Is it worth getting a 5th gen lude these days?

[QuintessentiaLs]

Hi, my bro is currently looking around for a car and was wondering is it worth the price and maintainance to get a 5th gen lude these days???

[Hooman]

for sure, they are great all round cars....test drive one and u will be hooked.
perfect balance of sport/style.

[IndoStyler]

haha...i would never have thought that Will would think abt getting a prelude....but yeah, read ur email Geoff :D

[IndoStyler]

ohh yeh, one thing i forgot to tell u, engine maintenance is pretty easy, would cost around the same as to maintain most hondas

[Hans Bond]

for the best result try to get the 99+, coz they have better engine, transmission and trim (if you're lucky you can get the dual-colour black-beige leather trim)

[QuintessentiaLs]

That's the one I'm looking at atm lol

[IndoStyler]

haha...yeah thats wat i've told u geoff...get 99+

[Brash22]

I'll admit I was in teh same boat before I bought mine. I'd always loved the styling of them, but was it worth that much, I mean a late model turbo nissan is the same sort of money for a lot more straight line performance. Even the early Type R Integras are the same sort of money these days.

After driving one I just had to have it. As Hooman said, the perfect balance of performance and luxury. Sure, it's not as fast as a turbo nissan, but nissan owners know nothing of a nice car.

[will.i.am]

just make sure its manual!!!!

[HarryS]

Whats wrong with Auto-Triptronic??

[he-tec]

manual > tiptronic..

[Hans Bond]

the auto tiptronic gearbox is not as strong as manual one. If you need to rebuild your auto gearbox, it will cost you at least $2,500 and not everyone will be able to rebuild a tiptronic gearbox. Another alternative is to get a new auto gearbox from honda dealer - i heard it will cost you up to 9k including installation.

[will.i.am]

Whats wrong with Auto-Triptronic??

the only 2 people i know that have an auto(tiptroinc) prelude have had to rebuild them after about 120,000k's - thats not very good considering most gear boxes can go to the 200's without needing rebuilds....

also, it is NOT TIPTRONIC - tiptronic is a manual gearbox with an automatic selected and they have minimum of 5 gears just like a manual box.

the prelude has a semi-automatic which is different... the way i see it is - most 4 speed autos have a hold button which allows you to hold each gear.... now imagine driving with the hold button on all the time and just moving the stick from 1st,2nd.3rd and D - its really the same thing...

sorry to all you semi auto people, but if u wanna drive properly, get a manual!!!!

ALOT LESS PROBLEMS TOO!!!!!

[aaronng]

the only 2 people i know that have an auto(tiptroinc) prelude have had to rebuild them after about 120,000k's - thats not very good considering most gear boxes can go to the 200's without needing rebuilds....

also, it is NOT TIPTRONIC - tiptronic is a manual gearbox with an automatic selected and they have minimum of 5 gears just like a manual box.

the prelude has a semi-automatic which is different... the way i see it is - most 4 speed autos have a hold button which allows you to hold each gear.... now imagine driving with the hold button on all the time and just moving the stick from 1st,2nd.3rd and D - its really the same thing...

sorry to all you semi auto people, but if u wanna drive properly, get a manual!!!!

ALOT LESS PROBLEMS TOO!!!!!
No mate, tiptronic means it is an auto that lets you select which gear you want sequentially through a +/- shifter gate or through paddles/buttons on your steering wheel. They can have any number of gears, 3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10, all tiptronics as long as they are autos with a torque convertor and allows you to select which gear you want.

Using the hold button only holds the lower gear. So if you had a non-tiptronic box in 3, and held the hold button down, it would still downshift to gears 1 and 2 if needed. The tiptronic would hold it in 3rd and not shift to 1st or 2nd.

[yfin]

I'll admit I was in teh same boat before I bought mine. I'd always loved the styling of them, but was it worth that much, I mean a late model turbo nissan is the same sort of money for a lot more straight line performance. Even the early Type R Integras are the same sort of money these days.

