are they fast?

Asked by Shano Oct 08, 2008 at 01:51 PM about the 1995 Honda Prelude 2 Dr VTEC Coupe

Question type: General

34 Answers

685

i once drove a friends.. the vtecs are the fastest of the 95 preludes and should only come in 5 speed as i remember (the autos are slow so dont bother if im wrong and thers an auto vtec) with almost 200hp or something like that. gas mileage is decent but for todays standards you could get a lot better out of a 5spd 2.2 dohc vtec engine, but u cant complain for the power. plus ur asking if its fast so gas milage shouldnt factor too much into that haha..too badd they through out the 4WS that year (though i never drove one of those so i cant say if its better or not).. anyway, ther pretty light, quick, and fun to drive..+ honda reliability ;) -- and everyone has prelude mods so u wont have trouble looking for upgrades wen u want them.. depending on price/milage/condition (assuming ur wondering if u shud get one) go for it.

7 people found this helpful.
65

fast.....yea they are a little bit but thats only because of the weight to gear ratio.......the other guy said there light.....thats not true thats the purpose of the h22 or f22 or h23. the power for the weight..preludes are generally heavy cars....and are slightly fast...but not that fast i beat the japanese h22 prelude in my 2000 si and dats sayin alot but if u like just the motor then find somethin like a hatchback and swap it....but if u just want a fast car dats kinda cheap like a honda find a integra gsr or civic si or somethin like that....it would be well worth the money compared to a prelude

3 people found this helpful.
205

the car isn't necessarily slow....but its not crazy fast...like every other honda it has little torque and all high end power...i think they rated 0-60 times in the mid 7s...which isn't too bad...

6 people found this helpful.
125

till few months ago i had prelude2.0v-tec '94 and she is not so fast but have lot of other qualities like 4wheels steering,beautifull interiors and agressive look..mechanicly,it's HONDA(read perfect)handling is best part(she is vey tall and wide plus 4wheels steering,man..awesome)so if you put some money in that engine i think you will love that baby..it's very easy and not so expensive make her fast.i had her4years and if i had enough money and enough garage space i'd never sell that baby.it's icon and real coupe(1more time;you saw interiors???).wow..it's nice even remember time i spent with her..here's the pic..peace

9 people found this helpful.
2,235

not really all that fast, and not the best fuel mileage. it is a car that is 14 years old, what would yo uexpect

2 people found this helpful.
1,655

Back in 1993 when they came out with the VTEC model, they were considered quick, even for a sport coupe. Were they "fast"? Maybe not, but they do get up and scoot. At 190hp, they could do 0-60 between 6.3 and 6.9 seconds -- not bad at all! (BTW, the 6.3 second time was by MotorWeek in 1993, same car) That's even decently quick by todays standards. But the thing about the Prelude is not the quickness -- they are awesome because of their handling and steering.

8 people found this helpful.
185

I own a 98 Prelude and it may not be the fastest car on the road (not the slowest either) but it has so many other great qualities that make up for it. Handling is superior (rides on rails with 18's)...build quality is exceptional (not a skweek after 10 yrs)...reliability is Honda (stay away from the auto). The ultimate thing about this car is it's "sexy"!!!! I have always loved the looks of the 5th gen Lude. The sleek lines and aggressiveness are unmatched for a car in this price range.

15 people found this helpful.
185

Fast? No. Vipers are fast. 360 spiders are fast. Ford GTs are fast. Preludes are quick.

17 people found this helpful.
2,235

i was never fond of the handling of a prelude, some people love it, some people dont

1 people found this helpful.
185

Guess there's only one way of defining fast - top speed; while all the other performance figures come about because of power. So yeah, you could get a ticket even with a 60's Buick, but what about handling? After a while, I don't see the point in proving how hard you can press the accelerator in a straight line on a freeway, so there's no point of having cars with unnecessary passing power that you can brag about? Corners are different :) And then, yes, Preludes are mighty quick around corners and adequately powerful on track and that's where you really flex a car's chassis. Smooth, high revving and 'bullet-proof reliabile' engine with 200hp and 165Nm torques - not powerful, but fast for a FF car ~ infact only the Speed3 is more powerful. Did someone say handling was bad? Hell no, ride is hard for most people (but then you have the softie Accord coupe to run to), but it was perennially the Car & Driver mag's Best Handling Car under $30,000.

