Yes, I managed to skip to the head of the line and got assigned to the new 'Lude !
Early impressions: while not a Type-R, it's fast, it handles and despite driving it like my 23 y.o. self, it sits at 5.5 l/100 km at the moment.
Need to download pics for you guys... Already posted one on fb.
You've driven a Civic Hybrid, and now you have this. Is it worth the upcharge over a Civic Touring?
Well, the test is over.
Driving to work this morning, driving carefully due to strong winds / iffy surface / all-seasons, minding my business in the right lane of the highway and nearing my exit and WHAM! All of a sudden I have the grille of a semi pinned to my window and I'm skidding sideways in front of the truck at 70-80 km/h.
The truck never saw me and changed lanes into me, punching the car on the driver's side right in front of the rear wheel, pivoting me like in a police chase and pinning me to the front of the truck. Not a fun ride.
No airbags deployed, the car never stalled. After police report etc. done, I drove it to the Honda dealer the fleet manager indicated - it ran fine, but for the dangling mirror, whose cap was sent flying into traffic at impact. To my major surprise, the electric door handle works, and the door is fully operational. Had this thing had a higher center of gravity / high profile tires, it would probably have flipped. I was afraid of skidding into the other lanes but managed to stay pinned and steer into the skid, foot hard on the brakes as not to plow into traffic in front of us.
IIHS results aren't in, but I'm giving it a 10 for safety. Shaken, but intact.
Holy crap buddy!! Good to hear you are ok, should have worn the brown pants today.
F'n Montreal drivers 8)
Good to hear you're all good, must've been a scary surprise for you.
Well that's just about one of the craziest things I've heard.
I bet this is your first 'issue' in a fleet car like that.
My only "previous" was a grandma backing into a parked, brand-new press Camry at the supermarket and cracking the bumper.
The Crosstrek would probably have flipped instead of skidded.
Quote from: Gurgie on Mar 17, 2026, 01:02 PMF'n Montreal drivers 8)
Good to hear you're all good, must've been a scary surprise for you.
In related news, driving back home on Monday a RAM driver nearly changed lanes into me - seems people aren't used to low cars anymore. And yes, my brain went full WTF? as I was suddenly driving sideways with a big effin' grille in my face. It did occur to me that with the TR6, I'd be dead.
How exciting!
For all the wrong reasons..
Quote from: RRocket on Mar 17, 2026, 03:56 PMHow exciting!
For all the wrong reasons..
I need a beer. Makes that beers.
Crazy. Glad to hear you're OK.
St. Patty's Day. Perfect day for drinking beers. You don't even need an excuse.
Whoa! Glad you're ok. Looks like you enjoyed your time with the Lude!
Glad you're good. That must have been scary!
Wow, glad it wasn't worse, and it does look like the car took the hit pretty well. The last few years I was in Toronto I had gotten pretty leery driving low cars on the congested major highways. Had a similar thing happen in Mrs.Firm's red Firebird, we were just creeping along in a traffic jam at like 5km/h and the semi next to me didn't see the low car at all and slowly changed lanes right into us. Rear wheel took most of the hit, some damage to the rear quarter (insurance repair). I realized then that these trucks really can't see, and are not watching out for lower vehicles, in tight quarters.
Glad you are okay Blueprint and that it wasn't your fault that this occurred. I fully expect this to get all the points when talking about the safety. I wonder why the air bags didn't deploy with such a hit, but I'm sure you and Honda Canada are likely happy they didn't, a high five to the side of the head would have added to the confusion and would have put this car on the shelf a lot longer.
Can't say I see much of any reason why someone would pay the amount they are charging for this thing when they could just get the Civic Hybrid and have a trunk load of toonies in savings. This car should have always came with the 2.0T out of the Civic Type R and paired with a proper manual OR they should have priced it just slightly higher than the top trim Civic Hybrid. By doing neither, I expect this to have a similar fate as the CR-Z from a decade or more ago.
Quote from: Johnnymac on Mar 18, 2026, 09:08 AMGlad you are okay Blueprint and that it wasn't your fault that this occurred. I fully expect this to get all the points when talking about the safety. I wonder why the air bags didn't deploy with such a hit, but I'm sure you and Honda Canada are likely happy they didn't, a high five to the side of the head would have added to the confusion and would have put this car on the shelf a lot longer.
