1984 Prelude - Japanese Knight Rider! (Honda Prelude (1997 on))

Member Name: r_welfare

Product:	Honda Prelude (1997 on)
Date:	30/06/02 (3187 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Rapid, reliable, quite stylish really

Disadvantages: hard to sell, can get rusty, insurance can be pricey

Okay - this is a review for a 1984 Prelude, and it is in the Dooyoo section for 1997-onwards models. Well, I couldn't find the right section to put it in, and I noticed someone else had done the same thing.

Plus, I felt moved to write a review on what was possibly my favourite car, so far (plus I've written reviews for all the others!)

This car came about as a result of a lifestyle change, i.e. as a single 21 year old I felt faintly ridiculous driving around in a Nissan Bluebird. That is not to denigrate that fine car, however. So, I decided sporty was the way to go.

A word of warning though - if you are of tender age, as I was then (some three years ago), Mr Insurance Broker will be rubbing his hands with glee, thinking "his premium will pay for my new Jag!". A flick through Parker's Guide brings up the following insurance groups for popular coupes - Ford Capri 2.0 (11), Toyota Celica GT (15), Opel Manta GT/E (11), VW Scirocco GTI (14), Volvo
480ES (12). All appreciably higher than the
saloons or hatchbacks on which they are based (except for the Scirocco, based on the Golf GTI). The Prelude is group 11 for the 1.8 twin-carb version that I had.

Originally I was quite tempted by a Mazda 626 Coupe of 1985 vintage (more a two-door saloon, but quite stylish nonetheless) but was let down by the owner describing it in the ad as "immaculate", when in the metal it was anything but. Grrr, the dooyoo opinion you could write about people who do that!

Once again through my favourite method, the local freeads paper (this was before the advent of internet auctions!) I turned up a Honda Prelude in the nearby (and very posh) village of Twyford. I proceeded to turn up to a very large country house, complete with a Bentley Turbo R outside. The seller had bought the car from a friend as a runaround while the Bentley was being fettled. I kid you not. Good grounds for haggling here, thinks I.


To cut a long story short I got this EX model, with 93k on the clock backed up by a full service history, original owner's handbook, a four-inch stack of receipts, resplendent in bright red coachwork with the only faults I could find being some fading on the bonnet and a tear in the side of the drivers' seat, for £925. I didn't think this was too bad back in March 1999.

I owned the car for the next 18 months, added 30,000 miles to it, tried to replace it - twice (you can see my reviews for my Volvo 440 and Rover 214 elsewhere on this site), and loved every minute. It let me down just once, but that was my fault - the battery light stayed on for a couple of days, then the car died. Of course, the alternator (the original) had given out.

In terms of servicing, it didn't cost me much either, as the most important component (cambelt) had been changed at 90k, so I didn't need to get that sorted. It chewed a couple of exhaust manifold gaskets, and I think needed some welding of the front chassis rail for an MOT, but otherwise that was it. I didn't even need to get new tyres.
I didn't work on it myself as I couldn't get a Haynes manual (I toyed with getting one that covered the US model, but the engines
are different - anyway, the hilarious Japanese-English owner's manual covered basics like changing bulbs and fuses). I may be wrong, but the engine appears to be mounted upon its' side - certainly the air filter for the carb is at the back of the engine bay, against the bulkhead.

In terms of living with the car, I personally think it was one of the nicest-looking Japanese cars of the mid-1980s (notable others being the Mazda 626, 2nd generation RX-7 and the first front-wheel drive Toyota Celica). Everyone loved the pop-up lights, which never failed to work (how many TR7 owners can say that?). The only thing that spoiled the styling, to my eyes, were the big, blocky door mirrors. The boot spoiler was
made of very spongy material which would cause people to slap it and shout "Booooooooooiiiinnng!" at the tops of their voices. Hmm.

Inside was quite futuristic for it's time, with air ducts in the tops of the door trims so the side windows could be demisted. Also, the heating/ventilation system had push-button control, and the instruments featured a top-down graphic of the car with various warning lights to show doors open and light failure.

The front seats were of a high-back design, and were very comfortable. The previous owner supplied some cloth to fix the tear, which I repaired after a fashion - this was before I knew of a local seat-trimming genius who would have made the repair invisible. The rear bench was of no real use to man or beast, the legroom and headroom back there was appaling. You get someone in sideways (laid across the bench) for short trips but that was about it.

Having said that the rear seat would fold, and the boot was wide and long, if shallow. On a couple of occassions I actually slept in there, it was fine until you tried to roll over!

Having had a Nissan Bluebird convert me from the spartan equipment levels of regular European cars, I was not disappointed with the Prelude's specification. Electric front windows, electric glass sunroof (which would only slide and not tilt), remote release for fuel filler cap and boot (which was fine as I later found my key didn't work the glovebox or boot locks!), dinky little 13" alloy wheels, and power steering. No central locking but there were only two doors anyway. It even had the original National-Panasonic stereo, with manual tuning (hmm).

In the manner of Japanese cars of the period (do they still do this now?) there were no symbols for functions, everything was labelled in English. Very straightforward. Of course, the indicator stalk was on the wrong side of the column, which took some adjustment. It did have a cool single win
dscreen wiper, in the manner of Mercedes-Benz, though.

The driving experience was also good fun. I had come from a Bluebird with about 80bhp, so a move up to the lighter Prelude, with 106bhp from a similar-sized engine (with 12 valves, no less) was quite a laugh, as it would wheelspin in second gear around tight corners, over humpback bridges or in the wet. The power steering wasn't as light as most Japanese cars of the period but still lacked a bit of feel. All the other controls were nice and light though. It would run on unleaded, as apparently nearly all Japanese cars from about 1978 will, and returned about 35mpg in mixed driving.

One thing that Japanese cars were famed for, up until the late 1980's, was a propensity for rust. I could tell that this particular model had received a partial respray to rectify earlier rot (under streetlamps parts of the car would look like different shades). In my ownership it didn't really get any worse, but the rust bug did start chomping at the lower corners of the wheelarches and around the sunroof. It still looked very presentable at the end though, although the paintwork on the bonnet had faded very badly.

After 18 months and 30,000 miles, I discovered the main problem with the Prelude, and the only major one - you can't sell them easily. I put my car up at £595 and the phone didn't ring once in 2 months ?(this despite Parker's Guide saying it was worth more). In the end I traded it in for a nearly-new Civic at the local Honda dealership, and got £300 for it. Where are you now B541 AMD? Probably in a landfill site, poor thing. Still, the plastic kit manufacturer Tamiya do a nice 1/24th scale model of the Prelude, and a red replica of my car graces the top of my computer monitor.

Excellent cars!

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