Alright, its really late and im to tired to search for these answers so I thought i'd shoot them out real quick. My girlfriends looking into selling her celica and buying a lude. so.. I was wondering whats the best year for these cars, she really likes the 97 style (not sure which years that runs) but shes also concerned about performance, she really wants to go the turbo route, so whats the best year in that respect.

2. Whats the difference between the SH and non-SH models?

 

SH in a nut shell has the ATTS system (do a search on this) which actively transfers torque to the outside wheel in a turn. It is a bit finicky and doesn't like huge jumps in power. If you're looking to turbo, get a base and get an LSD.

Best year? It's hard to tell right now since GReddy has been saying that their 2000-2001 ECU's are different than the rest. If you're planning to run a stand alone then it shouldn't matter. Otherwise, I'd probably have to say the '99 is probably the best model year that you can look for. It got rid of a lot of the little quirks, and Honda threw in a few more options.

 

Turbo'ing a prelude is not worth it. Best you could do is like VERY HIGH 13's. They are nice cars though. Way overpriced. Tell her to get an INTEGRA. She'll be alot more happier than if she had a PRELUDE. IMO

 

there he goes again. you're such a moron dude. shut up with the integra already.
what are you doing here anyway? this forum is for prelude ENTHUSIASTS, you're obviously not one of them so i suggest you leave before you get flamed when Todd or laughinXXX see this.

anyhoo, the best year performance wise would be 93-96 VTEC, 97-up are tite too, just a tad bit slower. SH is not worth the extra money over the base model plus its heavier. just think of it this way, for the price of a 97-98 prelude you can have a 94 VTEC prelude AND a turbo kit. something to think about...

 

haha...my girlfriend would take a lude over a integ anyday cuz ludes are more "cute" as most girls would put it, and has a decent amount of power. i wish i could of afforded a lude at the time. gotta think about weight lude weighs more, integs are hatchs, lude is much more spacious, integ you can do jdm front, lude you can get that nice pearl white...hahahah i dont know...its all up to your girl...btw 93 si vtec ludes are the fastest of that gen from what i hear...weird everyone hates 5th gen ludes, but i've grown to like them...anyways dont get SH...its worthless, heavier too. i rather do what that guy said, get base model, get a lsd, and you'll be set. btw...turbo on the motor isnt that reliable..on sh models.....when i get my h series motor, it'll be all motor!! sorry its so long

 

Honestly I don't know _that_ much about cars but I am going to try to give you my opinion since I own a '97 Prelude. The '97+ models all looks pretty much the same, and I don't think you get that much more preformance out of an SH other than the handling. They do have the same engine. The only two good things about a Prelude I would say, preformance wise, is that people think they are ***** cars so it's somewhat of a sleeper. The other thing is you can always drop the Jap ver. of the engine in for an extra 20HP. If you get a manual trans. you will also end up with an extra 5HP than the automatic. I know I have a lot of fun in mine because it has about an extra 40hp in it so it's 235hp instead of 195hp. I surprise a lot of people Turboing I have no idea... but does a girl really need that?

 

The SH and the base do not have the same performance. The SH handles better, but is generally slower in the 1/4 miles due to extra weight and drivetrain loss due to ATTS.

If you want to turbo a lude I would agree with a 94 VTEC. For the proce you can turbo it and still have money to rebuild it, or do it right the first time, plus you have an OBDI car which could save you some headaches down the road...

 

heheh...there goes satan vouching for the good old 4th gen.

But he's right; if speed is what you want in a Prelude, 4th Gen is the answer. Just like how you would get an SH if you wanted the best handling prelude. (although it has not been tested, I would say the Average SH lude would lose about .1sec to maybe .2sec to a normal 5th Gen lude.

Anyway, you'll notice that whenever a 'performance' thread opens up, people with inferior performing cars will always try to convince you that their car is better, so they will have more company to make themselves feel better. Notice that there are no ITR guys coming in here trying to convince people the ITR performs the best??

 

^^^^ Get an ITR! ^^^^

Well, honestly, if I had the chance to do this all over again, I would not have bought my prelude. After driving my friend's ITR this weekend at an autocross event...I'm simply awed by its performance. It's agile and fun to drive. Don't get me wrong, I like my prelude. As far as I'm concerned I can make my prelude just as good if not better when I get my quaife lsd in and do some interior stripping. No need to turbo the prelude...it's fast enough. Just learn to drive it.