The Prelude Is Again: Hybrid Coronary heart, Kind R Bones, and a Trick “S+ Shift” That Fakes the Enjoyable

After a 25-year hiatus, Honda simply pulled the covers off a brand new Prelude that goals straight on the candy spot between effectivity and really feel. It’s a smooth two-door with a hybrid powertrain from the Civic Hybrid, chassis {hardware} borrowed from the Civic Kind R, and a brand new social gathering trick referred to as Honda S+ Shift that simulates efficiency upshifts and rev-matched downshifts.

Assume grand-touring vibe with actual Honda nerd DNA. Gross sales start this fall for the 2026 mannequin 12 months.

What Honda Introduced Again, and Why It Issues

The sixth-gen Prelude lands as a 2+2 liftback that appears decrease and wider than a Civic, with flared fenders and a hunkered stance. Underneath the pores and skin, it pairs Honda’s two-motor hybrid system and a couple of.0-liter Atkinson-cycle 4 for a mixed 200 hp and 232 lb-ft, the precise headline figures because the Civic Hybrid.

The twist is the chassis: dual-axis entrance struts to kill torque steer, adaptive dampers, a wider monitor, and four-piston Brembo fronts sporting Prelude-blue calipers, all tailored from the Kind R. The consequence reads like a contemporary tackle what the Prelude at all times did finest: accessible tech, tidy dimension, and a chassis that invitations you to go discover a again highway.

S+ Shift, Defined in Plain English

Hybrids with a single-speed drive can really feel a little bit… CVT-ish. Honda’s reply is S+ Shift, a selectable drive mode that makes the engine rise and fall like a traditional efficiency gearbox. With the metallic paddles, it simulates fast upshifts, blips the throttle for downshifts, and can even “maintain a gear” so the soundtrack and tach conduct match what your palms and ears anticipate.

It’s theater, positive, however it’s progressive theater aimed toward reconnecting drivers to the rhythm of acceleration and braking with out including mechanical complexity. Should you simply need easy hybrid serenity, depart S+ off. If you would like a little bit drama, click on the button.

Inside: Grand-Touring Consolation With Actual Usability

The cabin takes a premium flip for a Honda coupe. Distinctive leather-based sport seats (black or two-tone with houndstooth sample), a ten.2-inch digital cluster with performance-friendly layouts, a 9-inch heart display with fashionable telephone integration, wi-fi charging, and an eight-speaker Bose system set the tone.

The rear seats are usable in a pinch, the backrests fold, and the liftback cargo space seems genuinely sensible for a weekend away or a golf bag. It feels extra like a compact GT than a monitor toy, which inserts Honda’s pitch: long-legged consolation with sufficient chew to make a detour price it.

The Numbers and Timing You Care About

Output is 200 hp and 232 lb-ft, front-wheel drive solely. Count on gas economic system to be Civic-Hybrid good, with Honda’s shopper web page hinting at mid-40s mpg mixed. One well-equipped trim is probably going, with pricing steering touchdown someplace within the mid to excessive 30s, relying on choices.

Honda says the automobile goes on sale later this fall as a 2026 mannequin. Shade us curious to see the place the window sticker lands relative to a loaded Civic Hybrid and, on the opposite finish, a Civic Kind R.

Fast Take: The Proper Sort of Comeback

Would a six-speed guide make fanatics swoon? Completely. However the best way Honda has framed this automobile is sensible. By utilizing the confirmed two-motor hybrid for on a regular basis effectivity, then bolting on Kind R-grade suspension and brakes, the Prelude will get bona-fide dealing with credibility with out chasing lap occasions. S+ Shift is the inform that Honda understands the emotional facet of driving and is keen to engineer a few of that suggestions again right into a hybrid.

If it steers like a Honda and rides like a small GT, this might be the uncommon fashionable coupe that feels particular at authorized speeds and reasonably priced to dwell with every single day.