4 people found this helpful.
135

i wouldnt say they are "fast". they are quick and peppy tho, and allot of fun to drive! if you can find one that is an SH you will have more fun going into a corner in full vtec at full throttle tho. I own a 98 Honda Prelude type SH and it is just about as fast as my 2001 eclipse spyder GT. The 2.2l vtec motor is a very nice motor, with 205hp it goes right along. When vtec pops in it feels like a different car, you will find it very addicting. Slap an intake on it and you can hear a major difference when it kicks in, it gets very throaty and pulls allot harder. hope that gave you some info

9 people found this helpful.
25

I personally love the idea of a boosted F22 in them. you get horsepower with torque to match, and the handling in them is awesome. lot's of parts for them, and again, as lots have said, Honda reliability. not the fastest, but definitely no slouch either.

2 people found this helpful.
135

bleh f22, thats the accord motor. i cant for the life of me figure out why they put those in some of the preludes. in my opinion try for an h22 or at bare minimum the h23. that SOHC stuff gets old :D

1 people found this helpful.
100

'Fast' relates to speed, 'Quick' relates to acceleration. For example: My 442 will 1/4 mile in 13-14 seconds, my neighbour's BMW 16-18 seconds. The 442 is quicker. The BMW tops out at 145+, the 442 at 137 max (trust me, been there, done that). The BMW is faster. A Mustang GT will beat a Lamborghini to 60 (quick), then the Lambo blows the Mustang away (fast). It's your money (Quick - everyday driving) or (Fast - seldom used). Regards, Jim

6 people found this helpful.
1,655

fixed reply: Ever heard of the G-series Frankenstein hybrid? The "G23" as it's dubbed by Honda guys is basically an F23 bottom end with an H22 head -- it gives the best of both worlds. The H22 head flows awesome and the F23 block has iron cylinder liners (versus FRM cylinder liners for the H22/H23) that also has a longer crank stroke (97mm vs. 90.7mm) than the H22 so your torque production will become more usable, especially when turbocharged. The F-series isn't as bad as one might want to think. And besides, blocks are abundant versus H22 blocks.

1 people found this helpful.
135

yea i have done some reading about doing that on the F blocks but i never really got interested in it. Thats quite a bit of work to have a frankenstien build. i always leaned toward just having the block sleeved if it were ever to come that far of a mod. sleeve it up and turn up the boost and call it a day. altho it would be fun to build a "G23". I still think i would trust sleeves over a stronger oem block.

135

edit* one of the reasons i say sleeves is because i happen to own the SH model, it has a dif block mold than a normal H22 in order to facilitate the ATTS differential. and lets face it, ATTS is too sexy to get rid of :D

2 people found this helpful.
1,655

You got that right,the SH model is my favorite model. Not only are they the sexiest generation, but the SH is just that much more tossable around corners. My Prelude, while amazing around the turns ('89 4ws) tends to understeer at the limit, even more so than my granny '88 camry LE!

25

I have a '91 Prelude 4WS. I'm interested in your understeer comment. Bear in mind that the BA-series 4WS Prelude was the fastest road car Road & Track magazine had ever tested in a slalom course. I don't mean to criticise your car or driving but perhaps the understeer you experience is because you are too heavy on the throttle. Are the tyres of your car are too conservative in terms of tread? Or are they too big for the car? 4WS keeps the car more neutral in attitude at speed. The Camry's rear suspension will have a degree of 'rear-steer' engineered into it. 4WS keeps that kind of thing more in check. I had a Daihatsu Charade for a while and understeer was not a problem in that car but only because the lift-off oversteer was always a threatening presence!

