High-Tech, Low Sales
Honda's fourth-generation Prelude debuted in '92 with two engine choices: a 135-hp, 2.2-liter SOHC 16-valve in the Prelude S, and a 2.3-liter twin-cam rated at 160 hp in the Si.
One year later, in 1993, the Prelude got the VTEC treatment. No, it wasn't the first car with Honda's Variable Valve Timing and Electronic Lift Control system. That honor goes to the exotic and high-priced 1990 Acura NSX. Nor was it the second. VTEC also appeared on the '92 1.6-liter Civic as a boon to fuel economy. But the Prelude application of VTEC introduced the technology and its high-performance benefits to the masses.
The VTEC Prelude's 2.2-liter (2157cc), twin-cam 16-valve engine with 10.0:1 compression made 190 hp-a more than 19-percent improvement from the previous year's 2.3-liter Si. The key to VTEC is Honda's conception of a dual-profile camshaft with default intake and exhaust rockers that deliver short duration and low lift at low rpm. Above 4800 rpm, however, an ingenious electro-hydraulic system locks a third rocker into place. This rocker formerly followed the more aggressive cam profile without actuating the valves, but when locked, it initiates the high-lift, long-duration valve operation that produces optimum torque at high rpm.
By 1994, the Prelude could boast zero-to-60 times in the low 7s. By 1997, the Prelude's fifth and final generation debuted with a 200-hp, 2.2-liter VTEC, but acceleration wasn't vastly improved.
What the last-generation Prelude brought to the party was Honda's Active Torque Transfer System (ATTS), which gives the Prelude Type SH its special cachet. Much as a Styrofoam coffee cup lying on its side describes a corner when it's rolled forward, ATTS neutralizes the inherent understeer of front-wheel drive by transferring power from the inside wheel to the outside wheel in corners.
Clutchless manual shifting also appeared in the Gen5 Prelude in 1997, and in model-year 2000, the Prelude received progressive-valve shocks.
But sales had fallen into an irreversible decline. In the last few years, Honda sold fewer than 10,000 Preludes annually. A pittance compared with the 300,000 Civic and 400,000 Accords the company moves. So the Prelude's demise isn't particularly surprising. In fact, with so much of the technology that debuted on the Prelude disseminated throughout Honda's line-up, from the Civic to the S2000, the Prelude's rest is well deserved.