Why You Should Consider Buying A 2001 Honda Prelude

The Honda That Gets No Love

The Honda Prelude always lived in the shadows of its two big brothers, the Accord and the Civic. More siblings came down the road that ultimately led to the death of the Prelude, but we’re not here to sob over the discontinuation of the Prelude.

We are here to talk about the last one that was ever made, the 2001 Honda Prelude. A car that went back in time and brought back the square body type but forgot the popup headlights.

A car that has its nose close to the ground and its rear up towards the sky. The car that people see drive by and have no idea what the hell they just saw. Let’s take a closer look at this bad boy and see why you should consider picking one up.

A Brief Overview Of The 2001 Honda Prelude

The fifth generation of the Honda Prelude was introduced towards the end of 1996. When they hit the market in 1997, Honda knew this generation would be the last of the Prelude.

Honda made the Honda Prelude to compete against the Toyota Celica and the Mitsubishi Eclipse. What’s funny is that Toyota owned the rights to the name “Prelude” and, in a friendly manner, was given to Honda to use against them.

The car in its final form had a typical Honda Accord-like interior which was plain but comfortable. Honda is all about the driving experience. That’s why we love them.

On the exterior, Honda did a good job with the design. They decided to go with some harder lines and give it that boxy style look, which was the complete opposite of what everyone was doing at the time. All while keeping the classic Prelude look.

What the 2001 Prelude hides under the hood is what makes this car so desirable. Especially for those looking at one as a first JDM project. It has a powerful and really reliable engine that is easy to work on.

The Prelude sold very well at the beginning, but sales began to decline towards the last generation, and in its final year, it sold a total of 10,000 cars. Honda ultimately killed the Prelude with its own weapons. All the hype was around the Accord, Civic, Integra, and the loved S2000.

That Classic Honda Look That Everyone Loves

The 2001 Prelude is a car that will get a lot of attention. Mainly because people have no idea what they’re looking at and because they’re not that common. It has that classic Honda look to it but stands out from the crowd.

The car’s front end features squarish headlights and a long front end that comes down at a slant toward the ground. The headlights look odd because they look like pop-up headlights that were just incorporated into the body, but that is one thing that makes this car so unique.

The rear end has that classic JDM look with the long rectangular taillights, the small wing, and what people love, the raised rear end. A weird thing about the 2001 model is that the Prelude emblems were stickers. They either peeled off on their own or were ripped off. That’s why almost all of them nowadays just have the Honda badge and nothing else, leaving people scratching their heads.

Preludes were known for their low front ends and raised rear ends. Honda did a great job at keeping that classic look with some modern touches. Everything on the exterior adds to the uniqueness of the fifth-generation Prelude. No other Honda at that time looked anything like it.

A Boring But Comfortable Interior

The car has a seating capacity of four, but it is a coupe, and like any coupe, you should just ignore the rear seats. Unless you’re a child, you will not be comfortable in those rear seats at all. Besides that, the car is spacious and comfortable for two people.

The 2001 Prelude’s interior is pretty plain and boring compared to the interior of a standard car nowadays. You will have all your standard features like power windows, cruise control, cd/radio player, climate control, and some nice sporty dashboard gauges. The old analog interior takes you back to when technology didn’t run our lives.

What Does The 2001 Honda Prelude Hide Under The Hood

This is what you’ve all been waiting for, the mystery under the hood. This fifth-gen Prelude is FWD and has an H22A4 engine. The H22A4 is a 2.2 L DOHC VTEC 4-cylinder engine that puts out 200 horsepower and 156 lb-ft of torque.

It is a reliable engine, but many try to avoid going too crazy when messing with the engine. Mainly because it gets quite expensive and will most likely cause the engine to give out sooner than anticipated. Usually, when these engines give out, most Prelude owners either rebuild or just swap it out, both equally expensive.

The 2001 Honda Prelude has either an automatic or five-speed manual transmission. Japanese automatics from the 90s and early 2000s all had shitty transmissions and would almost always give out. I always suggest staying away from the automatics. Plus, driving a 5-speed manual makes the Prelude a blast to drive.

Almost Impossible To Find One That Hasn’t Been Touched

Nowadays, it is very difficult to purchase an older car without one of the previous owners modifying something on the car. Especially a Honda. There is nothing wrong with it, but since these cars are rare, it sucks to see fewer stock Preludes on the road today.

The fifth-generation Honda Prelude only sold 58,000 cars from 1997 to 2001. Out of those 58,000, only 10,000 were 2001 models. This makes the 2001 Honda Prelude a very rare site to see out on the street.

The price that these gems are going for is a little surprising to me. I’ve seen a few on the market for more than $13,000 in excellent condition and the rougher ones for around $5,000. They will probably continue to go up in value because more and more people are starting to appreciate them.

If you’re driving around in your 2001 Prelude, people will either approach you fangirling or ask you wtf it is. It’s not the most popular or the fastest Japanese car of the time but no matter what, it will get people’s attention and put a smile on your face.

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