What's your biggest gripe with the prelude?

[mrpopins1]

After owning it for a while, I love my prelude, I even bought a second one after someone crashed into me and it was a total loss. But I was wondering what are your gripes with the prelude. For me:
1. Non electric seats or the lever in the back of the seat not sliding the seat forward (I have a Mini and the mini does slide forward)
2. When I wash the car, the door sills keep a lot of water and soap.
3. The wipers are mid
4. It's so easy to stain the door with my shoe >_<

 

[Alfettaman47]

I don't mind the manually adjusted seats but I agree with you that it would be good if the front seats slid forwards when you tip them - and if they then went back to their original position.

My only other gripe so far is the 'overspeed warning' system. On UK Preludes, it uses traffic sign recognition to read the speed limit and then beeps annoyingly if you go one mph faster. In theory, that's ok but the speed limit signs are sometimes misread or missed completely - leaving you driving at 50mph in a 60mph limit, but with a constant beeping noise and a flashing '30 mph' sign on the dashboard.

You can switch the traffic sign recognition off, but it turns itself back on every time you start the car...

 

[GoZoner6]

In the US there is no over-speed beeping; instead just the small speed limit icon flashes on the dash display. But, there is a setting to set the threshold for the flashing - +0, +3 or +10 over the speed limit. No such setting for UK cars?

 

[Alfettaman47]

In the US there is no over-speed beeping; instead just the small speed limit icon flashes on the dash display. But, there is a setting to set the threshold for the flashing - +0, +3 or +10 over the speed limit. No such setting for UK cars?

That sounds a lot more sensible! No, on the UK cars the only option is to switch off the traffic sign recognition system completely - which means no beeping, but also no speed limit icon on the dashboard. And it switches itself back on again next time you start the car...

 

[mrpopins1]

I'm scared of the draconian face recognition + speed systems UK mandates

 

[Alfettaman47]

I'm scared of the draconian face recognition + speed systems UK mandates

It does feel a bit 'big-brother-is-watching-you', but at least it can all be switched off. The daft thing is that this is an EU regulation that applies to all new cars sold in Europe from July 2024 onwards and was never enacted in the UK, which has left the European Union. But it seems like we get it anyway...

I worry that some future legislation will require these kinds of features to be permanently engaged - although that would only apply to new vehicles.

 

[Alex_Waverley26]

I don't mind the manually adjusted seats but I agree with you that it would be good if the front seats slid forwards when you tip them - and if they then went back to their original position.

My only other gripe so far is the 'overspeed warning' system. On UK Preludes, it uses traffic sign recognition to read the speed limit and then beeps annoyingly if you go one mph faster. In theory, that's ok but the speed limit signs are sometimes misread or missed completely - leaving you driving at 50mph in a 60mph limit, but with a constant beeping noise and a flashing '30 mph' sign on the dashboard.

You can switch the traffic sign recognition off, but it turns itself back on every time you start the car...

Honda uses CAN bus so it should be relatively easy to read the code for the alert system and make a gizmo that sets it to its last known state each time the car is started. There is an Autostop Eliminator for sale here in the US that does that for auto start/stop systems. I have one on my Outback and it works like a charm.

There is also a unit called Idlestopper that is made for the non-hybrid Honda and Acura models so they are reading the Honda CAN bus codes. It should be possible to reverse-engineer one to deal with the speed warning.

 

[Jusbs54915]

I would like it if it would stay in the 'gear' I have selected, instead of upshifting me 5 seconds later...

 

[CiceroGirl]

I am the only one driving my car so other than the rare occasion when I take it to a car wash service or I need to get into the back seat, the front seat doesn’t need to be re-adjusted, so I don’t mind the manual seat adjustment. (It also reminds me of my 1999 Prelude, so that’s kind of nostalgic…)

What annoys me is the manual liftback. If I go to Walmart for a pick up order, I either have to explain to the person how to open it (you wouldn’t think it would be that confusing, but no one has ever seen this car before…) and then ask them to close it manually OR I have to get out and open it myself before they come out (but then they ASSUME it is electric and they don’t need to close it… so sometimes even when I ask them to close it, they don’t).

I also STILL hate the way the rear seats look. I have been just leaving the dog car seat cover on to hide them, but leaving that on when the dog isn’t even using the back seat just clutters things up…

 

[Christaltips1]

I agree with the manual seats not returning to their position after going in the back and not sliding forward. Annoyingly but I can live with it.
My other gripe may sound petty, but I don't stream music, I have it on a USB. I also have an android phone. In the UK there is only one data transfer port (the other being charge), and its impossible to listen to my music and run Google maps through android auto at the same time. My previous Mazda and Peugeot had similar ports, but I never had this problem with them! Since I listen to my music mostly on longer journeys when needing googlemaps, this is incredibly frustrating. Looks like I might need to buy a new phone with more storage and put all my music on there! An expensive solution!

