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Comments
For any Prelude driver who's interested in more than stoplight racing (although it does give a much smoother launch), this is one killer mod.
So, does everyone agree on that so far that Prelude is very, very reliable?
There are many more Toyota owners out there than Prelude owners, allowing for more variation within the Toyota group. Far fewer poll respondants will have replied about Prelude reliability, giving those responses greater statistical weight.
Personally, I've had the car since 10/15/01 and just hit 32K miles without a problem.
You don't drive much, jfunk, do you? I am amazed that you only have 42K on a 97. I got 46K on a '99 already without a single problem (other than the sunroof rattle, fixed by the dealer @ 9K, after that, everything is perfect).
Understand that there are farely small group of Prelude owners, and that is another reason the prelude is reliable. Because there won't be so many variable in production, thus make it more reliable in general. (With mass production, you will get some bad ones - at least from my personal experiences).
What do you mean by unload your car? you are trying to sell it? Even you want to sell it, it would still be a good idea to fix it first. Most guys/gals who want a Prelude knows cars more or less. So, when the sound is heard, they will knock your price by $6-800 on the bat! (At lease I will do that). Also, I bet your tire is due. It would be a hard sale for a '97 with so many things need to be changed (not that they are broke, but it make the buyer feels bad of it thus unwilling to pay a fair price for it.)
But, anyway, good luck.
I might just keep the Lude until it die - Of course I will get another car really soon while keeping the Lude - baby is on the way, so got to have another car. I was originally plan to trade in the Lude and get a Viper, but now, everything just changed.
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4Xe, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD
I'm not sure if that would remedy the stalling problem though....
Other than that, there is really nothing.... Oh, if she got a bad O2 sensor and has been driving with CEL flash for a while, this can happen too. How long has this been happening?
Drove it by the dealer on the way home and was diagnosed with a throwout bearing that's in the process of a noisy death. The service manager wasn't sure if was related to the Quaife install last month (since they did have to play in that area), but said they'd replace it under warranty anyway.
I drove 2 Integras a combined 470K miles without even a blown clutch, and thought this was pretty weird.
Maybe I'll buy the extended warranty...
Base model or Type SH?
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4Xe, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD
I would just like to find out what is causing that front end noise. When the dealer installs the spoiler on Monday, the technician can check that out as well. I'd like to be able to tell him what to look for. It always helps to be armed with information when dealing with the service department (even though, truth be known, this dealer's service department is actually pretty good).
As for your rattle, it might just be something is loose (maybe the heat shield or something), but, it should be a very easy fix - granted the dealer is willing to, so don't worry about it. If your dealer give your sh*t, just call Bobby Rahal and schedule an appointment with them.
Since you have driven Integra (I assume they are manual) for so many miles without problem on the tranny, you should have a good shifting habit. Unless you have changed your driving style or prefer to hold the clutch in while stopped, there is really no other reason that I can think of. I have heard the throw-out bearing gone for some Luder, but, either they abuse it a lot, or just like to hold the clutch. Are you doing either of them??
I just spent the whole day cleaning, waxing and polishing it with the Mother's three-step process. It looks great! What color and model is yours?
Intersting enough, I did almost the same thing this morning - washing and waxing. The weather was bad here for the last 2 weeks and now it seems to be better. So, I just took the advantage of the nice weather today - 83F high and did it in 2.5hrs (started at 7:30AM).
BTW, I was living in Camp Hill, so maybe we were very close??
When I had the roof rattle, I first thought it was from the driver side front as well, but after I read about the famous sunroof rattle, I nailed it down, so that maybe the samething for you. Have you had any mods on your suspension? If not, the roof might be the problem, since the suspension on Prelude are very reliable - I have not ever heard one complain about the quality - I am an active member of 3 Prelude online forums and read most of the posts from there.
Good luck though! Oh, what color is your Lude?
I suspect that the dealer may have mis-aligned something when putting the tranny back together after they installed the LSD, causing accelerated wear.
If Honda would have made the Prelude into an Acura, it would have taken on the last-generation Lexus SC300/400 coupe probably quite nicely... if the Acura version had a 6-cylinder. Missed opportunity?
I see plenty of Preludes around here... they sold very well in Ann Arbor. For obvious reasons.
Post any news/rumors you have here about the sixth-generation Prelude. I'm convinced Honda will bring it back, probably as a RWD [off of S2000 platform?]... hmm.
Why only 2001? Preludes seem to be _very_ reliable. I drive 98 base 5 speed with 34K miles on it and it looks and feels 100% new (maybe even a bit stronger than new). I have to mention: I take very good care of this car (wash&wax, interior&exterior, syn. oil every 4k miles, don't race, etc). How do I know? I took a brand new Prelude for a test-drive two weeks ago when I was servicing mine.
If you are serious about it I'd recommend to invest some time in looking for a good 98-99 one. You'll probably get it for around $14-15K and you'll get a car which handles way better than any non-M or Z-bimmer.
There are a lot in Ann Arbor? I almost never see Preludes in Detroit metro, except the occasional 3rd gen. The 5th gens are so rare that whenever I'd see one while driving mine, we'd almost certainly exchange honks and smiles.
Interesting factoid for you... there's a car club here at U-M, but it seems that it's a 7-member organization... a bunch of engineering students from Singapore. I find that rather amusing... with GM and Ford around, and the automotive lab on North Campus... ah, well, I guess if you were designing the next Aztek, you wouldn't be thinking about car club racing or anything like that.
