I bought the 2026 Honda prelude, first impressions.

[mrpopins]

Hey folks! I bought the 2026 honda prelude.

So far it's one of my favorite cars I've driven. I had a 2020 hatchback civic with the turbocharged engine, and upgraded to the Prelude.

I found a specific dealership that was trying to offload their prelude and gave it MSRP without any extra things. Great deal!

Pros
Super quiet car, handles amazing, drives amazingly.
Great MPG
Great looks, I feel happy when I get into the car.
Amazing storage in the truck and with the seats folded down. It almost feels like it fits more things than my civic hatchback.

Cons
It's not fast (not that I mind, I wasn't looking for a fast car)
Feels similar torque to the civic turbo, maybe a bit faster on 0-30 because of the electric motor.
There are blindspots in the car to the right and left.

AMA

It's the

 

[Dragoon]

Thanks for sharing your initial thoughts! Looks like the hatch holds a good amount of cargo.

 

[GoZoner1]

I think the 'dealer markups' are going away soon. If not already, in 2-3 months for sure as some cars sit on lots. I got mine under MSRP as it sat for almost 5 weeks... at a remote dealer more accustomed to SUV and truck sales.

I anticipate Honda will need to offer some incentives towards the mid/end of the year - basically refunding a bit of the tariff they got hit with.

 

[El Chorizo11]

Thank you for the review, we appreciate it!

 

[CiceroGirl]

I think the 'dealer markups' are going away soon. If not already, in 2-3 months for sure as some cars sit on lots. I got mine under MSRP as it sat for almost 5 weeks... at a remote dealer more accustomed to SUV and truck sales.

I anticipate Honda will need to offer some incentives towards the mid/end of the year - basically refunding a bit of the tariff they got hit with.

I think that is going to depend on what part of the United States you are in. Despite posts on other Prelude sites of cars available elsewhere, in southern Ohio (Columbus/Dayton/Cincinnati), they are sold less than 2 weeks from arrival even with hefty dealer markups some places. The dealership I have used since 1984 has only received one — my long-time salesman knew I was interested and I was given first shot at it (they turned down a request from a dealer in Michigan) — which I bought 4 days after it arrived (and it spent 2 days getting paint protection and tinted windows) and they don’t have another one scheduled. One dealership in this area just received their second one (first one was blue with blue and white interior and sold in less than 2 weeks), one dealership has one in transit, and the fourth one still isn’t showing one.

 

[GoZoner1]

A great site for car info is Visor.vin (<= the current Preludes for sale throughout the US). They are showing an 'average days for sale' of 44.

 

[CiceroGirl]

A great site for car info is Visor.vin (<= the current Preludes for sale throughout the US). They are showing an 'average days for sale' of 44.

Wow. I don’t doubt the accuracy [ETA: actually, I guess I *do* doubt the accuracy after further investigation, because the only one in my city that it shows as available (and it shows 2 available, both the same color, which seems odd) literally only arrived at the dealership 5 days ago, but yet it says 20 days on one and 40-some days on the other… and you cannot start counting until they have the car on the lot… so I would love to see what it has recorded for MY Prelude since I received pictures from the salesman as soon as they took it off the truck and bought it 4 days later], but it seems that Honda’s algorithm for where to send the Preludes to needs tweaked!

 

[mykl]

You mentioned “blind spots” - does blind spot monitoring cover these side blind spots during ordinary driving? During parking?

Thanks!

 

[CiceroGirl]

You mentioned “blind spots” - does blind spot monitoring cover these side blind spots during ordinary driving? During parking?

Thanks!

I have had my Prelude for 4 weeks now and it actually does do a good job during driving. I always park nose in so the blind spots aren’t an issue for me, but I would *think* that the rear view camera would be sufficient for parking, since it definitely is for backing out of a driveway or parking space (plus you also have the audible warning of a moving car approaching when backing out (which my 2017 Accord didn’t have)).

 

[CiceroGirl]

Hey folks! I bought the 2026 honda prelude.

So far it's one of my favorite cars I've driven. I had a 2020 hatchback civic with the turbocharged engine, and upgraded to the Prelude.

I found a specific dealership that was trying to offload their prelude and gave it MSRP without any extra things. Great deal!

Pros
Super quiet car, handles amazing, drives amazingly.
Great MPG
Great looks, I feel happy when I get into the car.
Amazing storage in the truck and with the seats folded down. It almost feels like it fits more things than my civic hatchback.

Cons
It's not fast (not that I mind, I wasn't looking for a fast car)
Feels similar torque to the civic turbo, maybe a bit faster on 0-30 because of the electric motor.
There are blindspots in the car to the right and left.

I have had mine for 4 weeks now, and have similar thoughts. Most importantly, it makes me happy when I get into it and it is FUN to drive even just going to the grocery. I really like the way it drives (although, admittedly, I am still a bit disappointed about the lack of a stick). The cornering, whether on a sharp curve at a higher speed than recommended or just turning from one street to another is great. The additional torque over the Gen 5 makes up for no MT in terms of a sense of pickup and responsiveness from a stop. I also love the interior. Small things like the embroidered blue script Prelude on the alcantara strip on the dash and on the front of the headrests give it a premium feel. THe blind spots are significant coming from driving an Accord sedan for a decade, but I have to be honest that I don’t remember how bad the blind spots *may* have been on my 1999 because I sold it in 2014. I have been getting used to the mirror indicators, though, so I am finding that the blind spots are less noticeable than when I first got the car.

My negatives are the “cloth” on the rear seats (I didn’t really expect leather since it was extremely rare to have anyone in the back of my 1999 Gen 5 Prelude), but this stuff looks like it came out of a 1985 Yugo. I am going to hope that the seat cover for my 2017 Accord sedan can be fitted into the Prelude before I can let the dog in the back because I fear what his toenails will do to that “upholstery”. I also miss the buttons for the garage door opener codes (but apparently Honda is slowly removing those from all models), and the moonroof (but I understand that, from a structural standpoint, you cannot have a hatchback that also has a moonroof… and the space with the seats folded down make it a far more functional vehicle than the Gen 5 with the tiny trunk. My nit picky complaint is that the black script “Prelude” on the back of the car is VERY hard to see on the black cars. I spent a lot of money in this car and want people to know what it is, but all they can see is the silver block “honda”.

 

[El Chorizo11]

Car looks absolutely gorgeous!

 

[BoostOne]

I think the 'dealer markups' are going away soon. If not already, in 2-3 months for sure as some cars sit on lots. I got mine under MSRP as it sat for almost 5 weeks... at a remote dealer more accustomed to SUV and truck sales.

I anticipate Honda will need to offer some incentives towards the mid/end of the year - basically refunding a bit of the tariff they got hit with.

Depends on what part of the country you are in. In the Northeast US. ( I'm in New Hampshire). My local dealer was charging $3500 over MSRP on the only Prelude they had, and they wouldn't let you test drive it unless you agreed to buy it. What ???

Did some searching and other dealers in NH and Massachusetts were over MRSP. Finally found a dealer in Vermont 2.5 hours away with a Boost Blue in transit. Asked if they would sell it at list. They said yes and I gave them a deposit over the phone. Came in 2 week earlier than expected. I'm a happy camper.

 

[BoostOne]

Triple black looks great! My daily driver is black, went with something totally different.