1987 Honda Prelude Si - Gravy on the Cake

I set my maximum price filter on my latest "cheap car" search on cars.com recently at $20,000 and this 1987 Honda Prelude Si came up in my net. Not unusual. What was unusual, odd in fact, is that it came up near the top of the list when I sorted by "highest price". 

I figured it had to be a super low-mileage barn find. Not quite. While it has only 54,000-miles on its thirty-eight-year analog ticker, I don't believe that warrants its suck your eyes out asking price of $18,000. Now, Prelude Si's of this vintage have sold recently for more than $24,000 at auction, but those had less than 5,000-miles on them not some 54,000. 

I'm of the old-car school of adage that 1980's cars, foreign or domestic, ain't worth squat. Sure, there are a handful of domestic pony cars that command a decent dollar, GM "G-bodies" in good condition too but I wouldn't use those as a daily; they're not reliable and they're terrible on gas. Forget German cars, even some Porsches, you can get them cheap enough, but they'll burn you alive in repair costs. Because they're so well built, Japanese cars from the '80's make some sense as a daily driver but you have to "buy them well". That meaning inexpensively.

Paying too much negates any value proposition. $18,000 is a good chunk of change and I'd just as soon use it on something less old and more contemporary or older with better appreciation upside. This '87 Prelude, while providing a surprisingly modern road-going experience, aesthetically, hasn't stood the test of time like, for instance, Preludes from the early 2000's have. Your opinion may vary, see dealer for details. 

Another thing to keep in mind is getting this insured for what you paid for it will be a tough putt. Classic car insurers like Haggerty don't insure everything "old" and they have limits on how much you can use your classic too. A "State Farm" is going to give you "book" if it gets totaled. Again, this ain't worth really anything. Buyer beware. Call your broker before you head to the bank. 

Honda had already established more than toehold in the United States when they introduced their first semi-Accord based Prelude in 1979. A somewhat sporty 2+2, what the Prelude featured superior fuel economy and build quality, always important attributes but particularly so in the darkest days of the Malaise Era. The fact it performed decently was gravy on the cake. 

Honda really got it right, well, performance wise anyway, with their second generation, 1983-1987 Preludes. These things, while not as powerful or fast as a V-8 powered Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac Firebird or Ford Mustang, could run circles around them, sip gas and stay bolted together better long after the payment coupons were all filled out. 

Again, where they came up short was aesthetically. Sorry, this little guy is pretty homely. And that it's "resale red" does it no favors either. 

After five-generations, each one seismically better than the prior, Honda pulled the plug on the Prelude after 2001. Made sense since their Accord coupe, especially the V-6 models, were such ringers and having two coupes in a day when coupe sales were lagging, wasn't a best practice.  

What's a fair asking price? Hard to say. Others of this vintage on cars.com right now are in rough shape and have much higher mileage and are priced around $3,500. Still, given the mileage, condition and that it's a Honda, I'd offer no more than ten thousand for it. Seeing the high asking price, you'll get rejected as a low baller which is fine. 

Spend your money elsewhere. Keep looking and good luck! 

 

1997 Honda Prelude - Don't Be Like Me. Drive a Honda.

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.