1988 Honda Prelude Si from North America - Comments

The Sunroof is cracked and the seal is out. Every time I stop and it has rained the water just pours into the cockpit.

The exhaust is totally gone, the tail pipe totally fell off the muffler.

The passenger side seatbelt does not work.

The brakes need to be fixed.

There is rust everywhere on the car. Its not all the way through, but it seems to show up over night.

The front windshield is cracked.

The plastic side molding on the door beside the window fell off so there is a lot of wind noise.

The transmission slips when trying to pass someone.

The paint has faded with no hope of reviving it. I kept it washed and waxed until it would no longer shine up after winter.

The buzzer for the headlights being left on works when it wants to. I have left my lights on 4 times in the last month because I forget I turn them on when I'm driving to work.

I'm really not sure Id buy another Prelude of this year. Possibly a new one.

Even with all the problems it has now its still a great little car. When it runs it doesn't leave me stranded which is surprise.

All the parts that are failing on my car other than the transmission and the rust haven't gotten any worse. They still keep the car from running daily and they really don't have anything to do with the run ability of it. That's just sad.

My boyfriend has a '92 Grand Am with 170,000 miles on it and has way less trouble with his car than I do mine. His car is in worse shape do to his lack of money. All of the parts on his car that are going out are going to go out sooner than mine, but his car starts everyday.

Wish the build quality on these cars would have been better. I loved it when I first got it. Even with all the effort I put into keeping it nice, nothing seemed to help.

You've got to be kidding me. You bought a car that is now 16 years old with 150,000 miles on it and expect it to not have problems and to not spend a penny on it. Of course it's going to have rust on it! It's 16 years old!

It is well known that older Hondas are prone to rust. That is the only *real* fault they have. The fact that the windscreen is cracked and the seatbelts don't work isn't the car's fault. Either you are a negligent owner or the previous owner (s) didn't take care of the car.

And like the other person who commented said, it's a 16 year old car. Sooner or later you are going to have to spend money on it. End of story.

It sounds like your car just wasn't taken care of properly by either you or the previous owner (s). I have a 1988 prelude that I purchased in 1995 and the only problems I have had with it have been that the rubber coating on the trim under the windows dry-rotted and the paint oxidized. Mechanically, I have maintained it, and it has remained sound. The paint oxidation was my fault for using dish-washing detergent to wash the car (it strips the wax and eats at the paint -use actual carwash soap to save your paint). Also, waxing you car too much can actually harm the paint, especially if you are polishing it also. If you live somewhere where salt is used to de-ice roads or near a beach, any car made up until the early 1990s is going to rust; cars now are usually sealed to try to prevent excessive rust. And your car is old; it is going to have some problems with exhaust, electronics, and trim, just like you will get grey hair and wrinkles.

In order to stop that sunroof waterfall, all you need to do is

pop the trunk and take out the trunk panel cover thingies on each side of the trunk area, there are little black plastic push-in clips that hold it on. So take those off and look around back there and you WILL see a hose that goes into the metal, take that out, take the end off and clean all that gunk out and cut off those little flaps on the hose ends. Do it to each side, there is one hose on each side of the trunk behind the panel. Once you do that, your sunroof should no longer pour inside of the Prelude. Also, those sunroof drain tubes that I just explained how to locate and fix are also the culprit for the infamous rusting around of the back lip of the quarter panel, that rust problem is due to a design fault from Honda. Good Luck, take care of your car and it will do the same to you.

I can't believe you have the nerve to talk down on a Prelude. I've owned 7 cars in my 2 years of driving, and my 1988 Honda Prelude is the only one that can handle my abuse. I paid 400 for my prelude about a year ago. The sunroof seal has been replaced, rust has been sanded out and I've had to replace both front fenders due to rust. My exhaust was shot, replaced it. This car is amazing, for 16 years old and 190,000+ miles with a 17 year old behind the wheel with a heavy right foot... it's a beautiful, reliable car. I don't push it anymore, I give this car my respect. It passed the TUFF emissions we have with the ORIGINAL EGR/Catalytic converter! My 1989 Toyota Celica couldn't even do that! And it only had 140,000! 1988-1991 Preludes do have Automatic transmition issues. I'm not exactly sure because I went with the amazing smooth shifting 5 speed. Id say work on it a little at a time. Fix that seal for the sunroof. Then get that transmission checked out estimate for rebuilt/replacement with a JDM model. Then start working on the rust and then at last paint it. These are very good cars, Honda is known for reliability and the Prelude is the Top of the line Honda. Civics, Crxs, Accords just don't feel like they fit me as well as the Prelude (I'm 6'0 210lbs).

God Bless you, I believe you 100%. I was a smog inspector in a major US city and one of the main cars we hated to see coming was a Prelude. They all failed, every one of them. I also was a party to a Civic that disintegrated by 160,000 miles.

Being charitable, most Civic and Accord issues were related to letting the valves and pistons touch dance thanks to an undermaintained Timing belt... but those problems are UBIQUITOUS!

Hondas are colossally overrated. I'd rather have a Pinto.

I had a different experience with my 88 Prelude Si. It has been a great car, but after 132,000 miles I was faced with a stringent California smog test for older cars. If it failed or was a polluter, I was going to donate it. The only problem I had with the car was with the paint (black and I used dishwater liquid to wash it and live in sunny California where it wasn't garaged). The recommended place to have it painted was near the special smog station.

When I took the car in to be smog checked, the mechanic left and about ten minutes later said he'd like to go over the results. He showed me what was average, and in all cases my car's scores were way off the charts in the right direction! Afterwards, I drove by the paint shop and left it to be repainted. Now it is my second car, and it is getting me around until my Volvo undergoes its recall (possible engine fire). I drive my Prelude around town for fun.

Ever notice that there always seems to be someone who wants to detract from the Honda and Toyota reputations?

I know this isn't a comment about this car, but really I have noticed that for every few hundred people that are extremely satisfied with their Hondas, there is always one person who had a bad experience and so insists that this must mean the reputation is some sort of conspiracy or fabrication meant to mislead people into buying what are actually horrible cars.

Then always comes someone who comments on the review to back them up, and further their strange agenda to always cite the few bad experiences with these cars as some sort of evidence to prove their vendetta.

You can't argue facts. Repair histories are factual, mathematically measurable pieces of hard data. That data shows that Hondas and Toyotas have a much higher than average reliability. Why is it so hard for some people to just accept that as the truth? Do they have some personal reason to hate these companies? Did someone in a Toyota say something about your mother? Did someone in a Honda cut you off this morning? It boggles the mind.

This is interesting. Everyone slams the European cars and then uses Honda as the ruler of civilization when it comes to reliable cars. When someone posts something negative about them they go ballistic. :)

I had a 1988 Honda Prelude. It was a great little car and was fun to drive. That of course was until it hit 200K. My well maintained nearly perfect car went to h*** in a hand basket FAST. Most of the accessories such as the Alternator, Water pump, Power steering pump and A/C compressor failed one after another with very expensive repair costs. My CV joints went and then the clutch went as well. Essentially the car fell apart as if it was designed to do such right at 200K.

Ever notice why you don't see many Japanese cars above 200K while there are tons of Mercedes and Volvo's with much more than that?

So basically you're saying parts which got old needed replacing?