This might upset some purists and garner me some hate, and I'm not claiming the Prelude is some performance monster, but... I’ve seen a lot of social media chatter and reviews writing the Prelude off as a slow eco-civic-coupe because of the 184hp figure (or the false 200hp), assuming it can't even begin to compare with cars like the Civic Type R.
Obviously, if you put both cars on a straight at Silverstone, the Civic's much more powerful engine will absolutely obliterate the Prelude. But what about a tight autocross track or a winding country lane? Speeds are physically capped around 60-70mph max, and you are constantly doing heavy braking down to ~20mph for tight hairpins. Under such conditions, the Prelude might just surprise you with how well it keeps up with the Civic.
Coming out of a harsh 20mph hairpin, the Civic driver in 2nd gear floors it, there's a physical delay. They have to wait for the exhaust gases to spool up their turbocharger and build RPM before the real power hits. In the Prelude almost all of its power is available immediately. There is no turbo to spool. The electric motor dumps its maximum torque into the wheels and by the time the Civic's turbo has finally woken up, the Prelude may have already leaped a car length ahead.
Then there is the case of the gears. On a slower track, a manual Type R is constantly caught in the awkward zone rowing up and down between 2nd, 3rd, and 4th gear. Every time you have to shift up to 3rd for a quick burst, and then downshift back into 2nd for the next bend, power delivery pauses, boost drops. Meanwhile, because the Prelude's engine isn't mechanically linked to the wheels under hard acceleration, there are zero mechanical gear shifts. There's just one continuous, uninterrupted wave of electric torque. You can focus 100% of your brain capacity on your braking points rather than gear selection.
Though of course, physics is still physics. The Type R will still stay ahead even outside of the power difference, it has stiffer suspension, a fancy LSD, and weighs less than the Prelude.
So, I think we should stop looking at the 184/200hp figure in a vacuum. In a straight line to 150mph, the Prelude will get stomped by your nan's hatchback. But between 0 and 60mph on tight roads, the Prelude's instant electric torque and uninterrupted power delivery make it seriously capable. And maybe it's just a coincidence, but outside of the motorway and city most roads you end up driving on in the real world happen to be exactly in that windy sub-70mph category...
Obviously, if you put both cars on a straight at Silverstone, the Civic's much more powerful engine will absolutely obliterate the Prelude. But what about a tight autocross track or a winding country lane? Speeds are physically capped around 60-70mph max, and you are constantly doing heavy braking down to ~20mph for tight hairpins. Under such conditions, the Prelude might just surprise you with how well it keeps up with the Civic.
Coming out of a harsh 20mph hairpin, the Civic driver in 2nd gear floors it, there's a physical delay. They have to wait for the exhaust gases to spool up their turbocharger and build RPM before the real power hits. In the Prelude almost all of its power is available immediately. There is no turbo to spool. The electric motor dumps its maximum torque into the wheels and by the time the Civic's turbo has finally woken up, the Prelude may have already leaped a car length ahead.
Then there is the case of the gears. On a slower track, a manual Type R is constantly caught in the awkward zone rowing up and down between 2nd, 3rd, and 4th gear. Every time you have to shift up to 3rd for a quick burst, and then downshift back into 2nd for the next bend, power delivery pauses, boost drops. Meanwhile, because the Prelude's engine isn't mechanically linked to the wheels under hard acceleration, there are zero mechanical gear shifts. There's just one continuous, uninterrupted wave of electric torque. You can focus 100% of your brain capacity on your braking points rather than gear selection.
Though of course, physics is still physics. The Type R will still stay ahead even outside of the power difference, it has stiffer suspension, a fancy LSD, and weighs less than the Prelude.
So, I think we should stop looking at the 184/200hp figure in a vacuum. In a straight line to 150mph, the Prelude will get stomped by your nan's hatchback. But between 0 and 60mph on tight roads, the Prelude's instant electric torque and uninterrupted power delivery make it seriously capable. And maybe it's just a coincidence, but outside of the motorway and city most roads you end up driving on in the real world happen to be exactly in that windy sub-70mph category...
