Offered until 1996, this generation also marked the end of an experiment. Four-wheel steering, once the Prelude’s technological calling card, has unceremoniously disappeared. This is a sign of things to come.
Last shot over the bow
When the fifth-generation Prelude arrived for 1997, its styling felt like a compromise between eras, a return to Honda’s earlier angular discipline, softened slightly to suit late-1990s tastes. It looked modern but discreet. And under the metal sheet, something changed.
1998 Honda Prelude Type SH.
Credit: Honda
1998 Honda Prelude Type SH.
Credit: Honda
For the first time in years, Prelude’s ambitions have narrowed. There was only one engine: a 195 hp (145 kW) 2.2 L four-cylinder, five-speed manual or four-speed automatic. The menu was perhaps strategically simplified.
There was no four-wheel steering. In its place came the SH Type, equipped with Honda’s Active Torque Transfer System, or ATTS. It featured electromechanical clutches designed to send extra torque to the outside front wheel during cornering to sharpen cornering and bring the rear wheel closer to balance. Today we call this a torque vector. Then, it’s an expensive, cumbersome experiment that proves too clever for its own good. Few buyers chose. And so the Prelude went off.
Honda discontinued production in June 2001 after selling 826,082 Preludes in the United States. The car reached its peak in 1986, when 79,841 examples found buyers. After that, demand steadily declined, squeezed by competition from within, notably the Accord Coupe, Civic Coupe, and Acura Integra, and the market’s resolute focus on sport-utility vehicles. A total of 3,500 Preludes were sold during the first five months of 2001. The car that once served as Honda’s technological calling card has gone quietly. It was more of a failure than a change in appetite, as his innovations were absorbed into the mainstream he helped shape.
Prelude’s second chance
Now, nearly 25 years later, Honda has revived the Prelude, more a sentimental recall than a calculated move in the auto industry that doesn’t look like the Prelude left behind.
