The 2026 Honda Prelude Is an OddityRichard Thompson III (Richard Thompson III)Car weirdness has been trending downward for decades. There was a time when unusual was usual, from fins and other outrageous design fripperies created to distinguish rapid-fire year-to-year model cycles all the way to segment-crossing fever dreams resulting from product planners thinking way too laterally. Cars like the Chevrolet SSR. Engineers added plenty of their own "Why the hell not?" moments, with innovations from the rotary engine to the turbodiesel V-10. And otherwise "normal" cars often had bizarre, whimsical details. Who else remembers Alfa Romeo's ceiling-mounted electric window-switch era? Or the Pontiac Firebird Turbo Trans Am's hood-mounted Normal/Medium/High boost lights?This story originally appeared in Volume 35 of Road & Track.But in the dull, sensible car world of 2026, the height of weirdness has become . . . a two-door coupe. Yes, the new Honda Prelude is novel at a time when the vast majority of new models fall on the SUV spectrum. The affordable coupe was once commonplace, but this Honda is on a Venn-diagram island where two doors, front-wheel drive, and an oddball hybrid powertrain overlap.(Left) The country around Los Angeles turns otherworldly when seen through an infrared filter. (top right) No, the Prelude isn't offered with a red headliner. That's the infrared camera doing its thing. (bottom right) Handsome design and coupe proportions disguise the amount of Civic that lurks beneath.Richard Thompson III (Richard Thompson III)Yet there is real heritage here, and Honda deserves credit for bringing back the Prelude badge attached to something recognizable as a Prelude. It's been 25 years since the fifth gen retired in 2001, and earlier Preludes were in the same vein as this one, combining dynamic prowess with relative affordability and snazzy tech. Previous incarnations even incorporated four-wheel steering and torque vectoring.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe new Prelude doesn't have either of those, but it does have a clever hybrid system—the same one seen in the Civic and CR-V hybrids—that forgoes a conventional transmission for electric drive through a motor that delivers power to the front axle. This is fed by a small 1.07-kWh battery pack and a 141-hp Atkinson-cycle 2.0-liter inline-four that turns a starter-generator. With everything flowing, the peak system power is 200 hp, the same output the 2.2-liter VTEC made in the fifth-gen Prelude.The modern typeface of the Honda badge contrasts with the pleasingly retro"Prelude" script.Richard Thompson III (Richard Thompson III)Although the new Prelude is electrically driven most of the time, the engine can directly connect to the wheels at higher speeds through an electronically controlled clutch. The big difference from the workaday Civic Hybrid is the Prelude's ability to synthesize shifting between eight pretend gears using what is called the S+ Shift system. That's pretty weird.A more cynical view of the new Prelude is that it could have been called the Civic Coupe with almost equal justification. The new car's smooth lines are clearly different from the current Civic's body, but under the surface much is shared. That enabled Honda to take many chassis components for the Prelude straight from the Civic Type R, including the hot hatch's dual-axis front strut suspension, adaptive dampers, and brakes, with four-pot Brembo front calipers clamping 13.8-inch rotors. Serious stopping power given that the 3242-pound coupe has about two percent more mass than a Type R hatch, which has over 50 percent more horsepower.(top) Selecting S+ mode turns the digital dial on the left from a power-flow meter to a rev counter. (bottom left) L.A. looks good in a restful shade of heat-produced red. (bottom right) We can't help thinking that there's room under that hood for the Civic Type R's 315-hp mill.Richard Thompson III (Richard Thompson III)Prelude buyers should definitely choose the summer-tire upgrade to Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02s over the standard all-seasons. This $1200 dealer-fit option was on our test car.AdvertisementAdvertisementLos Angeles County served as the backdrop for Richard Thompson III's spectacular infrared portraits of the Prelude and gave us ready access to roads ideally suited for testing the car: freeways, canyons, and stuck-solid traffic. But I learned the most—and had the most fun—on Angeles Crest Highway.The Prelude's cabin is well finished, but the standard equipment offerings are less than generous.Richard Thompson III (Richard Thompson III)The best performance cars maintain a fine balance between their abilities to generate lateral and longitudinal g-forces. Or, if you prefer, between grip and go. The Honda doesn't; it carries too much tire for the modest amounts of thrust the powertrain can deliver, especially in uphill driving.Hearst Owned (Hearst Owned)Most of the time this didn't ruin the fun. The Prelude is a driver's car in a way you probably wouldn't expect a front-drive hybrid to be. Steering is direct and accurate, nicely weighted under load but also with genuine feedback just off-center. It is keen to turn and hold a line, and it can generate impressive lateral g's while doing so. But it's also happy to play, to adjust its attitude in response to the throttle. No part of the experience is hard or harsh. But the subtlety with which the Prelude's front end could be tweaked and tucked on the Crest's longer turns felt truly special.(top) The Prelude brings back the concept of the personal luxury coupe. (bottom left) Don't worry, the floor wasn't really lava. (bottom right)Lack of frameless doors is a mild disappointment in any coupe.Richard Thompson III (Richard Thompson III)Body control was outstanding, clearly differentiated by each of the active dampers' three switchable modes but not compromised by any of them. Comfort was soft but acceptably disciplined, Sport was firm without being too harsh, and GT—the middle setting—was just right pretty much all the time, certainly on the Crest's curving and often corrugated asphalt.