Can't say I see much of any reason why someone would pay the amount they are charging for this thing when they could just get the Civic Hybrid and have a trunk load of toonies in savings. This car should have always came with the 2.0T out of the Civic Type R and paired with a proper manual OR they should have priced it just slightly higher than the top trim Civic Hybrid. By doing neither, I expect this to have a similar fate as the CR-Z from a decade or more ago.
The key piece that kept me out of an ambulance is the low speed differential between the two vehicles. I was at 70-something and the truck probably no more than 10 km/h more. I was in the right lane, and - I think - once the car was pinned to the truck it just got pushed into the middle lane after the trucker realized he had hit me and went back into his lane. If it wasn't for the effin' mandatory 2 days/week WFW, I would have been home that morning due to succession stuff later in the week.
I'm also effin' p!ssed at losing the car. That whole Civic vs Prelude, ICE vs hybrid, stick vs no transmission discussion angle was to be tackled this week. From my 24 hrs, the thing is fast, and it feels better planted than a Civic. It's low, wide and has dreamy steering. It felt
special. You can't get that from reading stuff on a screen.
Quote from: Blueprint on Mar 18, 2026, 10:12 AMQuote from: Johnnymac on Mar 18, 2026, 09:08 AMGlad you are okay Blueprint and that it wasn't your fault that this occurred. I fully expect this to get all the points when talking about the safety. I wonder why the air bags didn't deploy with such a hit, but I'm sure you and Honda Canada are likely happy they didn't, a high five to the side of the head would have added to the confusion and would have put this car on the shelf a lot longer.
Can't say I see much of any reason why someone would pay the amount they are charging for this thing when they could just get the Civic Hybrid and have a trunk load of toonies in savings. This car should have always came with the 2.0T out of the Civic Type R and paired with a proper manual OR they should have priced it just slightly higher than the top trim Civic Hybrid. By doing neither, I expect this to have a similar fate as the CR-Z from a decade or more ago.
The key piece that kept me out of an ambulance is the low speed differential between the two vehicles. I was at 70-something and the truck probably no more than 10 km/h more. I was in the right lane, and - I think - once the car was pinned to the truck it just got pushed into the middle lane after the trucker realized he had hit me and went back into his lane. If it wasn't for the effin' mandatory 2 days/week WFW, I would have been home that morning due to succession stuff later in the week.
I'm also effin' p!ssed at losing the car. That whole Civic vs Prelude, ICE vs hybrid, stick vs no transmission discussion angle was to be tackled this week. From my 24 hrs, the thing is fast, and it feels better planted than a Civic. It's low, wide and has dreamy steering. It felt special. You can't get that from reading stuff on a screen.
If you think that car is fast, you should try the Civic Type R, it'll melt your face in comparison. It'll feel planted and steer well mostly due from the Type R components that Honda put into it that the Civic Hybrid doesn't get.
As a sport coupe built for someone who wants style mostly over performance, it's a good car, it just is priced poorly. For just slightly more money you could get a Nissan Z with 400hp, for a couple grand more you can get a Mustang GT, or get a base model Eco-boost Mustang for around $10K less and still have about 100hp more. That being said, the Prelude doesn't really compete in that category of vehicle, in fact I don't know what it's competitor would be.
Quote from: Johnnymac on Mar 18, 2026, 10:23 AMQuote from: Blueprint on Mar 18, 2026, 10:12 AMQuote from: Johnnymac on Mar 18, 2026, 09:08 AMGlad you are okay Blueprint and that it wasn't your fault that this occurred. I fully expect this to get all the points when talking about the safety. I wonder why the air bags didn't deploy with such a hit, but I'm sure you and Honda Canada are likely happy they didn't, a high five to the side of the head would have added to the confusion and would have put this car on the shelf a lot longer.
Can't say I see much of any reason why someone would pay the amount they are charging for this thing when they could just get the Civic Hybrid and have a trunk load of toonies in savings. This car should have always came with the 2.0T out of the Civic Type R and paired with a proper manual OR they should have priced it just slightly higher than the top trim Civic Hybrid. By doing neither, I expect this to have a similar fate as the CR-Z from a decade or more ago.