'Ann Arbor' is not really Detroit metro; there is simply too many New York and San Francisco people around here... but there are also the countryfolk from Michigan and Ohio, and the Detroit crowd on the weekends. So, there are all sorts of cars in the area. It's very different from my hometown, where the Grand Am and Neon and Stratus and Cavalier and Intrigue and ... hey, are you feeling okay? I'll stop listing them all, then! (^_-) ... prevail.
I haven't modified the suspension, so the dealer can't put the blame on me. Incidentally, the noise seems less noticeable today; maybe with use it will go away. I hope! The car passed the 500 mile mark this morning.
I live in New Cumberland, which is down the river from Camp Hill. I couldn't afford to live in Camp Hill when I moved here three years ago! Camp Hill is the nicest of the West Shore suburbs. Did you work at one of the government bases in the area?
Regarding Ann Arbor, isn't that where Car & Driver is based? I always got the impression Ann Arbor was kind of a midwestern Berkeley, which makes me wonder how on earth Car & Driver ever ended up there!
Yeah, midwestern Berkeley is it. Ann Arbor has the Californians and everything. You will see a lot of different cars here - in summers on Main Street, you can see Rolls-Royces. Otherwise, Toyotas and Hondas and Volkswagens and Volvos are alllll over. But, like I said, Ann Arbor is an island in the area... drive out into the country, and you're back in Ford territory. That's where Electron Blue Preludes look the best, when they're not on every street corner.
My Integra is silver metallic... I like Honda-Acura's blue and silver paints.
They love giving parking tickets to anyone and everyone around here, even the police... who have those sexy Impalas these days, too!
Automotive Magazine and Car & Driver have their offices in town... what about Motor Trend? They are my favorite print source... always have best photos, it seems. I wonder who will be first with the new 2004(?) Prelude preview.
I emailed a local dealer and saw on his website that he has 6 preludes sitting on his lot. The catch: They're all SportShifts. We've been corresponding back and forth and I asked him if he could locate a Red or White Type SH for me. So we'll see what happens.
I sat in an RSX Type S at the Auto SHow here at the Javitz center. Very impressive list of featurs for the price (Leather, Sunroof, 6 disc In Dash CD player, Automatic Climate Control). I'll have to drive the RSX and see if I like it. The styling is really growing on me.
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4Xe, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD
Color me unimpressed by the cheap leather, Bose (where's the bass?) audio system, and chintzy cabin materials. All I wanted when I had a GS-R was more power and a sixth gear. No way am I trading a control-arm suspension for climate control!
Feh!
SportShifts!!! What colors?!
Geez, we never get the goods here in Detroit.
My point to all this being, the RSX-s does improve upon (the Integra's) performance while managing to go more upscale. Adding the LSD or other performace parts, systems, along with increasing its luxury content would push its cost into the $25+K area. The RSX-R should fill the all out performance void, though lacking some of the luxury content.
Which leads me to, WHY THE H^@L DID HONDA KILL THE PRELUDE!!!....oh yeah, it didn't sell- damn!
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4Xe, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD
Help, Nagoya-think is turning into Detroit-think!!! First the Prelude... now this...
Well, the best thing I can do is: keep my Lude well maintained and hopefully it will last forever!
The GT-R will come over finally with that 350Z look to it... and the Accord coupe will have enough power to be a Prelude poseur, should it choose to do so.
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4Xe, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD
The RSX on the other hand is a bit quicker due to its weight, and seems a bit more tossable. However from my test drives it's noisier and much, much less capable of handling extreme driving, and more strongly affected by things like road imperfection. The RSX does have climate control, Bose stereo, etc., but for some reason I found the AF Prelude's stock sound to be crisper and clearer, and the regular hvac to be good enough. Visibility on the Prelude is much better, and probably top of class. Ditto build quality and road feedback.
I think you should definitely drive the RSX. It has its audience and market; it depends on what you like to do with the car, and the RSX may be right. For me, I liked the lower ride height, better visibility and what I felt were real sports car moves from the Prelude. I wanted a low, wide sports car with a long hood and heavy, precise steering, and the Prelude was the closest to that I could find. However there was no denying the high price you pay for it. Moreover, the RSX's cargo capacity, etc., dwarfs that of the Prelude, and the Prelude's interior isn't going to impress your friends unless you lend them the keys and they get to see where the money went for themselves. The RSX's interior is much better looking, it's hard to deny that. Lastly I like the Prelude's engine better (more torque, feeling the VTEC crossover can be a rush) but the numbers show rather clearly that in a straight line the RSX-S benefits from its flatter torque curve and much lighter curb weight. If acceleration from a stoplight is the all-important criteria, the RSX is probably your cup of tea.
Oh, the other differentiator is ATTS if you can get it, and which is not available on any RSX trim. If you do hard cornering, it does lift Prelude into a different class while giving you the feeling that you're driving a very special car. Whether that's worth the cost is buyer's discretion, but it's something to consider.
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4Xe, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD
The Integra's hatch will folded-down seats carry a ton of stuff. The RSX is probably similar, but I don't remember exactly from the car show. I was being attacked just to sit in it for 2 seconds.
I like the 3rd generation Integra styling more than the RSX, but only slightly. I'm very partial to 1990s sport coupe design. The RSX is NOT ugly... it's conservative, perhaps, in comparison to the other monsters on the road.
Yes, if you want a racy-looking machine, then you go ahead and 'slam it.
Here in Ann Arbor, of course, 64% of Japanese sport coupes are mod jobs. Maybe 60%.