From the minute Honda announced it was bringing back the Prelude with the Civic Hybrid’s drivetrain mixed together with the Civic Type R’s suspension, one question has been on enthusiasts’ minds across the globe: how is this thing going to drive? Well, I can now answer that for you… sort of.
While in Tokyo for the Japan Mobility Show, Honda took a group of journalists (including me) to its research and development facility in Tochigi for a brief but insightful first drive of the sixth-generation Prelude. After just three laps of a circuit Honda set up, I’m here to tell you that the born-again Prelude can live up to the sporty pretensions of its forebears, but with just 200 horsepower on tap, the only race you’re going to be competitive in will be against a Subaru BRZ or a minivan driver who isn’t aware you’re racing.
We’ve already got our full reveal post of the new Prelude here that goes into every minor detail of the car extensively, so I won’t rehash too much of that — let’s just stick to the important driving bits, shall we?
Full Disclosure: I flew to Japan on Honda’s dime, and it paid for my hotels and all of the unbelievable food I ate.
Summing up the Prelude’s parts
At the heart of the 2026 Prelude is the Civic Hybrid’s naturally aspirated 2.0-liter inline-four and two electric motors. All in all, the system puts out the aforementioned 200 hp and 232 pound-feet of torque, exactly the same as the Civic Hybrid I tested last year. All of that power is routed to the front wheels through Honda’s direct drive eCVT system, which isn’t really a CVT at all, but that’s what they call it. Really, there is no transmission at all, but it’s hard to tell with the brilliant S+ Shift system — more on that later. There aren’t any official performance figures yet, but my butt tells me that its 0-to-60-mph time is probably somewhere in the low-to-mid 6-second range, which is around where the current Civic Hybrid is. That’s not going to set any records, but you’re going to get out of your own way just fine. In any case, straight-line speed really isn’t what the Prelude is about.
The Prelude, true to its roots, is a little demon when it goes around a corner. Thank the dual-axis front strut suspension and wide track borrowed from the Type R for that, though its wheelbase is shorter than the Civic Type R‘s, which will almost certainly make it snappier. The car also gets the sporty Civic’s steering and adaptive dampers, and they’ve been specifically tuned for the ‘Lude. The steering rack is now 3% quicker, according to Yoshiharu Saito, one of Honda’s top engineers. If you look closely behind the 19-inch wheels of the Prelude, you’re going to find blue Brembo brakes (13.8 inches up front, 12 inches in the rear) that are also pulled directly from the Type R. The Prelude comes standard with Continental all-season tires, but summers will be an option; sadly, the car I drove was fitted with the all-seasons.
Honda
Though I spent a collective 8 minutes in the Prelude, I could tell it is a nice place to be. I mean, all Civics are. Of course, this is a bit better and more sporty than your run-of-the-mill Civic. The Prelude is fitted with a couple of very handsome and very supportive heated bucket seats up front that did a good job of holding my large ass in when I hucked it around a corner at Honda’s test track, and despite the fact that the car is rather low, I had no issue with headroom. I can’t say I tried out the back seats, but they didn’t exactly seem capacious. That’s not my problem, though. I’m driving. I also didn’t spend much time with the tech. Again, I had 8 minutes. Do you all care about this thing’s steering feel or whether CarPlay is easy to connect to? That’s what I thought. It’s typical Honda. It’s good. You’ll like it.
‘Lude thoughts
All of these little things come together to create what genuinely seems like a lovely little car to drive. While my stint was brief, that’s something I’m incredibly used to. I suppose you can say I’m more of a “good time, not a long time” guy. Unsurprisingly a massive highlight of the Prelude is its steering. Delicate would be the right way to describe it. Despite the fact it shares a box with the Civic Type R, the Prelude’s rack feels far lighter, if memory serves. Even in Sport mode it felt like I could drive the car with just the lightest touch of the steering wheel. However, don’t think for a second that it felt overboosted or imprecise. I was able to move from corner to corner on this incredibly tight track — meant originally for motorcycles — with a massive smile on my face.
I’m sure the pristine surface of the track had something to do with it, but it was so easy to get into a wonderful groove in this car. I think the kids call it a flow state. (I’m a kid, I call it a flow state.) That being said, the surface made it impossible for me to tell you how good the Prelude actually rides. It’s probably fine. Civic Type Rs aren’t miserable to ride on harsh surfaces, I don’t suspect this will be either.
Angry sound, mild-mannered performance
From the outside, the Prelude sounds like nothing. Zilch. Nada. You could mistake it for any other hybrid four-popper out there, which is too bad, but inside, Honda’s engineers did a great job of cranking up the dramatics by pumping in fake noise that doesn’t sound like total dogshit, and fitting the company’s new S+ Shift system, with fake gearshifts to make everything a bit more fun. I’ll tell you what, big dog, it worked.
Honda
S+ Shift has seven fake gears that’ll run up against the engine’s 6,000-rpm redline. Of course, the fact that there’s no transmission means there’s not actually any gears, but if an EV can have fake shifts, dammit, so can a hybrid. It provides some legitimately quick shifts that really do make everything a bit more exciting, going both up and down in the ratios. Hell, it even gives you a little mechanical kick. I’ve got no idea how they engineered that, but it sure is impressive. I’m sure using this system makes the Prelude a bit slower than just leaving it in regular automatic mode, but live a little. Have some fun in your sad, drab life. You don’t need to be in Sport mode to use it either. Whether you’re in Comfort, GT or Individual, you can flick on S+ Shift for a burst of fun.
Quit your whining
Honda hasn’t told me — or anyone, for that matter — how many Preludes it plans to sell every year. However, a rep for the brand told me they are very confident it’ll sell every single one it builds. I’m sure you’ve all seen the comments online bemoaning the fact that this car isn’t just a rehash of a car that was killed off 25 years ago. Hell, you probably wrote some of those comments, but I promise you, the sixth-generation Prelude lives up to the name on its trunklid.
It might not be the fastest car I’ve ever driven, but in a world where people complain about cars having too much useless power, isn’t a low-ish-power sports coupe with a nice interior exactly what you’re looking for? If it’s good enough for the literal CEO of Honda to buy one, it’s good enough for you, dear commenter. The new Prelude will reach dealers in the U.S. by the end of this year.
