New Honda Prelude prototype review: sporty, stylish and fun

Verdict

If you’re looking for a successor to the Civic Type R, the Prelude isn’t it. Nor is Honda claiming it to be though. Think of a two-door Civic with a more communicative chassis and you’re in the right ball park. There’s much to like about the new Prelude; it looks good, has the Civic’s classy cabin, and during our first short drive, it handled well too. Hopefully it can defy customer tastes and bring success to the two-door coupe market.

Honda Prelude is a name we’ve not seen on a new car in the UK since 2001. Unlike some other brands that have resurrected famous model names in recent memory, Honda is largely sticking to the same formula for its all-new Prelude two-door coupe.  

We expect to see the Honda Prelude return in the first half of 2026, entering a rather depleted coupe market that’ll include the BMW 2 Series and precious little else. Despite the sleek, sporty design and the platform being shared with the Honda Civic, don’t go thinking this is some sort of replacement for the Civic Type R - which is bowing out this year with the recently-announced Ultimate Edition. 

While the new Prelude was drawing the crowds at Goodwood’s Festival of Speed, we managed to sneak away to Thruxton circuit to drive the very same car that had been taking on Goodwood’s hillclimb over the weekend. 

A few steady laps gave us our first taste of Honda’s new coupe. The car we tested might still be a pre-production model, but we were assured it was 99 per cent reflective of the car that’ll be available in showrooms next year.

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Honda has been particularly secretive about the Prelude’s technical make up, but during our session we did find out a bit more. Firstly, the powertrain. It’s based on the same 2.0-litre Atkinson-cycle engine with hybrid system found in the Honda Civic but it comes with some notable tweaks. 

Like in the Civic, the driven wheels are connected to an electric motor with the petrol engine generating power for the battery. The Civic’s e-CVT gearbox simulates gearshifts, but to deliver a more traditional and connected driving experience, the Prelude has an ‘S+Shift’ mode that lets you choose one of eight virtual gears manually.

Yes, the car might have a petrol engine but the gears are still virtual - a single fixed-gear ratio is divided up into the eight settings by various pulleys and a lock-up clutch. It means that in ‘eighth gear’ the wheels are driven by the engine. On the way up to that point you can use the steering wheel-mounted paddles to basically raise and lower the rpm of that 2.0-litre as though you're changing gear but drive still comes from the electric motors. The maximum engine speed is set at 6,000rpm. 

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Heading out on to Thruxton after a few very helpful sighting laps in the current-generation Civic did amplify the changes made to the Prelude’s powertrain. Setting off in Sport mode (GT and Comfort are the other two settings), we switched the S+Shift system on and immediately, the shifts felt quick and natural, but also smooth. That smoothness shouldn’t be too much of a surprise (especially given Honda’s continual reminders that the Prelude is inspired by a glider) given the lack of mechanical gear changes taking place on the upshifts or downshifts. 

There’s still enough in the Prelude’s engine sound, which is amplified in the cabin via speakers, to notify you which gear you’re in and how hard the powertrain is working. The naturally-aspirated 2.0-litre isn’t the most vocal unit Honda has produced but in combination with the simulated gear shifts it succeeds in its brief of creating a level of communication with the driver and letting you know how fast you're going. 

The steering is also altered depending on the drive mode, but to us it felt a little light no matter which one we were in. We’d presume the Prelude would have a more sporting nature compared to the Civic so some extra adjustability in steering weight would be a bonus. The braking was a similar story with strong overall performance and decent pedal feel considering the brake regeneration system - similar to the Civic’s.

What felt different to the Civic immediately was the Prelude’s cornering stability. The coupe might have a slightly shorter wheelbase than its four-door cousin, but there’s a wider track and wider tyres to promote grip. The Prelude also gets the Civic Type R’s suspension hardware.

According to Honda's project leader for the Prelude, Tomoyuki Yamagami, the Prelude’s suspension is set up to be softer than the Type R’s with the springs and anti-roll bar more comfort-focused. While there are three damping modes, the overall result is something between the regular Civic and the Type R, with body roll kept in check throughout Thruxton’s many high-speed corners. The extra stability didn’t feel like it came at the expense of ride comfort - though this is something we’ll decide later this year when we test the Prelude on public roads. 

Yamagami also revealed the Prelude’s kerbweight is expected to sit around the 1,450kg mark - making it roughly the same weight as the hybrid Civic. He also told us that the electric motor’s output is expected to be pretty much identical to the 181bhp Civic. During our drive we didn’t feel like the Prelude was any quicker in a straight line so expect a 0-62mph time not far off the Civic’s 7.9 seconds.

Pricing for the Prelude hasn’t been announced yet, though we’ll get a better idea when it goes on sale in Japan in September. If the current Civic is anything to go by (now starting from just over £35k), we’d hazard a guess that the Prelude may sit just above the £40,000 mark. 

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