, eight years after quitting smoking. For years that Subaru (his last car) sat in his sister’s back yard. rusting. I hated looking at it, not just because it reminded me of him (he was best man at my wedding and my best friend), but because it represented lost chances.
Alan, I sold my ’85 Prelude for a new red 1986 Civic SI.
It was noticeably quicker than the Prelude, had much more usable interior space and got better gas mileage. The excellent resale value of the Prelude made for a none-too-expensive Civic purchase.
The Prelude rather reminded me of a better handling Japanese Thunderbird.
Thanks Mark. that does make me feel better; at least about my car choice. . .
I had a 1989 Accord 2 door LXi (all 89s were 2.0 12 valves but this trim got the FI fuel system). After having only American cars, it took me a while to learn I could routinely rev it over 3000 and that it wouldn’t explode. What a sweet sound that engine made. Needed timing belt every 60k and valves adjusted, what, every 30k miles? Nice, solid shifter. Seat was not very comfortable. Steering wheel tilted but iirc it didn’t telescope. Front brake rotors got warped too often, sliders hung up. (If I was a little more handy, I might have known how to solve that.) Left me stranded only once, at home thank gosh, when it had over 100,000 miles and the fuel pump or relay quit. Great car.
My next car was a 2001 Sentra GXE (1.8 base engine, slightly shorter final drive than the basest model, the XE), 5 speed. The seating position was a bit higher and the chair more comfortable. Shifting wasn’t as nice, handling not as satisfying, not one to push due to the beam rear axle rep for breaking loose. Ride was maybe a bit better. This car also gave little trouble over 15 years of ownership. Hard to say which one I liked more as my only car for short and long trips.
It’s…an Accord coupe.
My 86 SI was my favorite and the best car I ever owned.
The design (outside and inside) has withstood the passage of time quite well and very much previewed both the Accord Coupe as well as the (Acura) Legend Coupe. Not every shape scales up so well.
When I was in primary school in the 1970s, one of our writing lessons was to come up with words that matched teacher-prescribed vowel-consonant cues. So, for example, CVCC words would be “pack,” “born,” etc. When CVCC callouts began appearing on Hondas in the teachers’ parking lot, it was … confusing.
A few years later, a neighbor friend’s older brother won a loaded Bahama Yellow ’88 Prelude Si at a college basketball game. During halftime, the promoters (a local Honda dealership, I assume) picked a seat at random, and the ticket holder had to sink a layup, free throw, three-pointer and a half-court shot. The video went viral, i.e. it was picked up by several TV stations. Though he was (obviously) good at hoops, he said he probably wouldn’t have pulled it off had he not had a beer buzz to settle his nerves. His younger brother, my friend, inherited his third-gen Camaro.
Good read. Truly a time when Honda products were leapfrogging from each generation to the next. I had a boss, who between his wife and himself owned 4 different Preludes. Two of this generation, one third gen, and a final fifth. The ‘86 Si was their favorite, and favorite car ever (they were dating when he had that one so I can see why). Interestingly enough, after the first two, they went for the then new 1990 Integra because of the reviews and for whatever reason, they hated it. Gone within a year for a ‘91 Prelude.
The Prelude SI models that I drove were MUCH peppier than my dual side draft carburetors ’85 Prelude DX was,.
I forgot to add; This is the front end mentioned in the article that Honda wanted but couldn’t be easily legalized:
A friend’s father got one of these to replace his Camaro. It was a definite step forward and he liked it enough to buy a Legend Coupe a few years later.
The mid 80s was when Honda really hit its groove with the second gen Prelude and the 3rd gen Accord and Civic followed by the early Acuras. On the two wheel side this is also when the VFR series of V4 sport bikes started as well as some of the better inline 4 UJMs
Nice car, always liked this era of the Honda Prelude’s a lot, couldn’t believe how light these cars were for its size, I thought performance was very good for 1983 standards.
Words alone cannot express how much I miss my Polar White ’87 Prelude. I traded my ’82 Accord hatch for a brand new Prelude, and loved every minute of driving it. It was smooth, swift, sumptuous (for 1987) suave, speedy and supple. It went around corners like no other car (except my ’94 Milano Red Prelude Si) and was more fun than anything I’d ever driven before. Seven years after I bought it, the new car bug bit and I traded it for a new ’94 Prelude Si. As much fun as the ’94 was, I never felt as much of an attachment to it as I did the ’87. Since then, I’ve had a 2001 Accord EX-L V6 coupe and my current car, a ’13 Accord EX coupe with a 6 mt and inline 4, but never felt the magic of the Gen 2 Prelude. Of all the cars I’ve owned, it’s the one miss the most and wish I still had.