1989 Honda Prelude Si review from North America

Since I bought this car, the only things I have had to replace were mainly general maintenance items.

Namely the timing belt, CV joints, the spark plugs, wires and the distributor cap.

The factory paint was still shiny, but was beginning to break down on the hood area and loose it's gloss.

The speakers were blown out as well, but that was easily repaired by replacing them with a good set of after-market speakers.

This car is extremely reliable and very fun to drive. The stock Intake\Exhaust systems are very restrictive on these little sports cars. I installed an after-market exhaust, and modified the original intake to accept a high flow air filter, which increased performance noticably.

The car has over 208,000 miles and in the year and a half that I've had it, has never used a single drop of oil. And never smokes, even when it's cold. The valvetrain is very quiet as well. I have painted it blue and intend to lower it an inch and put 16 inch rims on it in the future.

Handling is superb, and with the stock suspension it will out handle most import cars. The power steering is easy, but still provides a perfect ammount of feedback from the road. It is very stable in deep rolling turns, and yet very nimble in switchbacks wiithout any wallow or body roll. At high speeds it really shines. It will hit 100mph without hesitation, and 120+ is easily achieved. The engine pulle hard all of the way from idle to redline, but with a noticable powerband in the 4600-5500rpm range. I intend to lower it an inch or two to increase downforce and stiffness to better suit my aggresive driving style.

The interior provides a sporty feel, the front seats are very comfortable, and the driver side has adjustable "wings" on each side that will keep you firmly planted in the center of the seat while cornering.

The stock pedals are a little small for me, so I installed a good set of aluminum pedals. I also shortend the shift lever to achieve a shorter shif throw, and installed an aftermarket shifter knob. Stock sound system has AM\FM radio with factory CD and Casette. The speakers were blown in my car when I got it, so when I installed new ones I installed and 180 watt head unit whith a 200 watt amp hooked up to two 8.5 inch mid\sub speakers in a custom built box that fits behind the fold-down back seat, Which can be folded down to expose the forward-facing speakers. (Looks cool) Squeaks and rattles are minimal for a car of it's age, and the interior components are well thought out and easily accessible.

Coming from someone with a vast range of automotive performance and mechanical experience, on a scale of 1-10, I give this car an 8 overall.