I think the Prelude is great if you can get a good price. The trouble is many Honda owners are just dreamers when it comes to selling their cars. If you look on carsales look how many 2000 series Preludes there are for around $20,000. Some with well over 100k cilcks. There is even an 01 SI for $23k!!! Far out- just not worth it - especially when you see Redbook value for private sale 2000 Vtir man

Prices based on km 70,000 - 130,000
Trade in price guide* $10,800 - $12,600
National average price - private sale* $13,600 - $16,600

[Hans Bond]

well.. not only honda owners. Holden owners are the same and even worse. I saw a lot of holden owners want to sell their car for $15k or more while the private sale value is only $5k!!!


I think the Prelude is great if you can get a good price. The trouble is many Honda owners are just dreamers when it comes to selling their cars. If you look on carsales look how many 2000 series Preludes there are for around $20,000. Some with well over 100k cilcks. There is even an 01 SI for $23k!!! Far out- just not worth it - especially when you see Redbook value for private sale 2000 Vtir man

Prices based on km 70,000 - 130,000
Trade in price guide* $10,800 - $12,600
National average price - private sale* $13,600 - $16,600

[nvmee]

well.. not only honda owners. Holden owners are the same and even worse. I saw a lot of holden owners want to sell their car for $15k or more while the private sale value is only $5k!!!

lol. SOME holden owners, thank you very much


I think the Prelude is great if you can get a good price. The trouble is many Honda owners are just dreamers when it comes to selling their cars. If you look on carsales look how many 2000 series Preludes there are for around $20,000. Some with well over 100k cilcks. There is even an 01 SI for $23k!!! Far out- just not worth it - especially when you see Redbook value for private sale 2000 Vtir man

Prices based on km 70,000 - 130,000
Trade in price guide* $10,800 - $12,600
National average price - private sale* $13,600 - $16,600

same with the bikes as well ffs, u can pick up a 91 cbr250 at the same price as 99 cbr250s -____- . its newer + lower Kms too


take a look for yourself

http://www.bikesales.com.au/as/search/s.do?makeID=37&modelID=569&page=0&y=17&selectedModelIndex=35&selectedMakeIndex=32&state=2&x=56&currentPage=1

[boosted_andy]

Preludes are great cars...but they are only getting older... :(

[philBo]

Hi, my bro is currently looking around for a car and was wondering is it worth the price and maintainance to get a 5th gen lude these days???


yes/no. really depends on what you're able to afford and ultimately want in a car. a 5th gen lude is a very nice car, and im sure your brother would be most satisfied with one.

[Leprechaun]

anything is worth what the buyer is willing to pay for it... if he likes them then i reccommend he go have a look at a few, and test drive them, let the car sell itself on him... Who knows he may not like how it rides etc. one of my mates pick up a gen 5 vtir quite cheaply and he loves it (tiptronic mod.)

good luck with it

[FiniX]

id say it is worth it.. they are great cars to thrash! they can handle pretty much hehe

[jaffa_cree]

5th gen prelude VTIR are very cheap these days and in my opinion a better buy than an equivalent year model civic/integra VTIR.

I see 99 EM1/DC2 that costs more than a 99 Prelude VTIR for a car that costs alot more when brand new. I sold my 1998 Prelude VTIR for a very cheap price that had extras, long rego, and great condition not long ago. The prices of the 5th gens are coming down alot when i tried to sell it as every other one on the market was priced very cheap. So i am sure you can pick up a bargain if you looked around.

The only thing i don't like about the vtir are the lack of low down torque.

[Mrkrooz]

^^ ture....i think lately the 5th gens have been flooding the used markets hence the market value dropping.....but still nice cars none the less...

[Fo55il]

My homeboi has got one - he had to get a new tranny after like 1 month of buying it (second hand)

I rekon the person he bought it off wrecked it and he was just unlucky! U cant really tell how bad the transmision is when buyin a car, unless theirs obvious problems eg, bad clutch/Wierd sounds etc!

If u buy it of a old lady then chances are that the tranny is better than if u bought it off sum youngin, but cant realy generalise it at that!

