Honda Prelude. Ok i know with little about honda39s but i have been offered to swap my stagea plus cash for a 97 prelude non vte

vr4_legnum, Jun 4, 12:00am
Ok I know with little about Honda's but i have been offered to swap my stagea plus cash for a 97 Prelude non vtec manual and I'm thinking about it.

What are they like! Anythink really goes wrong with them! What kind things do i need to keep an eye out for!

Any other info about them would be great.

Cheers
foxdonut, Jun 4, 1:00am
The Type-SH got a really good write up. I've seen one roll into a power pole at 50 k and the driver get out without a scratch as well so thats a positive.

(I think) by that point they'd gone away from the proprietary Honda branded consumables only.

if it has four wheel steer and its been lowered then walk away, you can't lower them without fking them up (or something, I read it ages ago and can't remember the science.)

You'd be better off getting one with some ginger under the hood though. I didn't even know they did a non Vtec model.
foxdonut, Jun 4, 1:02am
It is a fifth gen car right! the square looking one!
wild-at-heart, Jun 4, 1:17am
checks its been serviced and had the cambelt and waterpump done
foxdonut, Jun 4, 1:17am
maybe I'm full of shit about the lowering. I dunno, I remember ages ago reading it was a bad idea and caused heaps of problems. probably best ot ask on Prelude / Honda forums.
motorboy2011, Jun 4, 1:54am
What model is the stagea! I straight swapped my auto/tiptronic 97 Si prelude, non vtec, for an auto 97 Stagea, turbo, 4wd, both had same 160km.

The honda was good, went well, handled ok, the trans did slip when cold though, fine after warm though, WAY better on gas than the Stagea but that was expected. I had paid $1700 for the prelude
vr4_legnum, Jun 4, 2:17am
My Stagea is 97 4wd 2500cc non turbo auto just under 143kms, The prelude is manual and done around 140kms. And im hoping to get $1500-$2000 my way. I want somethink cheaper to run then the stagea.

I ask on nzhondas and pretty much told to get B series integra or civic
richardmayes, Jun 4, 7:19pm
nzhondas peeps are mostly all about dropping the big-block DOHC VTEC engines into the smaller Honda chassis and then adding aftermarket suspension and go-faster goodiesin order to make weekend trackday cars or fast street cars. They are correct that something like this will always go faster and have more fizz than a stock standard Prelude, and ignore the fact that that wasn't really your question.

Prelude is a bigger chassis that already has a big block (i.e. 2.2 litres rather than 1.6 or 1.8 litres!)

They are nice cars by all accounts. Sort of an older man's coupe. Ones with 4-wheel steering can give problems that the ones without 4ws don't.
stevexc, Jun 4, 8:01pm
I had a DOHC non-vtec model for ages and had no problems with it at all.It was cheap to run and still had plenty of power.Below 5000rpm they actually feel faster than the vtec models.There are also SOHC non-vtec which is probably a bit slower again, but I'd still own one happily.

I got 11km per litre around town.Very good for a 2.2!

Being a non-vtec you can run it on 91 octane without any loss in mileage.

And yes NZHONDAS will not care about anything non-vtec.
stevexc, Jun 4, 8:03pm
Forgot to mention, these cars have 2 major problems but they don't apply to you:

Tiptronic transmission is flakey and expensive to fix.
ATTS manual transmission in the Type-S is expensive to fix

The best model IMO is the SiR S-Spec, a upgraded vtec model like the Type-S but with a standard manual transmission.
loudnproud, Jun 4, 8:10pm
Ive got a '97 Si (nz new) manual 5 speed done 238kms now. ive had it 5 years and put 50 thou km's on it and it hasnt missed a beat. awesome fuel economy and trademe has a bounty of bits and bobs you can do (i put the small spoiler on it) 45L tank and i get around 470-500km. has cruise control which is awesome!
vr4_legnum, Jun 5, 12:31am
Thanks for the replys guys.

The guy is coming over tomorrow for me to have a look at it. The guy really wants mine and already said he hope to take mine home with him.

It got 2K primer on it at the moment and it all ready to be painted, He got the paint but don't think it comes with the car and it also gottein coilovers suspension but don't think that been certed yet.

I wouldn't been runing it on 91, Would use at least 95. In my stagea i'm useing $50-$60 in fuel a week to get work and if i could cut that in half i would happy.

I'm just don't sure if i would be happy with it. I will take it for a drive and see how i feel atfer that.
tigra, Jun 5, 4:59pm
Sounds to me like the guy is pressurising you, (wants to take it home)which could mean he knows something about his car. take some time to consider carefully.I like Preludes (I'm old)but there can be issues.
pollymay, Jun 5, 6:59pm
Fixed that for you.