Gf wants to buy a "99--5th gen--VTIR" .. What to look out for?

[xcwizit]

Hi guys,
Currently looked at a couple of 5th Gen preludes for the girlfriend. I want to know more knowledge from you VTIR owners out there, what to look out for when inspecting one?

Appreciate any feedback and advice!! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[aaronng]

Have you tried searching on preludeaustralia?

http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/showthread.php?t=82957&highlight=inspection

[JSpec3]

http://www.preludeaustralia.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44671&highlight=buy

[Ero_Sennin]

depends if your gf is after a manual or auto gen 5

[r3ckless]

auto/tip tronic ones, gearboxes will fail msotl ikely! , find a manual.

[Ero_Sennin]

well when they reach the 100000 they will start to fail. this in turn means a costly service and possibly a transmission changeover by recoing it. and its a costly amount for auto ludes in comparison to, say an auto r33. i got my auto tranny recoed a year and a half ago and it cost me 2300 bucks, some other places charge more then that and at 1 time 4000 just to reco the auto tranny. only the 97-early 99 auto ludes tend to fail after driving between 15000 to 20000. but if you dont use the trip tronic, youll last out till 30-40000. servicing the auto transmission after that should cost 1000-1500 so as long tis still under the service warranty

( if im wrong, lemme know)

[xcwizit]

thanks for the replies guys. shes after a manual. so i guess she wont have any manual problems seeing that most 5th Gen complain about the auto transmission stuffing up. anyway always good to have you gf driving a manual.

[gumus89]

Yeah thats right.
As was suggested above, preludeaustralia has most of the information you will need to know.

[MWAKU]

well i have a 99, my gear box is fine

its the 97 98 models that have dramas, they revised the gearbox after 98 so 99+ models are sweet.. they failed cause something about they couldn't control/disperse the heat generated from the gearbox properly or someshit when it was under pressure from hard driving or w/e and thats why it fked up. dont quote me on this lol

[tsg88]

Interesting thread... the ol' Preludes have caught my eye, might make one my next car. Will probably be sick of Manual by then so the Semi-Auto sounds appealing in the VTI-R. Good to know I need to look 99 and above if I go down that path... looking online they are like hens teeth in Manual... but I would love one in Manual.

Are the Prelude an expensive thing to maintain? Whats a service and parts like for them... I hate 'exclusive' cars that the local mechanic can't find parts for. Its happening with our 4x4 more and more, just cause its the luxury model.

I actually looked into the older Preludes before jumping into the Civic, but for what I wanted I had to spend at least double my budget, which put it into next car territory.

[Ero_Sennin]

put it this way, if youre going to get a semi auto lude ( BB6) be prepared to pay for any transmission services which can cost quite a fair bit. and if the transmission do end up giving out ( mostly in the 97-98) be prepared to fork out at least $2500 just for a reco reco repair. the char is simply not cheap to fix, and knowing 1st hand since im driving a 97 lude vtir. take it from me, look into getting a manual one or a 99 semi auto since it last longer. also if youre planning to get a semi auto, take MWAKU's advice and dont thrash the daylights out of it

BTW since my transmission repair, its been going alright for nearly 2 years now. still it was a b*tch on my cash pocket

[tsg88]

$2500 lol, you could buy another car for that. But then it wont be a Prelude... well maybe it could be a Prelude, but an 80's one lol.

[he-tec]

how bout a manual conversion from auto- cost?

[Ero_Sennin]

i remember being quoted for a price when i wanted a change over from auto to manual. unfortunately i forgotten the price, but i remember it was very costly

[CB7_OWNER]

anywhere from 1k-3k, depending on make of car, DIY or paid labour.

[Ero_Sennin]

from an auto to manual conversion?? more then that

[he-tec]

If the cars got high kms then might as well get a h22 half cut with manual box w/backyard swap if its gna cost around the 4k mark?

would it be more of a logical decision rather than forking out 3k+ to swap for another tiptronic box?

[MWAKU]

be more logical to sell it and get a manual

[Ero_Sennin]

indeed MWAKU. i was told if i wanted a manual conversion it was better off selling the auto for a manual instead. less headaches this way then doing a complete conversion

[he-tec]

edit> got a few quotes, its gna be too costly in the end..
5th gen auto boxes = fail

*sorry for hyjacking btw :)

[drifter]

Engine problem is another thing to look out for when buying a Honda prelude VTI-R 5th GEN.

[MWAKU]

engine problem? define? any sources to back that up?

i know no one with a prelude that has "engine" problems

[dwn_boi]

Depending on where you live etc, Do a thorough check on insurance and how much it will cost, I know when I first tried to insure Nrma and Gio wanted in excess of 6k!!! I'm 22 now and that was 3 years ago, also ING no longer insure Prelude drivers under 25 (thats who I'm with now, I went with them about a year ago as they were te cheapest, $1800, and I don't live in the ghetto either lOl) So just be sure to check that out too!

Also as you can see in my thread, the harmonic balancer may be prone to falling out so check for any knocking noises in the engine bay (closer to the wheel arch)

They chew through quite a bit of oil, even without any leaks so keep that in mind too.

Apart from those things I'm really happy with my choise and think it's a real nice sporty chicks kinda car (sorry to the boys who drive one, I still think your cool though :) )