New Honda Prelude 2025 review: a treat to look at and a thrill to drive

Verdict 

The coupe segment doesn’t attract the level of demand it once did, and we think that’s a huge shame. We’re glad to see Honda making a return, and the new Prelude ticks so many of the coupe boxes; eye-catching looks, superb handling, and just enough practicality to make it easy to live with every day. However, the hybrid powertrain takes the shine off what could otherwise have been a superb, relatively attainable performance car. If you’re in the market for a BMW 220i, however, we’d still suggest holding off on that order until you try the Honda Prelude.

It’s been 25 years since Honda last produced a Prelude. Back in the late nineties and early 2000s, stylish yet attainable coupes from mainstream brands were all the rage. As well as the Prelude, you could choose from a Vauxhall Calibra, Fiat Coupé, the beautiful Peugeot 406 Coupe, or you could head a little more upmarket to something like an Alfa Romeo GTV, Volvo C70 or BMW 3 Series Coupé.  

Of those brands, only one of them offers a two-door options today: BMW. Indeed, now there’s two, thanks to the 2 Series Coupe alongside the spiritual successor to the 3 Series, the 4 Series. 

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But, after two-and-a-half long decades, Honda has returned to the segment. Given the market has shrunk so much since its heyday, Honda has set modest targets for the new car: an aim of 400 UK cars in the first year, followed by 500 in 2027 – comfortably fewer than the number of 2 Series that BMW shifts each year. 

We don’t see Honda having trouble selling that many, simply on looks alone. The Prelude’s sleek, futuristic shape looks fantastic in the metal; enough to turn heads in many of the poshest parts of our Cote D’Azur test route, even in the muted grey finish of our test car.

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Inside, things are a little more sensible. The dashboard design largely mimics that of the Honda Civic, which means that the ergonomics are pretty much flawless. Unusually, Honda has seen fit to use two different front seats, with the driver’s seat getting more side bolstering than the softer passenger one. If we’re nitpicking, we’d like the driver’s seat to adjust a little lower, though. There are smart-feeling materials on the dashboard, including blue Prelude lettering stitched onto the passenger side, while two colourways – one blue with white highlights, the other blue with black accents, perk things up a little.

While the Prelude has four seats, the back two are hampered by that dramatic roofline. As a result, they’re only suited to children, or for folding down flat and using for extra boot space. A BMW 2 Series is much more roomy for passengers.

But practicality is far from the most important thing about a sporty coupé – it’s the way it drives and makes you feel that matters the most. And here’s where the Prelude gets really interesting, for better and for worse. Earlier Prelude models were famed for pioneering mechanical four-wheel steering on a mass produced production car. While there’s no rear-axle assistance on this latest model, there’s plenty of clever chassis tech beneath the skin.

The cabin similarities are a dead giveaway that the Prelude is based on the Civic – a car that drives pretty sweetly in its own right. It’s even better in Type R form, which is why Honda has lifted some of the clever chassis features of its hot hatch and applied them to the Prelude. This includes the Dual Axis front suspension design, designed to eliminate the torque steer that corrupts the steering feedback in so many high performance front-wheel-drive cars, but also increases negative camber on the outside wheels when cornering. At the rear, there’s a multi-link setup. Adaptive dampers are standard, and they’re set up to be a little more compliant than the Civic Type R system. Honda’s Agile Handling Assist – already used on the standard Civic, but tuned to be more responsive here – brakes individual wheels when cornering to improve agility.

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On fast roads, it’s clear that borrowing from the Type R has paid off hugely – in terms of both ride and handling, the Prelude really hits the spot. The balance is wonderfully neutral for a front-wheel-drive car. When pushing it on the glorious twisting roads of the Route Napoléon, prolonged switchback bends felt completely approachable, while lifting gently when the front tyres could offer no more neatly tucked the nose back in line. Combined with minimal body roll and responsive changes of direction, it’s a lot of fun. It’s helped by steering which, though not loaded with feedback, is precise, well-weighted, and feels perfectly matched to the suspension. 

While we’ll give a more definitive answer on ride comfort once we get it on UK roads, first impressions suggest it’s spot on, too; slightly firmer than the standard Civic, but more supple than the Type R. The Brembo brakes felt confidence inspiring, too, with the additional assistance of regenerative braking. 

That latter element is something unfamiliar to Civic Type R owners and that’s because, as much as we’d like to see that car’s 2.0-litre turbo in the Prelude, it instead borrows the e:HEV hybrid powertrain from the standard Civic. 

It takes the form of a naturally aspirated 2.0-litre petrol engine, which rarely drives the wheels itself. For the most part, it sends energy, via an inverter and a 1.1kWh battery, to an electric motor making 181bhp and 315Nm. 

Those figures are identical to the Civic’s, but some software tweaks are designed to make it feel a little more involved for a keen driver. A big part of this is what Honda calls S-Shift, which changes the display of the 10.2-inch digital dials to present a rev counter and, confusingly for a car without a traditional gearbox, a gear indicator. That’s because Honda has engineered in artificially stepped ratios into the motor’s mapping, giving the driver an impression of shifting gears themselves via steering wheel-mounted paddles. Downshifts introduce a little throttle blip, and a little extra step of motor regeneration, to give the feel of engine braking. 

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Honda was at pains during our press briefing to say that this power output is fine for a sports coupe; that the response of the electric motor makes it feel similar to a petrol car with 250bhp. But in reality, it’s a system which is fine for a family hatch, but, even with its changes, just doesn’t feel that exciting in a coupe. 

It’s true that the electric motor gives excellent initial response. It pulls away from low speeds and out of tight corners with plenty of enthusiasm – certainly sufficient to make the claimed 8.2-second 0-62mph time feel conservative. But beyond that initial burst, it all goes a bit flat. Enter S+ Shift mode, and you get a little kick in the back with each full-bore upshift, but that’s as dramatic as it gets. More annoyingly, there’s no way to hold the car in your chosen “gear” for more than a few seconds until it switches back into full hybrid mode again. The electric motor is never quite able to generate enough regen to make it feel like you’re getting as much engine braking as you’d hope for either. 

Honda, of all manufacturers, knows how to build a powertrain with character. Its hot hatches became famous for needing lots of revs to get the best out of them, creating a screaming powertrain which actively encouraged you to hit 8,500rpm before even thinking about the next upshift. The Prelude’s powertrain is the exact opposite – all the power arrives instantly, and it soon turns anticlimactic from there. 

There is a saving grace for the Prelude, however, and that’s where it’s pitched in the market. Priced from £40,995, it’s going up against the BMW 220i Coupe. So rather than an out-and-out driver’s car - it’s aiming for a two-door with a reasonable turn of speed which is very pleasant to live with. 

By that measure, the Prelude is right on the money. Even so, we can’t help but think that when the first UK buyers take delivery in March 2026, they’re going to feel like it could have been even better with something more inspiring under the bonnet. The Civic Type R’s 2.0-litre turbo would do very nicely.

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