It’s been 22 years since you could buy a new Honda Prelude in America, so if you’ve been hankering for a new one, I have some good news: Only one more year to go. That’s right, the hybrid Honda Prelude is officially set to roll into American showrooms by the end of 2025, so if you’re the type to budget for Christmas gifts super early, you’re going to have a whole year to gift yourself a downpayment on one of these coupes.
It’s hard to believe that more than a year has passed since the Honda Prelude Concept debuted at the 2023 Japan Mobility Show, but not only does time fly, gorgeous cars have a habit of sticking in our memories. Not only was this the absolute highlight of its inaugural auto show, it also lit up Los Angeles, where a peek around the concept revealed more than a few seemingly production-ready touches. It still appeared to effectively be a rolling concept car without a real powertrain, but from the wiper transmission to the weatherstripping, Honda’s revived coupe seemed to be no flight of fancy.
Indeed, with an on-sale date of late 2025 and a debut date of autumn 2023, it’s likely the Prelude concept was unveiled after an exterior design freeze for the production car was put in place. Considering the development timeline for most new cars is at least three years long, don’t be surprised the Prelude you can buy looks a whole lot like this. But what’ll it be like underneath?
Well, the new Prelude has been confirmed to feature Honda’s two-motor hybrid system, meaning it’ll likely be front-wheel-drive and possibly similar to the 200-horsepower two-liter four-cylinder hybrid system in the Civic. For what it’s worth, Car And Driver clocked zero-to-60 mph in 6.2 seconds from the new Civic hybrid, and that sort of acceleration sounds perfectly swift enough for a sporty compact coupe like the Prelude. If it lands anywhere in that ballpark, I’ll be happy.
Unfortunately, rumours of the new Prelude being equipped with a manual transmission seem false, but there’s an interesting consolation prize here — something Honda calls “S+ Shift”, which, in incoherent marketing-speak, is “an innovative new drive mode that further advances Linear Shift Control to deliver maximum levels of driver engagement.” That doesn’t say anything about what it actually is, but the European press release for the Honda ZR-V might offer a clue. It states that “Linear shift control correlates engine sound to engine acceleration G for a more reassuring acceleration feel,” which suggests that this new drive mode appearing on the Prelude could simulate shifts and engine noise, much like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N. We’ll just have to wait and see.
The new Prelude likely won’t be the high-revving stick-shift coupe diehards craved, but those days have been over for a while. For empty-nesters looking for a dashing compact coupe, grown-up tuners looking to leave their B-swapped Civics in their garages on the weekdays to slog through city traffic in something modern and conveniently automatic, and young professionals looking to buy something sensible but sexy, this should hit the nail on the head provided Honda doesn’t go wild on pricing.
Still, with an on-sale date by the end of 2025, expect all to be revealed in the next 12 months or so. Needless to say, we’ll be watching the new Prelude like a hawk. It’s about time sporty compact liftback coupes made a comeback, pretty soon it’ll be on buyers to respond.
(Photo credits: Honda)
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Fake shift points != driver engagement.
Yes, I know the horse is dead. I’m just tenderizing it in case I need to tauntaun it to stay warm this winter.
Otherwise I like this. I saw someone describe it as a Prius coupe, and I’m okay with that. I hope they learned their lesson from the CR-Z and it’s either legitimately fast or legitimately efficient, rather than being neither of those things.
No manual and those door handles are mighty sus looking to be mechanical.
It if ends up being aluminum and getting similar MPG to the original Insight with mechanical door handles I’ll get a couple.
I like this a lot. The potential for a fun efficient everyday car appeals to me. Where I am concerned is the powertrain. If this only offers the same powertrain as the Civic Hybrid, why would I not (presumably) save money at get that. If this is the same price as a Civic (or cheaper), my point is null.
This is very likely going to offer some uprated suspension components (my guess is a lot of carry-over from the Si and some from the CTR), in addition to the bigger brakes seen in the teaser, the S+ thing, likely better tires, etc. Plus we don’t know HP figures yet – my guess would be that Honda pushes this up to around the 215-220 mark.
That still does not seem like enough for this car to compete on its own merit; I think in large part price is going to be the deciding factor. That, and if the market can support a coupe in 2024.
