i had a 97 with many troubled miles, brakes, susap creak new clutch at 60K. Leaking/burning oil....granted i autoXed a lot and drove her pretty hard.
i know alot of people with preludes, and never heard this before. i guess it ultimatly depends on the driver. i dont care how expensive or 'high performance' your car is, if the driver beats the hell out of it, it isnt going to last.
and like fastball says, keep up with your cars fluids and stuff... always helps.
just my .02$