2025 Honda Prelude Review: A Little Too Quirky For Its Own Good

Well, here’s one we’ve been waiting for quite some time. The Honda Prelude has returned, and just shy of two years since seeing it in prototype form, the coupe has finally hit the road.

Let’s simmer on that thought for the moment. A nameplate once used on a coupe, being revived in 2025 for a coupe. No repurposing of it for an electric SUV like the Ford Capri, and for that alone, we must appreciate it. Then again, being 2025, this isn’t some glorious return of the 2.2 VTi of the fifth-gen Prelude. No, it’s a hybrid, and a rather complex one at that.

You see, the new Honda Prelude takes its powertrain pretty much wholesale from the hybrid FL2 Honda Civic. While that means a 2.0-litre naturally-aspirated four-cylinder engine is onboard, that’s effectively serving as a petrol generator for an electric system in most cases.

In EV and hybrid modes, a motor draws power from a small-capacity battery (Honda doesn’t state how large it is, but we believe about 1kWh), which is fed by the engine and drives the front wheels. In full engine mode, the unit does send power directly through a lock-up clutch.

A complex and rather quirky way of delivering 182bhp and 232lb ft of torque, nor does it sound on paper like something you’d expect to find in a driver-focused car or with those sorts of power figures in this day and age. Particularly so when you consider the fifth-gen VTi from almost 30 years ago offered up more peak power.

Honda proves keen to stress that instantaneous torque should outweigh the sheer numbers ahead of driving, but the scepticism is fair on paper coming into it, we think.

Moreso when you consider there’s no physical gearbox, culling a natural source of engagement. Honda’s answer to that is S+ Shift, which uses software to replicate a six-speed gearbox complete with baked-in engine braking and rev-matching. We’ve seen a similar system deployed to great effect on the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, but it marks a debut for Honda.

That’s all housed in a chassis with plenty taken from the crown-jewel FL5 Civic Type R. That includes its dual-axis front suspension and adaptive dampers, along with a multi-link setup for the rear axle. It takes the Brembo front brakes from the Type R, too. It doesn’t take the steering rack from that car, though; instead, the Prelude gets its own electric steering setup.

With a weight figure below 1.5 tonnes, a little more than the Type R, there’s expectation then of a car that might deliver on the promise of a driver-focused experience. In many ways, the Prelude manages to do that.

The chassis is, unsurprisingly, with all that information in mind, quite brilliant. Body roll is well controlled with the dampers in Sport but not so stiff as to make the car too skittish. There’s a real sense of what the car is doing and why as you’re powering on.

We do wish the Type R’s steering setup had carried over, though. The Prelude’s system doesn’t feel bad by any measure – it’s reasonably tight, though the faster rack of the Type R could’ve just added an extra degree of involvement. No argument against its firm brake pedal and impressive stopping power, though, nor the levels of grip offered by the OEM-spec Continental tyres.

Pushed hard, it can be a playful thing, but lift off oversteer and general shenanigans don’t come to the Prelude too naturally. It feels more grown-up than a Type R, but still like it’d be up for winding up your neighbours with the odd round of knock-off ginger if you prod it enough.

Maybe a more convincing powertrain would help bring that side out of it more often. There’s no denying the technical marvel of the setup, but that rarely translates into a thrilling burst of performance.

Instantaneous torque and a good throttle response do make the Prelude feel pretty spirited out of the blocks, but beyond 40 or 50mph it becomes a too-linear-feeling and rather slow thing. No free-revving nostalgic VTEC fun to be had, little in the way of feeling like you’re really in control. It’s the sort of pace you’d forgive if there was a manual gearbox to exploit a pure petrol engine with, and you do miss that.

The S+ Shift tech does a little to alleviate that. It does a decent job of mimicking a dual-clutch gearbox, with well-judged artificial torque curves and its synthetic blips providing the odd giggle. Yet, it will often ‘upshift’ itself too early, and there’s no true manual override, which feels like it defeats the purpose of its existence.

All that in mind, the Honda Prelude’s best sides are perhaps when you aren’t trying to drive it on its doors on a back road. Put it in comfort and leave the hybrid to do its thing, and it's a serene and comfortable experience. Grand tourer-like, even. You could genuinely cover a few hundred miles in the Prelude in one go without feeling like it’s too much, and get a fuel return well over 40mpg in the process.

The interior is a nice place to sit in, too. We’d opt for the white Alcantara trimmings just to uplift the otherwise mass of dark colours, but quality is excellent and ergonomics are brilliant too. Lots of physical buttons, the driving position is nice and low, yet without horrendous visibility out front.

Drawbacks do come from its massive C-pillars, making rear visibility a bit naff and the two rear seats utterly hopeless, but that’s part and parcel of going for a coupe in this day and age. Compromises we’ll happily make to avoid another nostalgia-drenched name appearing on an SUV.

Pricing is pretty fair given the current market, too. In the UK, it’ll be available in one trim for £40,995, which is about a £3,000 uplift on the top-spec Civic it shares much with and pretty much matches for equipment levels. About £10k cheaper than a Type R, too, although A) you won’t be able to buy that for much longer and B) it feels a different beast altogether.

We should commend the Honda Prelude for what it is: A cool-looking, nicely put together, and decently valued coupe with some pretty interesting tech on board. Its powertrain quirks are just a little too much to elevate it to greatness.

We know ever-stricter emissions regulations mean the glory days of the sports coupe are truly behind us, but that doesn’t stop us from wondering what the Prelude could do if Honda raided its parts bin for a 1.5-litre turbocharged engine and a six-speed manual.

The stats

• Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder hybrid
• Gearbox: Single-speed with Honda S+ Shift
• Power (bhp): 182
• Torque (lb ft): 232
• 0-62mph: N/A (est. 8 seconds)
• Top speed: N/A
• Weight: 1460kg
• Starting price: £40,995