thats the question, my car may be totalled, so im thinking of getting a lude, the only thing stopping me from getting a 4th gen is the dash, looks like one of those old station wagon dashes. anywho, def lookin for a vtec model, but is the sh option really worth it? i only plan on dropping it, with maybe prokits, and get an intake for awhile. isnt it harder to find parts for the sh? i think i heard that somewhere?

 

Why do you want a lude so bad? Everything about the lude kinda sucks. It is not a race car and it is not a luxury. You are better off going with an integra. Plus they don't make as much aftermarket.

 

To go SH or Base is not the question. GO BASE and you will have a number of possibilities. PRELUDES DO NOT SUCK!!!
Since you only plan in a few simple mods-much like mine, all will be good. You need to consider you driving style and whether you want to autocross or do track days like we are doing in addition to travel. My Lude sits for the winter, but is a dream both on and off the track. I have friends with Integras and they are nice cars too-just not the same as a Lude.
The ATTS on the SH only functions at very specific times and conditions. Better to spend on Koni Shocks and a rear sway bar in my experience. I also have upper strut tower bars front and rear; don't need lower ones on either a 4th or 5th gen (IMO). Another point-ONLY the 5th gen has ATTS available. With the additional money saved get yourself a Quaife LSD.

Happy Luding

 

Usually I'm not one to bash....but ludes and autocross in the same sentence. Come on. They're big, heavy, and slow. If they're so great why where they discontinued? Because they had no sales niche. No one was buying them. like I said before they are too big and heavy to be race cars and too sporty to be luxury. If you don't believe me call any local race or performance shop and ask them how many preludes they have that are race cars.

 

Stops the flames or I start locking.

The Prelude is a popular car at plenty of autox and track events Iv'e been at. Integras and Civics are more common place due to aftermarket support and cheap price tags. The Prelude is bigger then both those car but it also has a larger motor with more hp. The 350z is a big heavy car but I would say it's not a sports car.

 

getting back on topic, i wasnt even thinking of autocrossing it. maybe just the strip. ive always liked ludes, i had a carbed 84! phear the dual carbs! haha, but yeah, a base model makes more sense.

im just hoping allstate totals the car, sorta, i love my accord, but i want something faster and newer. if not, they better eplace everything that i have on it.

 

The handling difference between base and Type SH is negligable. You really have to push it VERY hard to notice it. When I bought mine, I tested both of them, and I felt the 3000 price difference was not worth it. True, you get a spoiler, leather shift knob, and body color kick pannels (instead of the charcoal trim), but I got the spoiler, shift knob, and fog lamps and still came out 1000 ahead for what I bought the car for. As for modding the suspension, from what I've seen and heard, it is a little more tricky to mod with the ATTS. I'd probably suggest getting a base, and you will save some money to do the mods you want. Don't let anyone tell you that Preludes are inferior: they drive with finness. They aren't tight little rockets, nor are they slow, either. They are a really good balance of everything you could want in a sports car.

 

Hmm, just this monday I went to davis (ca) and drove a base 2001 lude and drove a hour to drive a 99 gsr for the express purpose of compairing the cars. I'm not considering the SH for 2 reason's. I want real LSD benefits, not just when cornering a certain amount of g's and I want LSD benefits while NOT corning at all. Plus it's not something I'd want to go out since I plan on keeping the car a long time.

On the lude vs gsr thing I have concluded this. The gsr is a more aggressive car when it comes to flinging the car around the equivelent of a road course or autocross course. It's lighter weight and narrower track allow this. Also it's clutch/shifter/gearbox do allow for more percise shifting when it matters the most. The lude has much better low end power and it night and day better in noice/vibration/harshness control, which give's it a more expensive feel. Both car's feel like they can accelerate the same and all the tests I've seen agree with that. In the end it comes down to this. I know I can tune either car's suspension to maximize their abilities, however I'm convinced the gsr would be more enjoyable driven down a mountain road. However long term the preludes better low end and better isolation are more appealing for the long term. Both cars are great, but they are different.

 

The primary reason that the Prelude was discontinued was sales. Honda had to decide if it should produce a car that only sold 20-50 thousand units. And Honda was comparing those figures against the Civic and Accord which both averaged over 300 thousand units.

Honda had always used the Prelude to test and develop new technology for the other other models. So it has a mix of sports and luxury attributes. The first car that V-TEC was offered on was the Prelude. The first Honda that had power windows and a power sun/moon roof was a Prelude.

Also if it wasn't for the success of the technology developed for the Prelude then Acura would not exist. Because the Acura marque is just the expensive Honda, just like Lexus is for Toyota. And the Preludes sales were hurt by that preception. "Why buy a $25,000.00 Honda Prelude when you could get an Acura for just a little more?" That's an actual quote that a salesman used on me when I was looking at Preludes.

So what it boils down to is that the bean counters won a battle that the orginal Mr. Honda wouldn't have let them win. He developed the first Prelude to be his test bed for new technology for performance, racing (check what the Honda factory teams used to race), or comfort.

It's always a sad day when something that represents the spirit of innovation is destroyed by pure cold-hearted greed. But it happens.

Our loss

Sorry for the sermon.....I just feel strongly about some things....like my car!

 

I agree with everything, and I wouldn't reply to you except for one minute little detail: please, please, please..... it's VTEC. No dashes. I know I'm nit-picking, but I think that annoys Honda people more than anything else.

Oh, yeah.... technically speaking the NSX had VTEC before the Prelude did. Again, minute, but important. The gist of your post did bring out good points. I love my Prelude, anyway.