Soldato
Was visiting my Mum and Dad today and I happened to remember that a local garage had a Gen 5 Prelude VTI, so I took a little trip down for a look.
After 20 seconds of looking at it the guy came out and asked if I was ok, I said I was looking for a faster car than the Accord, he instantly offered me an unsupervised test drive. 10/10 for service on his part
Ok, where to start. Looks:
Never really been properly close up to a prelude VTI and I have to say, even without the motegi bodykit the car looked very nice. It was an unfaded dark red which I have to say wasn't really my cup of tea, but it wasn't too deterring and I could imagine it looking stunning in other colours. Apart from that it was a good height from the ground, had a very nice rear and quite a presence compaired to a lot of hondas range.
The interior unfortunatly was the beige option (preludes had an option of beige, black and possibly black leather). If you pretended all the material was black then it was quite nice. The seats were very comfy and gave lots of buckety side grip on your body. The wood trim was a bit old man and the dashboard was very to the point, just black dials. All in all it felt very well put together inside. The cruse control, lighting control, aircon settings etc were all very easy to get too. It even had a cool ajustable cup holder and lots of little things that were quite "neat" and very jap.
The drive: I have to say I loved driving this car. I was very surprised as I thought it was going to be far slower than it actually turned out to be.
Even pulling off from the garage I noticed the brilliant turning circle that the four wheel steering gives. Very handy for parking and it does add to the handling of the car too.
The fuel tank was pretty empty so I decided not too venture too far, luckily a bit of motorway was near by so I could open it up a bit . Before I talk about how it performed when flooring it can I just say bellow 5k RPM the car feels and sounds so sedate. It still has enough power for just tottling around and the engine wasn't struggling or anything, but if you never went past the 5k mark you would think your just driving a 1.8 litre vectra or similar.
Now to the VTEC Yo part. As soon as the engine past 5k RPM there was a very large surge in speed and engine note. This is quite dissimilar to a lot of other VTEC engined cars I have been in. Most of them the VTEC change over is very hard to tell, this was very defined and the car rapidly changed speed. In 2nd gear I was at 8k RPM before I knew it, a gear change and I was at the limiter again and going far far faster than I should have been. I was very impressed with the high end grunt the car had to offer. The engine note was also lovely under VTEC, much louder than my Accord. I can quite beleive the book figure of 0-60 in high 6s to be true.
While I didn't get to test the car on twisty roads due to their being none near by, I did drive it pretty hard into roundabouts just to test its limits. I have to say it stuck to the road like glue. I dont know if it was the chasis or the 4WS or both, but it felt very sure footed when turning and didn't display any nasty snaps that could throw your into trouble. All in all a very sure footed car.
So, in conclusion I was very impressed. The exterior looked nice although I know its an aquired taste. The interior, while a tad old man, would have been nice in black. Ok it wouldn't win any awards but I have a living room for looking pretty, the cars for driving The ride its self I loved to bits.
I think I will be selling my Accord very soon and this car will probably be its replacment. The one I drove was £5.5k for a 68k 1998 model which I wouldn't pay. Luckily there are similar age, slightly higher mileage cars for the 3k mark. Making them very good bang for buck. I still think I should test drive a 200 SX and possibly an Ocavia VRS before I make my mind up, but both these cars cost more.
Anyone here got a Gen 5 Prelude? If so how do you find it?
After 20 seconds of looking at it the guy came out and asked if I was ok, I said I was looking for a faster car than the Accord, he instantly offered me an unsupervised test drive. 10/10 for service on his part
Ok, where to start. Looks:
Never really been properly close up to a prelude VTI and I have to say, even without the motegi bodykit the car looked very nice. It was an unfaded dark red which I have to say wasn't really my cup of tea, but it wasn't too deterring and I could imagine it looking stunning in other colours. Apart from that it was a good height from the ground, had a very nice rear and quite a presence compaired to a lot of hondas range.
The interior unfortunatly was the beige option (preludes had an option of beige, black and possibly black leather). If you pretended all the material was black then it was quite nice. The seats were very comfy and gave lots of buckety side grip on your body. The wood trim was a bit old man and the dashboard was very to the point, just black dials. All in all it felt very well put together inside. The cruse control, lighting control, aircon settings etc were all very easy to get too. It even had a cool ajustable cup holder and lots of little things that were quite "neat" and very jap.
The drive: I have to say I loved driving this car. I was very surprised as I thought it was going to be far slower than it actually turned out to be.
Even pulling off from the garage I noticed the brilliant turning circle that the four wheel steering gives. Very handy for parking and it does add to the handling of the car too.
The fuel tank was pretty empty so I decided not too venture too far, luckily a bit of motorway was near by so I could open it up a bit . Before I talk about how it performed when flooring it can I just say bellow 5k RPM the car feels and sounds so sedate. It still has enough power for just tottling around and the engine wasn't struggling or anything, but if you never went past the 5k mark you would think your just driving a 1.8 litre vectra or similar.
Now to the VTEC Yo part. As soon as the engine past 5k RPM there was a very large surge in speed and engine note. This is quite dissimilar to a lot of other VTEC engined cars I have been in. Most of them the VTEC change over is very hard to tell, this was very defined and the car rapidly changed speed. In 2nd gear I was at 8k RPM before I knew it, a gear change and I was at the limiter again and going far far faster than I should have been. I was very impressed with the high end grunt the car had to offer. The engine note was also lovely under VTEC, much louder than my Accord. I can quite beleive the book figure of 0-60 in high 6s to be true.
While I didn't get to test the car on twisty roads due to their being none near by, I did drive it pretty hard into roundabouts just to test its limits. I have to say it stuck to the road like glue. I dont know if it was the chasis or the 4WS or both, but it felt very sure footed when turning and didn't display any nasty snaps that could throw your into trouble. All in all a very sure footed car.
So, in conclusion I was very impressed. The exterior looked nice although I know its an aquired taste. The interior, while a tad old man, would have been nice in black. Ok it wouldn't win any awards but I have a living room for looking pretty, the cars for driving The ride its self I loved to bits.
I think I will be selling my Accord very soon and this car will probably be its replacment. The one I drove was £5.5k for a 68k 1998 model which I wouldn't pay. Luckily there are similar age, slightly higher mileage cars for the 3k mark. Making them very good bang for buck. I still think I should test drive a 200 SX and possibly an Ocavia VRS before I make my mind up, but both these cars cost more.
Anyone here got a Gen 5 Prelude? If so how do you find it?