The key piece that kept me out of an ambulance is the low speed differential between the two vehicles. I was at 70-something and the truck probably no more than 10 km/h more. I was in the right lane, and - I think - once the car was pinned to the truck it just got pushed into the middle lane after the trucker realized he had hit me and went back into his lane. If it wasn't for the effin' mandatory 2 days/week WFW, I would have been home that morning due to succession stuff later in the week.
I'm also effin' p!ssed at losing the car. That whole Civic vs Prelude, ICE vs hybrid, stick vs no transmission discussion angle was to be tackled this week. From my 24 hrs, the thing is fast, and it feels better planted than a Civic. It's low, wide and has dreamy steering. It felt special. You can't get that from reading stuff on a screen.
If you think that car is fast, you should try the Civic Type R, it'll melt your face in comparison. It'll feel planted and steer well mostly due from the Type R components that Honda put into it that the Civic Hybrid doesn't get.
As a sport coupe built for someone who wants style mostly over performance, it's a good car, it just is priced poorly. For just slightly more money you could get a Nissan Z with 400hp, for a couple grand more you can get a Mustang GT, or get a base model Eco-boost Mustang for around $10K less and still have about 100hp more. That being said, the Prelude doesn't really compete in that category of vehicle, in fact I don't know what it's competitor would be.
Kinda did ;) https://www.autohebdo.net/editorial/20251028/acura-integra-type-s-2025-essai-routier (https://www.autohebdo.net/editorial/20251028/acura-integra-type-s-2025-essai-routier)
Thing is - the Prelude would be an easier daily than these three, is more winter proof (traction/stability were great, even on all-seasons) and uses less than half the fuel (and regular grade, to boot). But as you mention, they really aren't in the same category, and nothing really is. I'm still puzzled at what competitors I will list in the review - if any.
Yeah I don't know of any current FWD coupe on the market currently, there are some RWD and AWD ones. I'd probably go with the Subaru BR-Z/GR-86 and Nissan Z as the two competitors, you could maybe put the Mustang Ecoboost in there also.
Crazy, glad you're ok.
+1
Glad you didn't get injured
Quote from: Careener on Mar 20, 2026, 08:17 AM+1
Glad you didn't get injured
Me too. The more I think of the crash, the more scenarios I see where things could have gone really wrong. In milliseconds I went from "
WTF is happening ?!?" to preventing the car from spinning into the other lanes and getting t-boned at speed. And thank God we did not plow into stopped traffic - I would have been pancaked.
Thinking back, I remember not feeling any slowing of the truck on impact - either the driver did not immediately get what was happening, or he just very progressively slowed down as not to jacknife the truck on the sketchy pavement, hence what seemed like a very long ride. Shit that was close.
Glad you're okay, Blue.
Wow. Looks like kind of a best case scenario for an accident like that!
Quote from: Oliver on Mar 23, 2026, 11:46 AMWow. Looks like kind of a best case scenario for an accident like that!
Yup - things could have gone very wrong in multiple ways :(
The review that ended with a Bang! is out: https://www.autohebdo.net/editorial/essai-routier/honda/prelude/honda-prelude-2026-premier-essai/ (https://www.autohebdo.net/editorial/essai-routier/honda/prelude/honda-prelude-2026-premier-essai/)
(https://cms-assets.autoscout24.com/uaddx06iwzdz/5b4fLecul6yfW7KpGlozv3/b23a312e797ed4918b39a1f78e5291e3/2026_Honda_Prelude_-_TD_-_DB_-_260330_-_3.jpg?fm=webp&w=1100)
(https://cms-assets.autoscout24.com/uaddx06iwzdz/5eFjnwWM6CJ9lDgKVf7zZk/c88e17477f1de8c782075a2801590744/2026_Honda_Prelude_-_TD_-_DB_-_260330_-_4.jpg?fm=webp&w=1100)
I have seen old Doug Demuro ranting about how bad this car is for the price and I have to agree.
Quote from: Johnnymac on May 07, 2026, 05:00 PMI have seen old Doug Demuro ranting about how bad this car is for the price and I have to agree.
The car itself is pretty good, but while the price *could* be a bit lower, adjusted for inflation it's pretty much positioned as past Preludes were.