The new Honda Prelude wants you to settle down into a long-term relationship

The Honda Prelude is a curious machine. The Prelude name itself dates back to the late 70s and over five very different generations the model walked the line between staid, dependable transportation for mildly gregarious retirees and heavily moddable road racer for young JDM enthusiasts. Yet after the fifth generation ceased production in 2001, the model wasn’t renewed.

That was until last year, with the arrival of Prelude gen 6, inspired in part by the fan community centred on the earlier cars and the absence of something a little more dynamic in the staid Honda line-up. The production car had been trailed by a concept car revealed at the inaugural Japan Mobility Show in 2023; the finished result is very similar.

Underneath, the new Prelude shares components with the best-selling Honda Civic (now on its 11th generation), but the design is almost wilfully idiosyncratic. The two-door liftback body is not exactly elegant, nor does it conform to any accepted standards of beauty and proportion.

It’s ungainly from some angles, with awkward cab-forward proportions, a stubby nose and long tail that conceal the car’s 4.5m+ length. It all conspires to give the Prelude a certain propulsive quality, as if the whole car is leaning forwards, and hints at power, rather than practicality.

The coupé is one of the most impractical typologies, one where form emphatically doesn’t follow function, but instead chases desire and status. It’s a shape that speaks to lack of external responsibilities; a car dedicated to its driver (and passenger), with a form factor that precludes banal day-to-day side quests like trips to a furniture store or giving three friends a lift.

And yet the Honda Prelude is having none of this. It’s not especially quick, although it is good to drive, and somehow the designers have found space for two rear seats and a substantial boot. Admittedly, back seat passengers will find their heads rubbing against the tailgate glass, but full points for trying. Even the Prelude’s long-lived nameplate implies that the car will never be the be all and end all of automotive sophistication.

Such staid and surefooted coupés flourish amongst owners who pride reliability over raucousness. There is definitely some clever hybrid tech at play here, with a modest battery driving the front wheels and charged by the 2.0 litre engine. The latter only contributes additional horsepower when required.

These are summoned using the ‘S+ Sport’ mode, which uses the steering wheel paddles to control a virtual 8-speed gearbox, which simulates the feel of changing up through the gears via a combination of software and brake regen. It’s fake but feelsome and while it might not get a true enthusiast’s pulse racing, it gives the car a little bit more character.

The interior is a much more successful concoction. Manual controls are paired with a modest screen, which in turn has simple, unpretentious graphics. Up front, seats are comfy and the view out is good, although as noted, back seat passengers won’t put up with it for long.

Honda reliably comes up with a selection of quirky cars despite its massive market share. Models like the late lamented Honda e passed effortlessly through the concept to production pipeline, and the new Prelude is in a similar vein. They stand in stark contrast to the multitudes of Civics, Accords and HR-Vs found around the world.

Yet all is not well in Hondaland. Last month it was reported that the company made its first annual loss in seventy years with much of the blame going on the slower than expected shift to EVs. More to the point, Honda barely offers any EVs in the European market; like its competitor Toyota, the company cracked the art of the hybrid but fumbled the shift to BEV.

The European arrival of the precious but pricey Super-N might help turns things around but cost-cutting saw the cancellation of a dynamic pair of futuristic EVs, the Honda 0 Saloon and Honda 0 SUV, that could have done much to re-shape the company’s image.

Another problematic jigsaw piece is the rise and rise of Chinese competition, bringing new features and regularly shuffled model launches at a pace that Honda cannot profitably achieve. For now, the one thing the Chinese brands don’t have is the fabled Honda reliability.

Honda’s cars might not set pulses racing – as the Prelude demonstrates – but they carry an unimpeachable reputation for longevity. The question is, do we want our cars to be regularly swapped out for better models just like smartphones, or to be a mode of transport that’ll accompany you for a decent chunk of your life?

Honda Prelude e:HEV, from £41,595, Honda.co.uk