First Week and First Impressions

Cyberhound

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After 3 SUV’s I thought it was time for something different, I took delivery of the Prelude on 10th March and here are my first impressions.

The Honda Prelude is a distinctive, refreshing, elegant, innovative and intriguing coupe design which makes a welcome change in the UK where sales are dominated by SUVs.

It offers moderate but adequate pace boosted of course by instant torque from the electric motor. Don’t get me wrong you can go quickly without thinking about it, surfing a wave of seamless torque and precise responses that never overwhelm.

On the road it’s agile, precise, well balanced and personally I find it engaging and a delight to drive on twisty UK roads whichever mode it’s in.

Inside there’s plenty of room up front. I’m 6’1”, and I like driving with arms more or less straight. Even so the driver’s seat is not fully back. However, the 2 seats in the rear wouldn’t be suitable for passengers on a long journey. It’s a 2+2 but in practice 2 plus dog would be more accurate.

Some have criticised the car for being overpriced and having a ‘fake’ 8 speed pseudo PDK transmission. Having placed the order in November 2025 without a test drive and after reading some of the comments on various web sites I did wonder if I’d made the right decision.

However, In summary, I’m very happy with the car - it has adequate but not blistering performance but it handles well offering an engaging drive with crisp handling, convincing hybrid refinement and economy. Taking it steady while bedding in the brakes and tyres in Comfort mode the car returned a surprising 61.4 MPG during 1½ hour trip on A and B roads.
 
Nice review! I concur. Fun spirited driving yet comfortable and great gas mileage. My daily driver is a big Off road 4 wheeler. The Prelude is for my alter ego when hitting the twisty back roads. Love the Boost Blue color.
 
Thank you for the post @Cyberhound and welcome to the site!
 
After 3 SUV’s I thought it was time for something different, I took delivery of the Prelude on 10th March and here are my first impressions.

The Honda Prelude is a distinctive, refreshing, elegant, innovative and intriguing coupe design which makes a welcome change in the UK where sales are dominated by SUVs.

It offers moderate but adequate pace boosted of course by instant torque from the electric motor. Don’t get me wrong you can go quickly without thinking about it, surfing a wave of seamless torque and precise responses that never overwhelm.

On the road it’s agile, precise, well balanced and personally I find it engaging and a delight to drive on twisty UK roads whichever mode it’s in.

Inside there’s plenty of room up front. I’m 6’1”, and I like driving with arms more or less straight. Even so the driver’s seat is not fully back. However, the 2 seats in the rear wouldn’t be suitable for passengers on a long journey. It’s a 2+2 but in practice 2 plus dog would be more accurate.

Some have criticised the car for being overpriced and having a ‘fake’ 8 speed pseudo PDK transmission. Having placed the order in November 2025 without a test drive and after reading some of the comments on various web sites I did wonder if I’d made the right decision.

However, In summary, I’m very happy with the car - it has adequate but not blistering performance but it handles well offering an engaging drive with crisp handling, convincing hybrid refinement and economy. Taking it steady while bedding in the brakes and tyres in Comfort mode the car returned a surprising 61.4 MPG during 1½ hour trip on A and B roads.
I definitely agree with your overall impressions. I had a 1999 Gen5 Prelude that I loved and drove for 12 years, and although I would trade this Prelude in without hesitation if Honda offered one with a manual transmission and a 300hp engine and I was queasy about the amount of money that the car cost me, I really enjoy driving it (after 10 years of driving a nice, but boring, Accord hybrid sedan. The Prelude corners like a dream and I actually look forward to highway entrance/exit ramps with significant curves! Even though the horsepower didn’t increase from the Gen5, the increased torque (~150 for Gen5 and ~230 for the Gen6) and the instant response from the electric motor gives it plenty of pickup and response, and it drives nicely enough that I have to watch my speed!
 
After 3 SUV’s I thought it was time for something different, I took delivery of the Prelude on 10th March and here are my first impressions.

