I am looking into buying one of 2 preludes: 1994 SI NON-VTEC, 83k miles 5-speed. vs. 2000 Base VTEC 96k miles Automatic. I love both of them, the '94 has several dents and they want 5290 for it. The 2000 is for 11995. The place where the 2000 is for sale offers financing and an additional 24k mile warranty on the car. I am just skeptical about buying an automatic because of performance reasons. So, which should I go with? Also I will have to try and trade in my 2004 Cavalier, and the only place that could do that is the place selling the 2000 Prelude. Thanks in advance.

 

If I were in your shoes, I'd get the 4th gen (1994), take the money you saved and get a JDM h22 and stuff it in and get the body stuff fixed. 4th gen preludes are dead sexy. If you are looking at the 5th gen from a small lot, that "Warranty" may not be worth a ****. Lots of those 3rd party warranties are garbage.

As for the trade in, you can probably do better selling your cavalier than you would in trade. Dealerships suck like that.

 

If you were to get a 5th gen don't go with the SS tranny. They seem to have a lot of trouble. I'd save the rest of the cash and get the 4th gen even though I favor 5th gens.

 

man, i hate to say neither, but...

you speak of performance as being an issue and that auto tranny of the 5th gen is a turn off for you, i'd agree, you shouldn't buy an auto when performance is your concern. but on the other hand, the 94 although with really low miles, it is a non-vtec and is dented up, so i couldn't really recommend that either.

my advice would be to see how much you can get for your chevy now, ballpark, and start looking at private sellers and other dealerships, better ludes are out there.

but if you are going to be impatient and waste money, i suggest getting the 4th gen, and with the extra cash you save, repair the body and swap in a vtec engine. you should still have some cash left over to mod it or rice it out.

 

automatic

4th gen manual

I will drive no sports car with no stick. yuck.

 

97+ Prelude autos are teh sux.

Get the 4th gen 5spd.


-NH

 

Dont get either! is you're lookin to drop ~11 grand you should EASLY be able to get 98'-00' with under 70k miles. I bought my 99 5-spd for $12,5 with 45k private sale like 4 months ago. If you have a little change to drop id highly suggest staying away from "these type of cars" with over 80k on them unless you have a decent eye and ear for sizing up mechanical and physical condition.

4th and 5th gen preludes that are 'good-buy's come few and far between (period). Whatever you do DONT be in a rush to find one. DO keep your eye literally several times daily on the several good used auto listing sites (autotrader.com ebay motors ect) and call about each prospective as it gets listed - if not you're garentieed to be the fifth person to call.

Hands down your best price will come from a private sale. Trust me allllllllll dealerships know how fast these cars go (one of the best cars that hold their value to buy) so expect to pay at lease a grand or two more that you could on a private sale.

I mean, anything you're going to buy is out of factory warrenty anyway and we all know thoes bullsht dealer extended warenties dont hold water - because its never the heavy duty stuff that breaks, it's the little pain in the *** junk thats not covered (trust me)... "But guy, i just bought this car and im getting a nasty valve tick, cant you hear it? - Sounds like its running fine to me punk, and btw did you actually read the fine print, look here it says..." You get the idea.

Deffinatly get a vtec, deffinatly get a 5 speed. Get a subscription at one of thoes vehicle history websites so you can run the VIN of each propective to check for insurance claims (from accident repairs). If the person selling you the car dosnt know that the 3rd last owner had it totaled, then they dont have to tell you if you ask them if any major work has ever been done.

Go through the entier freakin car, check all the accesories (radio, lights and blinkers, wipers,) look under, look on top. While your lookin at the car make sure its idling and warming up ok, make sure the coolant fan comes on, look and smell the oil. look for rust forming in all the standard honda areas (rear quarter pannel wheel well corner, around any trim) drive the car. maintance history.

Your best friend when checkin a car out is a compression gauge. It seems a little out the ordinary but i have never bought a car without testing the compression because its hands down the best way to tell the condition of the inside of the engine. Also jack the car up on each corner and make sure the wheels are tight tight and there isnt any loose bearings.

When you drive the car make sure vtec kicks in when it should, make sure it drives straight, coast in neutral at 45 and listen and feel for hums other than tire noise that fluctuates in and out - this is a sign of bad bearings, unbalanced tires or worse, bent rims or suspension problems. Also while coasting, snake side to side and check for these things again.

Lastly, plan on setting your search scope to at least 100-150 miles for a decent chance of finding something. I live in southern massachusetts and my quest took me to this god forsaken shi town in central new hamphsire but it was worth it. got me a nice 1 owner woman driven car in basicly tip top shape other than a few acorn dings (did i mention the sheet metal on these cars is very thin) and a complete maintance history and <U>leather</U>

good luck

 

Ill sell ya my 97 with 166k miles for $11k

 

Buy my 4gen. Definitely sexy and handles and performs like you wouldnt believe. And then you could say you owned the car that all Forbidden Motorsports products were designed on! Oooohhhhhh!!!

$7500

 

I really couldn't outright sale my car. I owe more than it is worth and I financed it through a Credit Union so they won't give up the title till the whole thing is payed off. So if anyone has any suggestions, let me have them. Also.. the damn 2000 Prelude would cost less on insurance than my Cavalier, by a good shot... I thought the Prelude would cost more.

 

I would buy it if i was him
Lookin good man

 

How many miles are on it?

 

I would consider it, but like I stated before. I have to figure out a way to sell my car and get what I need to pay it off. BTW, how many miles is on it? And what mods?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Fierdon &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I would consider it, but like I stated before. I have to figure out a way to sell my car and get what I need to pay it off. BTW, how many miles is on it? And what mods?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Call them and ask for a pay off balance on your loan. Sell the car for that amount or maybe a little more to cover other expenses.

 

I owe about $11,777. I doubt I would get that for it, even with the aftermarket cd player and speakers along with the security system I put in it. I think the blue book on it is 9k or so, maybe less.

Oh, and no offense 5th gen guys. But I like the look of the 4th gens way more... I just heard that the ATTS on the 5th gens make the car 'feel like' a RWD.


Modified by Fierdon at 1:28 PM 2/1/2005

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Fierdon &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I just heard that the ATTS on the 5th gens make the car 'feel like' a RWD.Modified by Fierdon at 1:28 PM 2/1/2005</TD></TR></TABLE>


you said the car you were looking at was a base 2000, so the ATTS would be an non issue for you.

 

I don't even think it is possible to sell my car for what I owe on it. BTW, no offense 5th gen guys, but I like the looks of the 4th gen better.

 

Another question. I was reading about the LSD in Preludes and someone mentioned that it came in the European and Japan ones but not the US ones. The 4th gen I was looking at was built in Japan (First letter of VIN is J) But were they talking about that, or just ANY Prelude in America is Non-LSD? Also, is there a way to tell by looking at the VIN? Thanks in advance.

 

I'm pretty sure there is no USDM prelude with LSD. You can tell by looking at the code on the transmission. It would say M2B4 if it was a JDM LSD 4th gen tranny.

 

I would actually have to look on the transmission? Or is there an RPO code of some sorts? Also, USDM means ANY Prelude that was sold in America? So even if it were made in Japan it could still be a USDM? I know that USDM means United States Domestic Market...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Fierdon &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I would actually have to look on the transmission? Or is there an RPO code of some sorts? Also, USDM means ANY Prelude that was sold in America? So even if it were made in Japan it could still be a USDM? I know that USDM means United States Domestic Market...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes, look at the tranny. That will tell you whether it's LSD or not.

 

Stupid question: How could I tell if it was LSD by looking at it? I have very few mechanical skills and I'm not sure what to even look for.