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe Prelude's 102.6-inch wheelbase is 5.1 inches shorter than the Civic's, and consequently, the coupe is more willing to change direction. It also has a lower seating position and none of the Type R's sometimes-ragged battle for traction. On the Crest, the Prelude's chassis gave a master class in front-wheel-drive dynamics. Indeed, its ability to carry speed was so good that the over-spec brakes barely got a workout, aided by ample amounts of regeneration from the motor, even heading downhill.The Prelude has heaps of presence on the road.Richard Thompson III (Richard Thompson III)But there's a big problem: The Prelude's powertrain couldn't keep up. While the chassis gets better when pushed harder, the hybrid system wilts under harsh interrogation.This is mostly due to the lack of a direct connection between engine and wheels. The lockup clutch operates only at cruising speed, so it doesn't factor into canyon carving. And while the electric driveline doesn't have the slur or slop of a CVT, there's a vibe-harshing hesitancy to the throttle response. This isn't a delay between gas pedal and engine, rather a beat of pause between feeling the revs rise and a corresponding increase in acceleration as the input works its way from generator to motor to road. It's like watching a dubbed movie where the words don't match the mouth movements.(left) The Prelude loves the turns. The hills? Not so much. (yop right) Dealer-fit Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02 tires feel like a box all Prelude buyers should tick. (bottom right) Most front-drivers don't suit roads like this one. The Prelude does.Richard Thompson III (Richard Thompson III)Adding to the disconnect is a fake soundtrack, which masks the clatter of the engine but often seems to be out of phase from what the engine is doing. Left in drive, the Prelude tries to replicate shifting gears by allowing rpm to vary within a range, although stomping on the gas sends the four-cylinder zinging to 6000 rpm, where peak power arrives, in this case just like a CVT.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe S+ mode changes things up, first by moving the Prelude's digital cluster display from a charge meter to a rev counter. It also widens the range of the engine's operating rpm as the motor works its way between eight entirely fictional ratios, these selected by the steering-wheel paddles.Richard Thompson III (Richard Thompson III)The faux downshifts are pretty convincing and rev-matched snappily, and the system simulates engine braking by increasing deceleration. But the upshifts—sorry, "upshifts"—fail the Turing test of believability despite what has clearly been a significant amount of effort put into the fakery. The Prelude briefly cuts power to the motor each time it pretends to change gears. But responses are inconsistent. There's too much urge at low engine speeds to feel natural, presumably as the battery fills in, and there is no limiter to hit. If the driver forgets to play their part in the charade and pull the paddle, the Prelude just changes up anyway.This artifice brings with it a performance cost, as the ersatz shifting actually makes the car slower. At the test track, the Prelude ran to 60 mph in 6.5 seconds when the powertrain was left to its own devices but took 7.3 seconds to do the same run in S+ mode. Which kind of underlines the pointlessness.Richard Thompson III (Richard Thompson III)Angeles Crest, and some of Southern California's other canyon roads, revealed another problem. Running our Prelude hard for prolonged periods caused the powertrain to derate. Early EVs often suffered a similar treacle-slick sensation when their batteries grew hot, and that could be what was happening here. Honda admitted the Prelude will limit power when the pack's state of charge gets too low or temperature too high. The company reps also said they were unable to replicate the same fault in this test car once it had been returned, which I guess is a compliment to the weight of the lead boots of the Road & Track test team. To be fair, this was under extreme use, and taking it easier for a few minutes brought back full power. But it felt like a failing for any performance car.AdvertisementAdvertisementI still found lots to like about the way the Prelude drives. It feels as keen and responsive as an EV at lower speeds, blasting off the line and with the instant pace necessary to exploit tight gaps in close-packed freeway traffic. And it's frugal: Based on my experience, it should be easy for owners to match or beat the 44-mpg EPA combined figure in everyday use. It's quiet and smooth at cruising speeds, very much a modern slant on the personal luxury coupe.Richard Thompson III (Richard Thompson III)Practicality is above par for the segment too. The cabin has plenty of space for driver and front passenger, although the rear seats are basically extra luggage room beyond that offered by the 15-cubic-foot trunk. Visibility is excellent. Honda deserves credit for the ergonomic thought put into rationally positioned physical switchgear rather than garish digital displays. The Prelude's dash does have a modest 9.0-inch touchscreen, which works fine. Two disappointments, especially considering the car's cost, were the lack of power-adjustable seats and that this is a coupe with gawky frames around its door windows.At $43,195, the Prelude seems priced for exclusivity. That's more than the Mazda MX-5 Miata, the Toyota GR86 and Subaru BRZ twins, and the four-cylinder Mustang EcoBoost. It's only just less than the Nissan Z, a car that offers way more performance with its 400-hp twin-turbo V-6, if way less sophistication.Sadly, given this issue's celebration of oddness, the Prelude would have more appeal if it were less weird. Honda could keep the slinky body and excellent chassis but throw in the 315-hp turbocharged engine and six-speed manual from the Civic Type R. That would be a less cerebral take on the modern sports car but more exciting. Also much more fun.ILLUSTRATION BY JIM HATCH (ILLUSTRATION BY JIM HATCH) A car-lover's community for ultimate access & unrivaled experiences.JOIN NOW Hearst Owned (Hearst Owned)You Might Also LikeIf You Can Only Own One Car, Make It One of TheseThese Are the Most Popular Cars by State