YouTuber Shows off Rad-era 2001 Honda Prelude Si
The Car Wizard purchases one of his all-time dream cars in the form of a remarkably original 2001 Honda Prelude Si coupe.
Like most experienced automotive techs, David Long A.K.A. Car Wizard (of Hoovies Garage fame) has owned a lot of cars over the years. But one car he hasn’t owned is a red Japanese sports car. He recently rectified that situation with the purchase of a pretty sweet 2001 Honda Prelude Si with a scant 134,000 miles on the odometer. Not only is it a rare Si version but it’s also the last year that the Prelude was produced.
Long says the Honda was repainted at one point, but that it was done to a high standard. Overall the car is amazingly solid shape mechanically as well as cosmetically. “There’s no check engine light,” he marvels at this 20-year old Japanese classic. “There’s no ABS light. There are no serious issues with this car. It just needs a set of tires and a few other things.”
Long’s favorite aspect of the 5th-gen Prelude is the rakish front end styling. “It almost looks exotic to me. It looks really, really cool. They designed it very well.” The rear of the coupe is missing the factory badging, which may have been left off when the car was repainted. But that’s a relatively minor issue, since the emblems are readily available. Long admits that the Prelude’s slushbox is not as desirable as the rarer manual-equipped models. “But when I saw how nice this car was I just couldn’t let it go.”
“What I really like about it is it has the stock radio,” says Long. That’s right. Somehow, the Prelude still sports its cutting edge for the time Acoustic Feedback System. Whatever that means. “So many of these Hondas of this year, whether they be Civics or Accords or Preludes, they’ve just become completely just riced-out,” says Long. He’s not wrong. “But this one’s stock, just like the day it left the factory.”
When Long pops the car up on the lift, he finds an underside nearly as clean as the rest of it. The front brakes need some work. Other than that though the car still even sports its original muffler and catalytic converter. “It’s not all rusted out. It’s not been wrecked,” he says.
“This thing revs to almost 8,000-rpm. It just screams. It’s almost like a Ferrari redline. It’s crazy,” he says. “And it’s really fun to drive, especially when you get the RPMs up there. It just sounds amazing.” Long also asks his audience for suggestions on what he should do with the Prelude. The comments range from leaving it completely stock to of course swapping out that auto-tragic for a manual. That would no doubt make the Honda more fun to drive. But it would also mean this remarkable original car would no longer be so original. Whatever he decides to do with it, Long, aka The Car Wizard, has what is a pretty rare specimen of a Honda that is approaching classic status.