The Honda Prelude has stuck close to its roots, unlike the Ford Capri

After attending the launch of the new Honda Prelude in the UK, perhaps the biggest thing that has stayed with me (other than the airfix-style scale model of the car itself) was a remark made by one of the brand’s spokespeople.

Amid cries from car enthusiasts that the new Prelude should have instead been a true focused driver’s car a la the Honda Civic Type R, the to-remain-unnamed Honda employee told me: “People should be careful what they wish for. It could have been a *cough cough* Ford Capri scenario.”

And that got me thinking: should we, as those with passion for cars, be pleased that not only has a legacy nameplate been revived, but that the end product also aligns pretty closely with the spirit of the original? The Prelude was never a white-knuckle driver’s car at heart – admittedly there were a handful of performance models such as the Type SH – so faithfully bringing it back into a market where buyer interest in comfy coupes is nearly non-existent is a rather bold move.

This being the case, it’s perhaps no surprise that Ford made the decision to reuse the beloved Capri and Puma nameplates for something with a more fashionable and profitable bodystyle. While I would love to have seen a hybrid V6-powered Capri coupe hit the market as much as the next person, I do think the criticism is unfair. Such a car may have made enthusiasts inordinately happy but would never have sold in great numbers. 

The Ford Capri SUV we got in reality is attractive, good to drive and will almost certainly resonate better with contemporary car buyers than an impractical and expensive coupe. That said, with designers gagging to point out how the fake metal spoke on the steering wheel is reminiscent of the old-school Capri, it's evident that this SUV bears very little resemblance to the original.

So this brings us back to the Honda Prelude, which will be limited to 400 cars in its first year in the UK, rising to 500 cars in 2027. It remains to be seen whether Honda will even sell this many; only around 18,000 coupes were registered in the UK last year, of which just 2,000 were the Prelude's biggest rival: the BMW 2 Series. With both cars costing around £40,000, I sadly doubt whether people would be willing to fork out BMW money for what is effectively a front-wheel drive, two-door Honda Civic with a sleeker overcoat.

I hope they do, though, as the success of the Prelude, alongside other newly-reborn models like the Renault 5, might convince other manufacturers to take risks and delve into their archives in order to sympathetically revive their greatest achievements for the 21st century. With how desperately frightening the world is right now, some gentle nostalgia to bring us back to a simpler time feels like just what’s needed. Just slapping a historic name on any old car then calling it a day simply won’t scratch that itch.

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