Alrighty guys, I'm curious as to what made you buy your 'Lude?
Describe your car, why you bought it, and how much you love/hate it!

 

i wanted a japanese coupe for reasons of craftmanship and reliability. so my choices were prelude, celica, and eclipse. i bought the prelude because i like how it looks and thats pretty much it. i like the long hood, low roof, wide body, and that it doesnt have creases and grooves like the celica. the 5th gen looks very clean. plus the rave reviews of how it was the best handling fwd car and that it wasnt too noisy. i really couldnt care too much about performance. i think the only thing the 5th gen needs is a mugen body kit to give the bottom part of the car a thicker look. and a 1 inch drop to close the wheel gap a bit. and 17 wheels that stick out a bit farther than the stock ones. after these 3 things are done i think the car looks perfect.


[Modified by risin, 2:04 PM 7/30/2001]

 

It's a long read but here you go
http://www.alltel.net/~gg95948/why.htm

More than you ever wanted to know about why I got a prelude.

Gabe

 

Always been a Honda-nut for some reason. Had three of em (always customized in some manner, some more than others) prior to my 01 Lude S. 88 Accord, 91 CRX Si-Built, 97 Honda Accord... Some stroke of idocy hit me (I was living briefly in the Northeast, which may have affected my rational decision-making skills) and I traded in my perfectly sweet, great milage, good-looking, almost paid-for 1997 Honda Accord EX for a 1997 Eddie Bauer Ford Expedition. What an idiot I was!!!!!!! F*CKING DUH! The Expedition was fun to drive for about a month, but basically a boring and expensive car after... I was spending over $350/mo on gas and I wasn't driving all that much. I loved the fact that when you punched the Ex up a hill with the gas floored the on-the-fly milage readout would read "1 MPG"... I used to show friends to get a rise out of them.

When the dust settled I took that Ex to a Honda dealer and Leased my lude. I did research and tried to find one near me, but no dealers had any Ludes in Connecticut! Did eventually find one though... I knew I wanted a Honda and I didn't want a civic or accord, so the prelude was the obvious choice... When I found out about the sport-shift auto, I was sold. I did get screwed on the whole deal because of that fu**ing Expedition. Cost me $7k in equity all together stripped right from my Accord. Bought it right before the gas crunch, sold it in the midst and Honda basically bent me over and gave me a nice once over on the trade. "Uh sir, this car isn't really worth much right now, because their's an abundance and no demand"... Yeah, yeah, yeah alright... so I'm getting a raw deal, but a sweet car... it was worth it.

I do love my lude (with the exception of some funny quirks-auto tranny doesn't shift sometimes-shock/knock-etc.)... and was happy to get it out of the Northeast... just one friggin winter destroys your car for the most part in snow country...

One drawback is my $422/mo/36 mo payment... but what do expect with 0 down.

Anywho.. Hope it was of some entertainment value...


[Modified by Mikeys2001Lude, 10:45 PM 7/30/2001]

 

Gabe, do you gotta write a novel about your experience ?

I got the Prelude partly because I had a 3rd gen Prelude Si for 8 years. With only a nose bra as my "aftermarket mod", nevertheless, I enjoyed the car very much. It may not have alot of power, but it handled great in the twisties, great for cruising, and looked very cool. I went from that car to a Mazda 626 ES, and for a year, I was miserable. I was actually looking at the 5th gen while I still had my 3rd gen, but couldn't afford it at the time. So, after about a year, I traded it in for a 5th gen. At that time, I did look around at other cars (Eclipse GSX, Galant V6, Acura Integra GS-R, Honda CR-V, Honda Accord V6...the new Celica wasn't around for another year), but I missed the Prelude. I didn't consider the Camaro, Firebird, or Mustang, because for all their power advantages, all three cars felt "common" to me, not to mention their reliability issues, high insurance rates, and low resale value.

Even after two years, I love my car just as much now as I did when I first bought it. It has all the qualities my 'ol 3rd gen had, and more. Even though it's being discontinued, and is being eclipsed by newer cars, it still has a fresh look (not to mention glances from passers by ), can hold it's own against the "newbies", and has potential to be a better car with the right aftermarket parts, or can look good bone stock. Anyways, that's my novel !

