1989 Honda Prelude review from Australia and New Zealand

* Suspension required replacing.

* Leaking Engine Cooling ditribution pipe behind engine required replacing.

* Engine pulley on main A/C, Pump, Power Steering, Generator etc, dropped out of the engine bay, nearly resulting in a serious accident.

* Wiring loom required replacing.

* Engine warning light constantly came on which would put the ECU into idle home mode, causing any engine performance at all to be negligable.

* Every single hose connection required replacing (Honda seem to think wire clips instead of hose clamps are satisfactory and let me tell you, there absolutely 100% NOT vehicle worthy at all).

* Ignition switch caused trouble with starting the vehicle (If you still own one of these cars and your car will not start for no reason at all, then try turning the key slightly and don't turn it all the way (as you would a normal car), I discovered this allowed me to start the car. I'd imagine like nearly every part in these vehicles they wear out faster than normal cars over time).

* Power steering system required practically an entire replacement job.

* A host of less major things relating to body work.

In all fairness to Honda and to those who love them, a new Honda (or so I'm told), is a dream to own and regular maintenance will give you a good vehicle for a few years. However as I discovered from talking with many other Honda owners while I owned the Prelude, most Honda's over 150 000 KM's have a strong tendancy to experience problems. (In case your thinking it, no most cars will not experience problems with age if there well maintained).

When I bought the Prelude it was solely because I'd never had a Sporty style car and wanted to try something out that would suit my budget. Now, some people will state that you get what you pay for, however other Prelude owners I talked to who had payed a lot more for there Preludes experienced at least a few problems like those I had experienced, which frankly I find rather poor for a vehicle in this class.

My first priority is surely everyone's must be when they buy a vehicle: "Is this fit for purpose". In other words, will it do the job and while doing the job is it reliable?

The Prelude is absolutely the most unreliable vehicle I have ever owned. When they worked, the features like, power steering, cruise control, A/C, Pop up lights, were really groovy (the 4 wheel steer really didn't give me any more performance over a Toyota Camry I had owned, but was a lot better than the Holden Berlina), were really nice. It's a shame it was just so unreliable.

To anyone thinking about purchasing one of these, I cannot recommend it strongly enough. Make sure you have the vehicle thoroughly examined by a good /trustworthy mechanic as it's bound to save you many dollars and avoid a lot of dull waiting for tow vehicles.

After this vehicle I went to a Toyota Corolla and frankly for reliability and overall performance, I'd take the Corolla any day. Unlike the Prelude, the Corolla never missed a beat and has been the most trusty faithful car I have owned to date.

If you're an enthusiast, then perhaps you may find this vehicle fun, however my advice is to purchase 'The Dog and Lemon Guide' and check out what it says about Honda Preludes around this year. Basically everything it states that has been well known to go wrong, went wrong with mine and I wish I'd seen this write up before purchasing mine as it would have saved me a lot of trouble and dollars.

I'll end this review by giving the D&LG overall rating: "AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE".