Back in the day, every time I'd drive a Honda I'd always ask myself, "why don't I own a Honda?". That's not so much the case anymore as the canyon between domestic cars and imports has narrowed significantly; just as the automobile as we know it is on the endangered species list. Back in the fall of 1996 I test drove one of these all-new for 1997 Honda Preludes and was enthralled by it - even if it had "only" a 2.2-liter, inline-four albeit one packing 195-horsepower. I opted instead for a brand new Chevrolet Monte Carlo LS and while that car never let me down and I was quite happy with it, from a visceral, seat-of-the-pants perspective, my pokey Monte Carlo was no match for the little Prelude.
My reasons for going with the Monte Carlo were sound if not somewhat juvenile and\or misguided. I'm frustratingly brand loyal, I liked the lines of the Monte Carlo better, it had a real back seat that folded down and, probably most importantly, I had a wad of cash sitting on my GM Mastercard I could use as a down payment. And while I now wax somewhat nostalgically over the Monte Carlo, it has more to do with reflecting on a tumultuous and rewarding time in my life more than about the car itself that I found, ultimately, rather bland. That's why during one of my recent new car searches, while I find on occasion Monte Carlo's of that vintage, I pass right over them; nothing to see, been there done that. Meanwhile, I'm stopped dead in my treads over a solid looking Prelude like this 154,000-mile Facebook Marketplace find. Asking price a cool $9,000. A '97 Monte Carlo LS in this shape with this low mileage might go for half that. Maybe $5,500.
I used to look at Honda's like I'd like look at quiet, working-hard-as-a-beaver over achievers in high school; they don't look like what they are. Meanwhile my Monte Carlo was the beer guzzling, handsome jock who got all the girls but who really wasn't any good at anything. Not particularly awful either but, metaphorically, you know who now has the waterfront, 5,000-square foot home and who doesn't.
Preludes were hardly Honda's best selling models through five generations made between 1978 and 2001. The best selling of them being the second-gens made between 1982-1987, Honda moving on average maybe 60,000 of them a year back then; hardly Accord numbers on which Preludes were loosely based on. Ford sold more than twice as many Mustang's through that time period too. Granted, the Mustang was substantially less expensive even in "5.0" guise, but you got what you paid for.
This '97 here was part of the fifth-generation of Preludes and was packed with a ton of gee-whiz, state of the art engineering\technology that if it weren't on a Honda, I'd run screaming from it. Seriously, can you imagine how a GM version of Honda's stability enhancing yaw-control, what they called "Active Torque Transfer System" would age? Newsflash - it wouldn't.
Don't be like me and have a life full of (automotive) regrets - drive a Honda.
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