TOCHIGI, Japan — The last manual Honda Prelude Type SH coupe I drove was a 2001 model. Stylish and whip quick, I took it by the scruff of the neck and whipped it around Oakland County, rowing its high-revving VTEC engine with abandon.

The 2026 Honda Prelude is not that vehicle.

The sleek, all-new Prelude, which enthusiasts have been thirsting for since it wowed as a concept at the 2023 Los Angeles Auto Show, is a new coupe for a new Honda generation. It lives up to its name as a gateway to Honda’s latest technology.

Where the last-generation Prelude was a performance brand halo pushing engine RPM and suspension limits (alongside the S2000 sports car), Prelude joins a 2026 model lineup already loaded with athletes: the manual pocket-rocket Civic Si and winged Civic Type R hot hatch. The Prelude’s mission is less track rat and more grand tourer.

I got a sneak peak of Prelude before it hits dealer lots in January. I flogged it from the streets of Ann Arbor to Honda’s test track here in Tochigi north of Tokyo, where the hot hatch proved itself unflappable (if less engaging than its predecessor) with an impressive 500 miles of range.

The 2001 ‘Lude was a shot of Red Bull; the 2026 model is a tasty latte.

Indeed, with the $42K Prelude and $46K Type R, Honda offers buyers $40K-something performance models with distinctive personalities, not unlike what Corvette has done with its E-Ray grand tourer and Z06 track rat at the, ahem, $110K price point.

Like the Z06 with a Z07 package, Type R lets known its intentions right away with a standard rear wing that arches from its back like a scorpion tail. With muscular fenders, black trim, hood scoop and three tailpipes out back, this Orca is ready to hunt.

Prelude, on the other hand, greets you with a dolphin smile.

Its thin, pleasant front grille integrates with equally thin headlights that sweep backward across a sloped hood. That hood gives way to a long, tapered hatchback making for a classic coupe profile that could pass for a mid-engine sports car. It stopped showgoers in their tracks on the ‘23 LA Show floor, and my white tester in Ann Arbor was no less grabbing.

A woman staying in Weber’s Hotel (where I was testing Prelude for the North American Car of the Year jury) came out the front door and made a beeline for the ‘Lude. “I want that car,” she exclaimed.

Also like a mid-engine sports car, Prelude’s big C-pillar comes with serous visibility issues. Pulling out of Weber’s onto Jackson Avenue, the rear blind-spot was, well, blinding. Happily, Prelude comes loaded with safety features including blind-spot assist, adaptive cruise control, auto-braking, and so on. Maybe Honda could option a camera mirror like a Corvette C8?

Coupe also means Prelude’s back seat is tougher to access than a Type R — or any other Civic for that matter. There’s a reason that niche-coupes Prelude, Honda Accord Coupe, Nissan Altima Coupe, Eagle Talon, Infiniti Q60, Mercury Cougar, Chevy SS and Chevy Camaro have dropped away over the years, leaving few choices like the Prelude, BMW 2-series and Ford Mustang: practicality.

Need to seat four? Child seat access? Take the kids to school? The Prelude coupe is more limited than its sedan brethren, which is why even the former-coupe Civic Si has gone four-door. What Prelude does offer, however, is a huuuuge rear hatchback. Drop the rear seats and it gets even bigger.

For coupe buyers, that practicality will get the attention of, say, $40K Mustang Ecoboost shoppers who want hatchback room and rear seat comfort. The Prelude’s five-inch shorter wheelbase than the Type R means just 32 inches of legroom, but that still beats the Ford (and Toyota GR Corolla hot hatch) by three inches.

Prelude doesn’t have the pony car’s natural rear-wheel-drive athleticism, but it’s surprisingly nimble for a front-wheel-drive car because it shares the front suspension and Brembo brakes with the track-tastic Type R. Ooooooh.

At the end of a long straight on Honda’s Tochigi, Japan, test track, I stomped ‘Lude’s ‘Bos and we rotated nicely into a 90-degree hairpin. Credit torque-vectoring technology that brakes the inside front wheel, say Honda engineers, helping overcome the front-wheel-driver’s natural tendency to push. (Hot tip: the formula will get even better in the next-gen Civic, which we had the privilege to test at Tochigi in camouflage.)

In 1997, our colleagues at Car and Driver crowned Prelude the best-handling car under $30,000 ($60K in today’s dollars), beating out rear-wheel-drive hotties like the BMW 3-series, Chevrolet Camaro and Mazda Miata thanks to its similarly sophisticated front suspension, high-revving mill and precise manual gearbox.

As the torquey Prelude exited the hairpin turn, I stomped on the right pedal, and ... what’s this, no manual?

If you want to row a box, get the Type R or Si. Prelude is here as prelude to Honda’s hybrid future. The Japanese brand is going all in on hybrids (like its cross-Tokyo rival Toyota) with a target of being all-EV in 2040. Not only does sixth-gen Prelude not have a manual, it doesn’t even have a gearbox, as twin electric motors translate engine power to the wheels like a single-speed EV transmission.

It’s a drive system but behaves like an automatic tranmsission with synthetic shifts. Expect a low six-second 0-60 mph dash, which beats a Civic Si (6.6) but trails the 315-horsepower Type R’s 4.9 secs, or the 315-horse Mustang EcoBoost’s 4.5.

Honda recognizes the visceral void left by a stick shift, and fills it with ... more tech!

‘Lude introduces a nifty feature called S+ Shift — you can’t miss the American game-show button in the middle of the console — that is meant to impersonate a geared transmission. Your speed freak reviewer frequently punched the big S+ Shift button.

I’ll take SIMULATED ELECTRONIC FEATURES for $42,000, Alex!

S+ Shift nicely approximated an eight-speed gearbox as I tore around the Tochigi Proving Grounds (and Ann Arbor’s Huron River Drive). Simulated upshifts were crisp and downshifts were rev-matched like a manual transmission. I used the steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifters, which even simulated bouncing off a rev-limiter if revved to high. Comical that.

Cruising Ann Arbor’s morning traffic, I was content with the “trigger-shifter” console shifter ripped right out of Honda’s Acura luxury cars. It’s another indication of the Prelude’s upscale, tech-focused vibe relative to boy toy Type R.

My tester’s two-tone salt ‘n’ pepper cabin echoed that sophistication. Paired with Civic’s already appealing honeycomb dash and digital displays, it’s an interior where you can comfortably spend hours on the road.

Hours on track? A used, low-mileage 2001 Prelude Type SH stick shift will set you back about $20K.

2026 Honda Prelude

Vehicle type: Front-wheel-drive, four-passenger sport coupe

Price: $42,000 (est.)

Powerplant: 2.0-liter, inline-4 cylinder mated to two electric motors

Power: 200 horsepower, 232 pound-feet torque

Transmission: Direct drive with S+ Shift

Performance: 0-60 mph, 6.2 seconds (est.); top speed, 126 mph

Weight: NA

Range: EPA est. mpg, NA. Est. 500 mile range.

Report card

Highs: Head turning looks; S+ Shift

Lows: Smaller back seat than Civic; blind spot the size of Rhode Island

Overall: 3 stars

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