It looks good, but isn’t likely to be fun to drive so why not just get something with four doors and a usable back seat for less money?
If you think ’empty nesters’ will want one… that should last until they have to try to open the overly long doors and squirm their way out of it in a parking lot / garage.
Kids don’t care about cars, so a flashy impractical car? Eh?
Amazing how many of y’all never shut up about wanting interesting, sporty coupes at reasonable prices, but then when you get the opportunity to buy one you start adding a bunch of qualifiers.
it’s not interesting or sporty, it’s a 2 door prius. Just get the real thing.
It’s a little premature to make that claim when we don’t know anything about it mechanically besides the drivetrain and transmission.
So just the things that would make it ‘sporty’.
I’m genuinely curious what your criteria is for something being a Prius. Just that its a hybrid?
Basically. Once you take the shifting out of the equation and have some marketing babble CVT with fake motor noises what exactly do you have? If it was an EV I would say it’s just a tesla, but it’s a hybrid so I’ll label it a prius.
(full disclosure, I had a ’14 prius and never should have given it up, it was pretty ideal for my use cases for a sedan but it was a work lease and it was complicated)
way back in the dark ages 20+ years ago honda made little hybrids with manual transmissions. tried it again with the Cr-z but failed to actually make it perform or get hybrid like mileage so it was… the worst of both worlds.
use a modern hybrid powertrain and make a self shifting version.
make it interesting and fun so we have some hope. then after you sell 4 of them with crazy dealer markups call it a failure and drop it and only sell the CVT version.
here they’re just giving us a less useful version of an accord. it won’t even be cheap so it won’t be for the younger crowd who aren’t ready to make the jump to some bloated SUV in the lineup.
look back at coups, they start as ‘more fun’, then to appeal to more people they make them luxury, then they kill them because no one wants a luxury coup that’s mechanically identical to the more practical sedan.
They’ve already done this before, and it kind of sucked. Everyone would be falling over themselves if it were a spiritual successor to the S2000
The CR-Z was a very different car. This will likely have ~100 more horsepower plus better suspension, brakes, tires, interior, luxury features, etc. Honda’s hybrids have come a very long way in the last decade or so.
Falling over themselves in internet comments but not actually buying the car. The S2000 never sold even 8,000 a year in the USA.
Ha ha! Maybe if they were actually like the good classic ones that had all the features that MADE them interesting, sporty, etc. Those were real and this is fake (w/ FAKE shifts/noises BS, there’s your first clue)
I like this but they need a legit high performance variant. Even if they don’t sell many of those and primarily want to push these hybrids. This has the look of a sports coupe but that visual promise rings hollow if there is no variant that is actually sporty. They could outfit a version with stuff from the Civic Type R and it would fill that purpose wonderfully.
I agreed. It would be a BLAST with the previous-gen 2.0T Accord engine.
Give me real door handles please! Otherwise, I am cautiously optimistic. If it’s a sport Prius coupe for an affordable price, it might be tempting.
I’m pretty sure no current Honda has retractable door handles; I’d be very surprised if they introduce the feature on this model.
Yeah it wouldn’t surprise me either way honestly. They are all the rage with EVs right now, and while this is not an EV, I could see them trying to make it stand out with something like that. But yeah that will hopefully be one of the concepty things that doesn’t make it to the real version. That’s pretty much my only real complaint though. These look so much like a Prius coupe, and I seriously considered a Prius PHEV (if they offered the yellow in the US I very likely would have gone for it), so this is tempting.
What yellow car did you get instead of the Prius? Used taxi?
haha I wasn’t set on getting yellow, but I was set on getting something in a cool color. I got a BRG Eunos Roadster (JDM Mazda Miata) instead.
Assuming you live in the US, why did you want a RHD vehicle when LHD Miatas are available?
Mostly price and condition. It’s a 96 with 70k and in great shape for less than I could’ve gotten a USDM version with 150k for. Plus, the green was only offered with the 1.6 here and I really wanted the 1.8.
The door handles are mechanical flush-mount.
I’d advise xt door handles. More reliable and you can store more spiders too!