2 people found this helpful.
1,655

Not to sound like a dickhead, but I find it funny that you explain this to me -- that the BA5 Prelude was the fastest slaloming car in for the 1988 cars, even quicker than the Corvette and other exotics. I was the one who wrote a lot of that Wikipedia article, as well as adding to the B20A article on Wikipedia, talking about the FRM cylinder walls and whatnot. All of us in the Prelude community know well that the Prelude, while being a magnificent handling car, as a tendency to understeer. And sure 4ws can help bring the rear end to rotate around in certain situations, but the default setting is understeer make no mistake. Oh BTW, my tires are Kumho Ecsta 711 tires with 195/50/15 specs, they are not the stickiest tire in the world but they are definitely sporty enough and offer no unexpected handling variances.

25

Fair enough. I shan't argue with any of that. The '88 Camry must be a bit of a bad ass though.

20

Will a 2000 acura integra dohc vtech motor go in a 1995 Honda prelude

2 people found this helpful.
1,655

A B-series engine like the B18C1 that comes from the Integra GS-R can only fit into that generation Prelude if you use an aftermarket engine mounting kit which offers custom motor mounts and transmission mount. It's been done, but most Prelude owners would rather stick with the standard engine/transmission platform and opt for a VTEC H-series engine such as the H22A or H23 (with or without VTEC) not only because they're larger engines with more torque, but also because it keeps the Prelude's setup more simple regarding wiring issues, shift linkage issues, and CV axle issues. Adding a B- series to this car would mean all of those issues would also have to be dealt with, which means a lot more complexity and cost. This is why most people choose to not put B-series into 4g+ Preludes.

2 people found this helpful.
30

I have a grand total of $5,000 into my 98 base and have ran a 13.942 1/4 mile and its n/a, theres a lot of weight reduction that can be done to the 5th gen

1 people found this helpful.
30

With the right parts (quality header exhaust and all the type s engine parts you can find), lots of time to delete and mod things so the car still appears to be stock but not lose its comfortable feel, and a proper tune, yeah they can be pretty damn quick for a 4 cylinder that gets good gas mileage and has looks to kill. You cant go wrong for $6,000 max to build something like mine. I love it and its my 5th or 6th one, theres a reason why i keep going back to the prelude. Plus once you own one your like in a brotherhood of other prelude owners cuz were few and proud Theres not a lot of them left out there, every bodys got a integra or civic theses days cuz there already pretty light and peppy but theres more weight to be lost on a lude then people think, I think mine weighs somewhere around 2750 with a 1/8th a tank, cant remember if thats w/ me in it or not, but i only weigh around 155. And thats with the car appearing and feeling stock with the exception of ps, ac, cc, delete with a manual steering rack so it still steers nice with no ps. Get one you wont regret it! breaking wheels lose in 2nd! Yeah they can be pretty ballsy with a little time and money!

2 people found this helpful.
20

I just got a 99 lude. 200k on odom. The first day, drove good, had power, went home. Woke up the next morning and omw to work it started to sputter and buck like crazy and engine light came on. So I pulled codes and got a p1399 and p0420. Well I replaced the egr valve, which was "faulty" by the code definition p1399 which also showed vtec soleniod problem. When i replaced the egr I reset the ecu and everything was going fine, no sputtering etc.. Well omw home from work I was wanting to see if the vtec showed up as a possible problem got fixed by replacing the egr since the obd light still hadnt came on. So about a mile from the house I got into it some, once I hit around 5k+ rpms the sputtering and all came back, and it wanted to stall out on me. Any Ideas? Could this be caused by a bad vtec solenoid since they usually open at around 5200? Or would my Catalytic converter or something else be the more reasonable culprit? I'm stuck. Btw when it sputtered and stalled the obd light started flashing till i let off of the gas. I pulled over and cut the car off. So I'm a little stumped. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks, Mike....

2 people found this helpful.

Hondas/Acuras are for fags....If you want fast buy a Mustang..However since this thread was written 10 yrs ago you probably know this by now.Glad to help!

The 4th/5th gen prelude is quick and balanced like a fine tine piece. Not the fastest, but perfect for what it is. It’s got a feel like no other. 4th gen VTEC is the best due to its cable driven clutch/shifter that feels like butter.. 5th gen changed to hydraulic and it’s not as good. Stiffer feel. These cars are one of the funnest to drive ever.

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