The New Honda Prelude Ought to Have Been An EV

Honda is capitalizing on nostalgia from the Nineties and early 2000s by reintroducing the Prelude within the type of a “performance-oriented” hybrid coupe. The result’s a $43,000 automotive that appears cool on paper, however not tremendous aggressive in actuality. Honda ought to have made it an electrical automotive.

On this present financial local weather, the customer pool with over $40,000 to spend on a brand new automotive is fairly small to start with. And the kind of shopper with that form of money who’s keen to surrender the practicality of a sedan or crossover sometimes seeks a extra analog expertise with a guide transmission, and/or desires one thing with critical efficiency. The Prelude affords neither regardless of its trick CVT with the S+ Shift system, and solely 200 horsepower.

Whereas the Prelude will get the braking and suspension elements from the Civic Kind R, it is probably not meant to be a observe automotive, so few drivers will actually really feel the added advantages from the upgraded dealing with over the already glorious Civic Hybrid, which retails for about $10,000 much less with comparable tools. Whereas it is laborious to take a look at efficiency automobiles with a rational angle, you might make the argument that the Civic Kind R’s capabilities considerably justify the value premium over the usual Civic. I am not satisfied that the Prelude’s driving expertise is ten grand higher than its commuter automotive cousin.

Let’s study the hypothetical purchaser for the Prelude. This isn’t the automotive that will get purchased by somebody randomly strolling into the showroom. Honda is properly conscious that nostalgia is a hell of a drug, and is aiming this mannequin squarely at somebody like me who grew up with 90’s and early 2000’s imports and had a subscription to Sport Compact Automotive journal. My first enjoyable automotive was a ’95 Prelude Si 5-speed (non-VTEC) that I purchased for ten grand, after which proceeded to “improve” it through the years with a cold-air consumption, headers, cat-back exhaust, clear taillights, and a coilover suspension equipment that arguably ruined the manufacturing unit setup.

I’m on the age and revenue bracket the place a Prelude may work. My children are sufficiently old to both sit within the entrance seat or slink into the again of a coupe and nonetheless be snug. My present automotive is a 2015 Volkswagen GTI guide, however we’re additionally a Honda family, because the household hauler is a 2019 Odyssey. When the time comes to maneuver on from the VW, I might not thoughts one other Honda. But, the enchantment of the Prelude simply is not there. I get the draw of the Civic Kind R if I needed an much more excessive expertise in comparison with the GTI, and even the Civic Hybrid if I needed to prioritize higher MPGs, however nonetheless take pleasure in zipping round.

I’ll admit I’ve this unusual mindset the place I really feel like if I’m going to surrender having a clutch pedal, I’d as properly benefit from an all electrical automotive. The Prelude was initially meant to be a “excessive tech” efficiency coupe with the tremendous cool digital dashboard and out there “tremendous dealing with” four-wheel-steering system. Aside from maybe the transmission, there may be nothing significantly “high-tech” about this new Prelude.

Nonetheless, a small electrical coupe would have been a high-tech possibility that no different automaker is providing. Honda now has their very own devoted EV platform with the upcoming 0 sequenceit may have had a futuristic inside and torque-vectoring (Tremendous Dealing with) system like the unique Prelude. You would possibly argue that the marketplace for EV consumers continues to be fairly small in comparison with ICE/hybrid automobiles, however the electrical market is steadily rising whereas the demand for $40,000 front-wheel-drive coupes is nearly nonexistent. The automaker may have re-launched the Prelude utilizing an EV setup, it might have generated buzz and would have been an ideal transition for the model. Whereas Honda has sporty EVs into account sooner or later, the Prelude was a missed alternative.

The truth is {that a} parts-bin particular banking on a nostalgic nameplate makes extra monetary sense for the bean counters at Honda. The result’s an expensive automotive that’s much less environment friendly than an EV, however with efficiency that’s simply on par with less expensive automobiles wrapped in a physique that carries hints of previous Preludes however total is pretty generic when it comes to styling.

Perhaps I’m only a jaded Gen-Xer, and it is definitely attainable that Honda sellers will probably be promoting Preludes with markups as a result of there are consumers on the market keen to pay large bucks for this factor. However my prediction is that after just a little little bit of hype at launch, Preludes will probably be accumulating mud in seller showrooms.

Tom McParland is a contributing author for Jalopnik and runs AutomatchConsulting.com. He takes the effort out of shopping for or leasing a automotive. Bought a automotive shopping for query? Ship it to Tom@AutomatchConsulting.com