 

[Alex_Waverley26]

I agree with the manual seats not returning to their position after going in the back and not sliding forward. Annoyingly but I can live with it.
My other gripe may sound petty, but I don't stream music, I have it on a USB. I also have an android phone. In the UK there is only one data transfer port (the other being charge), and its impossible to listen to my music and run Google maps through android auto at the same time. My previous Mazda and Peugeot had similar ports, but I never had this problem with them! Since I listen to my music mostly on longer journeys when needing googlemaps, this is incredibly frustrating. Looks like I might need to buy a new phone with more storage and put all my music on there! An expensive solution!

Most phone have a slot for a microSD card alongside the SIM card.

 

[Alfettaman47]

Most phone have a slot for a microSD card alongside the SIM card.

Also, don't forget that there's a hack that allows Android Auto to run wirelessly in your Prelude . Like you, I have an Android phone and this works perfectly for me...

Thread 'Hidden menu to allow wireless Apple Car / Android Auto'

Mar 31, 2026

Press and keep home, then the round Audio switch on button, then back track and you can enter in the hidden menu to allow wireless mobile connection if your mobile is compatible. Thanks to Italian FB group!

• BlueTiger
• Replies: 0
• Forum: 2026 Honda Prelude Talk 💬

• 

 

[Christaltips1]

Most phone have a slot for a microSD card alongside the SIM card.

Mine doesn't unfortunately. I think a lot of Samsung S models don't

 

[Christaltips1]

Also, don't forget that there's a hack that allows Android Auto to run wirelessly in your Prelude . Like you, I have an Android phone and this works perfectly for me...

Thread 'Hidden menu to allow wireless Apple Car / Android Auto'

Mar 31, 2026

Press and keep home, then the round Audio switch on button, then back track and you can enter in the hidden menu to allow wireless mobile connection if your mobile is compatible. Thanks to Italian FB group!

• BlueTiger
• Replies: 0
• Forum: 2026 Honda Prelude Talk 💬

• 

Thanks, I'll give this a try

 

[GoZoner6]

I agree with the manual seats not returning to their position after going in the back and not sliding forward. Annoyingly but I can live with it.
My other gripe may sound petty, but I don't stream music, I have it on a USB. I also have an android phone. In the UK there is only one data transfer port (the other being charge), and its impossible to listen to my music and run Google maps through android auto at the same time. My previous Mazda and Peugeot had similar ports, but I never had this problem with them! Since I listen to my music mostly on longer journeys when needing googlemaps, this is incredibly frustrating. Looks like I might need to buy a new phone with more storage and put all my music on there! An expensive solution!

This might not apply as you said you are running Google Maps on your phone, instead of on the built-in system... but I use Apple CarPlay and the very first thing I did to my Prelude was to disable+discard all of the Google Apps (and Alexa too) and disabled the built-in voice recognition and commanding (so I can't say 'set the temperature to 68' - I just turn the knob). End result - I use my phone for everything (and live w/o commanding the temperature).

Maybe your phone is back-dooring to the built in Google Maps and that is causing the problem?

 

[Christaltips1]

This might not apply as you said you are running Google Maps on your phone, instead of on the built-in system... but I use Apple CarPlay and the very first thing I did to my Prelude was to disable+discard all of the Google Apps (and Alexa too) and disabled the built-in voice recognition and commanding (so I can't say 'set the temperature to 68' - I just turn the knob). End result - I use my phone for everything (and live w/o commanding the temperature).

Maybe your phone is back-dooring to the built in Google Maps and that is causing the problem?

The UK Prelude doesn't have any built in google apps, so the built in navigation system isn't gooflemaps

 

[Alfettaman47]

Getting back to the OP's question, I find the indicator 'click' to be a bit too quiet. A couple of times, I've forgotten to cancel them...

I know, it's a very minor gripe!

 

[Spunjer2]

Rain.

After it rain, and i open trunk, water gets in.

 

[Kguy5]

No tire pressure display, I've gotten lazy. I just assumed it had one, but no. Back to manual psi checks. Or, am I missing it? Checked the manual, went though settings....nothing.

 

[Alex_Waverley26]

No tire pressure display, I've gotten lazy. I just assumed it had one, but no. Back to manual psi checks. Or, am I missing it? Checked the manual, went though settings....nothing.

There is a warning indicator but no pressure readout for each tire.