Several years ago the Air Force went through the trouble of changing the resting orientation of the wipers on the B-52s, so instead of laying more or less horizontal they went to more or less vertical. It made a fractional difference to the aerodynamic efficiency, but over time it would add up to hundreds of thousands if not millions of gallons of jet fuel saved.
These flush door handles are pretty much the same same thing – not a big difference for a short drive, but it will add up over time.
We’re used to the current design(s), but they come with at a penalty. They’re ergonomic but not aerodynamic, so they cost us more than they have to over time.
As fuel efficiency standards increase, little improvements like this are going to become more and more necessary. My guess is we’ll see more of this style of door handles, from all manufacturers.
I understand the reasoning for them, and I’m on board if they’re mechanical. I just don’t want electronic door handles and the majority of the flush mount ones are electronic.
I’m not driving my car as fast as a B-52 (only Altimas go that fast) so I don’t care about aero….it’s either real door handles or No Dice/Crackpipe…especially electric BS, I want to be able to get out of my car and not die; I hope Melon Husk/Leon Mush melonhead and Tesla gets sued into oblivion for the people dying in EV TRASH w/ pointless electric door handles…he’s a mass murderer!
Nope. Had a 92 Prelude, all Fast and Furious style with a body kit and huge wing–plus a 5 speed. I am in no way in a position to buy a car right now, but if I was, this wouldn’t be it. My kids will be out of the house in the 5 yrs. This is when I will be in the market. Even used, this one does nothing for me. A couple of offerings from Kia though…..
I can already see it happening.
– Limited supply at start
– Dealerships add million dollar mark ups
– People don’t buy
– Honda comes to the conclusion that they need to make it into a crossover because it will sell more.
You’re likely right about the dealers ruining it. Honda and Toyota do a great job of letting their dealer network make buying one of their cars as miserable as possible.
Add Nissan too… direct-from-factory sounds very appetizing after my recent stealership visit.
This is not Ford we’re talking about, you know.
I’m a little shocked I haven’t seen a ton of AI slop outrage bait as to what a “real Prelude” should be though.
Mf ghost already covered it with the improved nsx. Removed all the electrical crap, enjoyed the purity.
Honda blew its chance for me to have faith in this concept by pushing the CR-Z
Most of the fondly remembered compact sports coupes of the past weren’t sold in their hottest trims, just as most of the ponycars of a generation earlier had straight sixes and automatics. That first-generation Prelude to the right of the concept was marketed as a sports car for the 55-mph era and had a side profile that borrowed heavily from the Mercedes SL rather than a Porsche or a Fairlady Z. It had a manual because that was better in terms of usable power, fuel economy and initial cost at the time, and Preludes didn’t really start getting fun until the second generation. So this will be in essence a Petit Prix – better handling, of cours,. but otherwise a stylish and nicely trimmed Civic coupe, just as the original was the equivalent of the more pedestrian Accord hatch and soon-to-launch four-door sedan. We’ll all get to see if those enthusiast claims that an interesting car is really what the market wants but hasn’t been offered amongst the gaggle of crossovers can be supported.
It looks good but that’s about it. I can’t say I’m interested in anything about the actual packaging when the Civic Hybrid is already as good as it is. This kind of just seems like a reskin. If you’re someone that can make a coupe work as a daily then I’d say go for it over the Civic for style points alone but unfortunately I’m not one of those folks.
What I’m really interested in is Acura finally getting some damn hybrids. I’d buy an Integra with this powertrain tomorrow if I could, and I think a lot of other folks would as well.
The upcoming ADX should have this power train, and the ZRV (US HRV in overseas trim) it will be based on already does in other countries.
At least it looks good.
I’m just going to say I’m glad Honda is making coupes again. Would I buy something like this that wasn’t a manual? Of course not, but I am glad this exists anyway.
I miss coupes too. I always suspected they lost favor in the market when all 50 states began mandating use of child seats in the mid 1980s. That alone probably did them in as a body style.
The size difference between the old and new one is so jarring when parked side by side.
That’s what she said.
The cynical part of me is surprised this is not a four-door crossover.
That crossover is coming in 2026; the Prelude Alto.
