1994 Honda Prelude VTEC review from North America

In the original engine, a seal blew out at 120,000 miles and let all of the oil out of the motor while going down the highway.

I had the engine replaced with a used engine that had 55,000 miles on it.

The timing belt on the new engine broke at 145,000 miles and ruined the engine due to the engine being an interference engine and the pistons impacting the valves. A very costly repair.

The passenger side CV joint failed at 130,000 miles.

The radiator had to be replaced at 140,000 miles due to a crack in it.

Overall, this car is a great compromise. On one end, you get great performance, good gas mileage, and a very sexy looking car. On the other end, at higher miles components start to fail and the repairs for this vehicle are very costly.

This car is very fast for a four-cylinder car. It has a sophisticated system called VTEC, which means it has variable valve timing. At about 5200 RPM during hard acceleration, a hydraulic rod is forced into the camshafts and it changes the lobes to a higher duration, similar to a race engine. When this happens, it knocks you back in your seat and accelerates very quickly all the way to the 7400 RPM red line. The only downfalls of this technology are the high cost of repairs and the need to use premium fuel due to the high compression (10:1) of the engine. This greatly increases the cost of operating the vehicle.

The interior is tiny at best and will only fit two adults comfortably. I did on rare occasions, to the dismay of the individual, manage to fit one more adult in the rear, but they had to put their feet on the seat and could not use the seatbelt. The seats are made of top-quality leather and are very comfortable on long trips. The instruments are easy to read and all controls are easy to reach. The lack of rear-visibility is a real downfall at first, but after driving the car for a while, is not that big of a problem.

I live in a relatively quiet and safe neighborhood in Iowa, but somehow on three separate occasions' car thieves found my car to be attractive and decided to break into it and steal my CD player and CD's, even with an alarm. This car is very easy to break into for car thieves, according to the police that took the reports. Something to keep in mind.

My Prelude gets around great in the snow, for being a semi-sports car. It is front-wheel drive, which helps a great deal. The handling is extraordinary, due to the double wishbone suspension Honda used on all four corners of the car.

Even with all of the expense, I love this car. It is fun to drive and you don't see too many of them on the road. I plan on keeping it for a very long time.