-James

 

Good stories guys...

My quick one:

fell in love with the 3rd gen way back when... didn't like the 4th's to begin with, but fell BACK in love with the 5th. I started doing my research and noticed that the 4th gen just had a more unique look to it, and wasn't as square. I started to like it a little more as I discovered the interior, and that the 4th gen VTEC just plain outran every other year VTEC.

I started my planning, and searched for 2 years to find the perfect candidate. Russ told me about one, and I test drove it, beautiful car, and the most powerful Prelude I'd been in. I fell in love. Went back the next day with a check.

That's my story guys, I've been in love since.

 

I had been eyeing them for a while & when I totaled my last car figured "here's my chance". I loved it from the very beginning of the test drive. (without salesman). Sorry. . . I'm getting a little teary eyed here.

 

Getting my Prelude was pretty much a big suprise and maybe it was meant to be

My first car, a 94 Integra LS sedan automatic got me into the scene and I found all my time on the internet started consisting of these message boards and heavy research about Integras...very interesting. Then one day a co-worker with an Integra LS 5-speed took me for a ride in his car. I then learned how much faster having a manual tranny was. I was literally blown away at how much faster it was than my auto. So I realized that I needed to get a new car....and modding my automatic LS would be ABSOLUTELY POINTLESS and it is (to those auto LS readers out there!). So I made it my goal to get an Integra 5-speed. My heart was set on a 94 or 95 OBDI GSR coupe, preferrably white. I had EVERYTHING planned out for this car, months or research and all that...but I couldn't find the right one...I occassionally kept an eye out for VTEC Preludes but they were so rare I pretty much never considered it....Well one day as I was searching for new ads on Yahoo! Auto Classifieds a 95 Prelude VTEC with good miles popped up and I about **** my pants...I had just caught the ad, probably the first day it was up. I immediately went to go look at it....fell in love and got it that day!

 

I got my 88 si in 91 , becouse affter dropping out of college , it was the fastest/nicest car i could afforde. I payed it foo years ago and have used it for a daly driver since then. In PA , our winters are some of the worst in the country , and I have driven through storm that had snow fall that was higher then the hood of the car (go slow , dont pannick , and what ever you do dont stick your head out the window or frost-bite may clame some of your face). I have had unspeeckable advenchers with that car , in fact my son was conseaved out of her sunroof. now that I have the time and money I'm restoring her body , and getting ready for a to build up the B20A5 motor with some sort of forced induction , (much cheeper then a swap). although all she has now is some simple bolt-on's , for her age , and how badly I've beetten her over the years she still runs hard.

 

She was the first car I ever felt vtec in. I love her outstanding beauty and the fact that she is what they call a "chick magnet". Anybody with a 5th gen will agree. I do wish she was a five speed but I am very curious to know how she will perform with a built transmission. I also love the way she holds me in front of the instruments. Not as high as the teg and civic feel but the more sports car placement. And you gotta love the cushioned luggage rack! She is also a Consumers Guide Best Buy!!

 

I bought my car because of a 50mph corner.....if it wasnt for that corner, i probably wouldnt of bought the car....

2 months down the track....I was happy with the decision...

2 years down the track...even happier

 

got one cuz it is quiet, quick, fast, low to the ground, has NO ANTENNA, NO ANTENNA, looks like no other car on the road right now, will age gracefully, it will never look old...design lines are so simple and to the point that getting old is not a possibility...handles well enough to keep up with a porsche boxster, boxster S and lower 911 models...it is basically a two seater...doesn't rattle doesn't look ugly.

only problem is that they didn't give it the power it deserves oh and the fact that it loves high revs, it can be fun during a track race but in normal driving i don't like going to high revs...

 

I bought mine cause I owned 4 other 4g VTEC's in the past and loved em' so I wanted to try out the new 5g Prelude...plus I got a killer deal on mine a 97 Prelude w/46k for only $10,000, which I bought CASH! If i ever plan to part with my lude., I think it's gonna be time to buy an NSX this dec 01'!


Loving the lude..
vnt