The Honda Prelude is a distinctive, refreshing, elegant, innovative and intriguing coupe design which makes a welcome change in the UK where sales are dominated by SUVs.

It offers moderate but adequate pace boosted of course by instant torque from the electric motor. Don’t get me wrong you can go quickly without thinking about it, surfing a wave of seamless torque and precise responses that never overwhelm.

On the road it’s agile, precise, well balanced and personally I find it engaging and a delight to drive on twisty UK roads whichever mode it’s in.

Inside there’s plenty of room up front. I’m 6’1”, and I like driving with arms more or less straight. Even so the driver’s seat is not fully back. However, the 2 seats in the rear wouldn’t be suitable for passengers on a long journey. It’s a 2+2 but in practice 2 plus dog would be more accurate.

Some have criticised the car for being overpriced and having a ‘fake’ 8 speed pseudo PDK transmission. Having placed the order in November 2025 without a test drive and after reading some of the comments on various web sites I did wonder if I’d made the right decision.

However, In summary, I’m very happy with the car - it has adequate but not blistering performance but it handles well offering an engaging drive with crisp handling, convincing hybrid refinement and economy. Taking it steady while bedding in the brakes and tyres in Comfort mode the car returned a surprising 61.4 MPG during 1½ hour trip on A and B roads.
p.s. great to see your mileage! I have mostly driven mine in GT or Sport mode so far, LOL, so my mileage has been from 41-44mpg on two full tanks so far (much of the 41 was highway to go to the mountains to enjoy it on some curvy roads), but I will go back to Comfort and GT and see what I get primarily in the city on this new tank. I still miss my 1999 Prelude with the MT, but with regular gas spiking to $4.99 this week and premium (which the Gen 5’s required) at $5.69, I do NOT miss the 25mpg I was getting with it!
 
With forum members in the US/UK discussing fuel prices and gas mileage/mpg, there’s a risk of misunderstanding each other…😵‍💫

FUEL COST:
  • UK gallons and US gallons are not the same
  • The fuel tank/gas tank in our G6 Preludes holds 40 litres/8.8 UK gallons/10.6 US gallons
  • To fill this tank today in the US would cost about 10.6 x $4.99 = $52.89 US,which is currently £39.50 UK
  • To fill this tank today in the UK would cost about 40 x £1.58 = £63.20 UK, which is currently $84.62 US

FUEL CONSUMPTION:
  • In the UK, Prelude is rated at 55mpg UK, which is 46mpg US
  • Similarly, 50 miles per US gallon is the same as 60 miles per UK gallon

Quite sensibly, in the USA you buy gas in US gallons and measure its use in miles per US gallon. Inexplicably, In the UK we buy petrol in litres and measure its use in miles per UK gallon! 🙄

So when we 're discussing gallons or mpg, we should probably add [US] or {UK] in order to avoid the risk of being misunderstood...

"England and America are two countries separated by a common language."
[George Bernard Shaw]
 
... the car returned a surprising 61.4 MPG during 1½ hour trip on A and B roads.

The new Prelude is very economical, and your 61.4 mpg [UK] is not a freak result: my car seems to be doing about the same as yours...

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Thank you guys for the helpful updates!
 
In practice I find that the estimated mpg shown on the instrument panel is higher than the actual mpg by 1-2 mpg (US). I run the tank way, way down between fuel ups - well past the ‘0 miles remain’ warning so that error can matter.

Silly me… 🤓
 
In practice I find that the estimated mpg shown on the instrument panel is higher than the actual mpg by 1-2 mpg (US). I run the tank way, way down between fuel ups - well past the ‘0 miles remain’ warning so that error can matter.

Silly me… 🤓

On a new car I guess that wouldn't bother me... but on an older vehicle where it will accumulate trash and garbage near the bottom of the tank I'd be afraid to do that :)
 
To be fair there's also the problem nobody ever seems to think about that your speedo, and odometer, over-read by ~3-5%. So the definitely-for-real-MPG is likely 5-10% lower than the computer says. Though that's just true of all cars really.
 

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