Personally i wouldnt get one because ive heard mostly bad review about the triptronic/semi auto box - what ever u want to call it.

Get a manual, youll enjoy it better especially if u get d vti-r, nothin like d sound of VTec, + u get 5 gears compared to d auto 4 lol

Good luck wid yo decision !

[sx16]

man 97-01 are prettu much same engines same trim and same everything
there was cars that come with leather trim and yeah but other than that diff between lets say 97 and 01 is 4 kw and this is what pple say so who knows

just get one that suits ur budget and low km whether it be 97 or right thru to 01

trips are not a problem unless you thrash it like any auto car , theres many many pple with trips and none had problem with theirs, the bad tranny is a myth and only happened in us not here

happy hunting

[phily]

I'll admit I was in teh same boat before I bought mine. I'd always loved the styling of them, but was it worth that much, I mean a late model turbo nissan is the same sort of money for a lot more straight line performance. Even the early Type R Integras are the same sort of money these days.

After driving one I just had to have it. As Hooman said, the perfect balance of performance and luxury. Sure, it's not as fast as a turbo nissan, but nissan owners know nothing of a nice car.
this is true, and after owning a turbo nissan, they are the cars that arent worth the money, not the ludes.
sure their cars make vvrrrrrr-CH noise and whistle after 3K, but they get boring.


ive owned 2 preludes and i absolutely love them! Quality, interior and styling are excellent!
compared to my mates newer EK Civic and even my mum's 2001 Vti hatch civic, the quality just doesnt feel the same.

what does this have to do with the price of fish you ask?

the prelude is a luxury car, so it'll be higher quality than an entry level honda. it will be comfy, they have lots of standard features like sunroof and ABS and Airbag.

[Jonald]

What should i be looking at paying for a 97 vtir?

[merr.]

i'm thinking of selling mine ... manual, vtir, atts, low kms. log books, regular dealer service, all stock, with pioneer dvd player and alarm with window lifters. hmmm... thinking thinking...

[Hans Bond]

mm.. stock vti-r atts.. very tempting ;)

[Ru$kI]

For a 97 model...you'd expect to pay somewhere around 16k. In saying that I bought mine for 14k, immac. condition, single lady owner, and 94k on the clock.

Just don't jump into buying the first one you see and look around, as you don't want to buy a car you're only 70% happy with

[theseven]

man 97-01 are prettu much same engines same trim and same everything
there was cars that come with leather trim and yeah but other than that diff between lets say 97 and 01 is 4 kw and this is what pple say so who knows

just get one that suits ur budget and low km whether it be 97 or right thru to 01

trips are not a problem unless you thrash it like any auto car , theres many many pple with trips and none had problem with theirs, the bad tranny is a myth and only happened in us not here

happy hunting

100% agree with this statement

[steve88]

im pretty sure 99-01 had the H22Z not H22A's?

[Hans Bond]

H22A1 - 94-96 = 142kW
H22A4 - 97-98 = 143kW
H22Z1 - 99-01 = 147kW

[steve88]

thats the baby i want! i only got a EK1 atm but all my mates keep telling me a EK4 civic would chop a H22Z1, you reckon so?

[La0styl3r]

im pretty sure 99-01 had the H22Z not H22A's?



yep. mines 99 n my mates were tellin me its a h22A. jus saw it a few mins ago properly n its actually H22Z1. ! LOL
so ur right on there man :thumbsup:

[Bludger]

No mate, tiptronic means it is an auto that lets you select which gear you want sequentially through a +/- shifter gate or through paddles/buttons on your steering wheel. They can have any number of gears, 3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10, all tiptronics as long as they are autos with a torque convertor and allows you to select which gear you want.

Using the hold button only holds the lower gear. So if you had a non-tiptronic box in 3, and held the hold button down, it would still downshift to gears 1 and 2 if needed. The tiptronic would hold it in 3rd and not shift to 1st or 2nd.

actually, Tiptronic is a Porsche trademark used to name its semi-auto gearboxes.

Other makers have different names eg. steptronic, sequential sportshift, e-shift, etc.