Can’t tell if this is fighting the GR86, the Prius, both, or neither.
It’s not bad, I’m just not really sure what it is.
It’s not fighting anything. I think hybrid demand is growing and this is an option for people who don’t need or want 4 doors.
Who is this even for? I don’t understand.
For anyone that wants a comfortable, yet sporty, daily and neither wants nor needs 4 doors.
Me. I want one. Test drive pending.
this would be a good car for high school girls tbh
When piped in engine sounds and simulated CVT shifts are your idea of “sporty”, then yeah. I’ll never buy a new car anyway, but I could never imagine buying this when the Supra and BRZ and 400Z and Mustang exists.
enthusiats bask in nostalgia these days. they simply dont buy cars new.
I drive a Honda Accord coupe and I’m looking to get a hybrid for my next car, this is at the top of my list now.
Man, the 1st gen still looks amazing. Always had a soft spot for those, just wished they were RWD
This new one is ok, but it looks just like a Prius. Not a bad thing, but not a great thing either.
Seeing how the CR-Z underwhelmed in almost every way, I’ll hold off on getting too excited in this until some real specs and testing come out.
As has already been said, if it is just a Civic Hybrid Coupe with sportier bodywork, then “yawn”.
If the want to do something with the Civic Hybrid drivetrain, drop it in the Integra. If I am stuck with a CVT on the non-Type S model, I might as well get good mileage.
Count me as another sufferer of CR-Z PTSD. How much legacy model brand equity can Honda squander? At this stage, if I want ICE and 4-wheel steering like an ‘88 ‘lude, I’ll check out their riding mowers.
That might not be an option lol, didn’t they announce they were killing all ice power equipment?
If there is no manual I don’t think it will gather a lot of interest. Why buying this instead of a Toyota GR86? People buying a Hybrid and a Coupe are not the same audience unless you make it fun. Look at the Honda Insight Gen 1 Manual vs CVT market.
The BRZ is not exactly comfy or grown up, I daily’d one for 8 years or so and just got rid of it for something tremendously more comfortable and quiet… A GR corolla. They’re just not courting the same audience, this seems more like a personal luxury coupe to me than any kind of hardcore sports car.
Damn, I’ll be in the market for a car within the next year, but have to stick with more than 2 doors to qualify for business mile reimbursement, why couldn’t Honda have put concealed suicide doors like the RX-8? Oh well, is what is
The new Integra is a 4-door.
Yeah, there’s that, it’s intriguing, but I was thinking hybrid for the fuel economy, trying to milk the reimbursement as much as possible, we’re talking 30,000 miles a year here
The real question that I care about is “regular hybrid, or plug-in?” If it’s not a PHEV with a decent EV range, it’s a big “meh” from me. I’m sure it’ll be fine, and perfectly cromulent, but if it’s just a Civic Hybrid coupe, it’s not bringing enough to the table to catch my interest.
A PHEV Prelude would be the ideal commuter car, though no one would buy it as a commuter (see also CR-Z, Fiero).
Agreed. As a PHEV commuter, I would really prefer a smaller vehicle with similar range to commute in, but my choices were pretty limited.
Not if you have no means to charge it. I live in a condo with shared carports, so…
That’s the reason my partner bought a regular Prius instead of the Prime. But to catch MY interest, it’d need to bring more capability than the Civic hybrid, not just fewer doors.
The extra weight of a PHEV sized battery (especially one with good range) would likely ruin the handling of an already slightly heavy car, and it would also add too much cost (the Civic hybrid is expensive-ish for its class). Only in China are automakers able to make PHEVs & EREVs that the masses are attracted to and at reasonable prices.
Or, you know, they could actually try designing one and not half-assing the assignment. I know it’s a novel idea for most car manufacturers, but I think it might just be crazy enough to work.
The new Toyota Prius Coupe is pretty amazing.
Or Crown, or Camry. Did a Toyota designer leave their sketch at the bar or something and Honda decided to go with it?
Definitely see Toyota Prius and Crown design features…but also a bottle opener and a duck face reminiscent of lesser Baldwin brothers, namely Billy and Stephen.
I’m sure they’ll sell dozens