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I've been limping around in a rather shabby poverty-spec Clio for the last 18 months, and it's finally got too expensive to fix. It's annoying, because mechanically it's almost perfect. It's the sodding immobiliser ring in the ignition barrel. It's a good couple of £hundred for a replacement, and as I only paid £150 for the car in the first place I'd wouldn't be adding any value to the car if I got it fixed.
I've spied a 1998 Prelude within 30 miles of home for an extremely reasonable price. 84,000 miles, water pump and timing belt just done, and 11 months MOT. We've currently got a FK2 Civic for family duties, and I'm impressed with the quality and reliability, so I'm hoping for something similar in the Prelude. Is there anything dreadful waiting for me if I scrap the Clio and get the Honda? I'm unsure about the 4-wheel steering malarkey, for instance. Anything I should know about it, or any other potential gremlins?
I had a 4g Prelude, the H22 engine was fantastic.
My 4ws went a bit dodgy but resoldering the relays in the 4ws ECU fixed that.
Boot space wasn't great, not a good biking car tbh.
Great handling car though, surprised me how much grip it could produce whilst cornering.
I had a 2000 Prelude 2.2 Motegi ( limited) for a few years and it was lovely to drive. The 4 wheel steering is odd at first as it feels like the car is drifting slightly. Very well built and reliable all the time I owned it. I sold it to a local garage who then sold it on and apparently the gearbox went 2 weeks later. The warranty didn't cover it and cost the poor chap 2k apparently. Would I have another one?? Yes, if they still made it. I think spares are hard to find too as somebody drove into the back of it and I had to wait 3 weeks for the repair company to source a new bumper.
Check the price/availability of spares. My Accord type R had a receipt for £230 for a rear abs sensor when I looked through its history folder.
Ouch!
These were unusual in their day and for bangernomics purposes that might worry me as some of the parts (eg 4ws) will be quite specialist and not abundant in scrap yards for cheap spares. There were also some grey imports to Japanese specs (I looked at one before deciding to big a risk, 10+ years ago).
I guess the question is is it cheap enough that you could live with writing it off financially if something major went in the first year.
Having said all that I suspect it would have a good chance of the fabled Honda reliability!
Oh and if it's the curvy one the rear and boot space is awful from what I remember of one owned by an old sailing friend but a very comfy place to be if in the front
I had the curvy one (Japanese import) and not only was the boot space tiny but the rear passenger size was cramped too. The front seats were just about on the floor meaning that rear passengers couldn't get their feet under the seat.
It being a import didn't cause any issue with spares either, the real differences were in the engine.
Mechanically perfect with the only fault being the £200 immobiliser ring? Just get it done! I wouldn't gamble on changing it for something else, unless you are ready for a change and just using it as an excuse 🙂
I changed my first car when the steering rack went and I was looking at a bill heading for £800 on a car worth £400. In hindsight, would have been cheaper to repair it but I used it as an excuse to upgrade to something much safer/newer.
I take it 200 quid for an imobiliser ring includes alot of labour ?
I forsea scrap prelude in the next couple of months if your playing bangernomics using garage. It gets expensive quickly.
Are you sure its the ring and not the immobiliser key?
Dodgy rings/keys can sometimes be sorted by gluing the chip/old broken key inside the steering column. Obviously the insurance may not be happy but who'd ever know?!
An old mate of mine had one on an R plate. Bloody hell it was fast and at high revs that engine sounded awesome.
That said, you could be heading into money pit territory with a 15+ year old limited release motor.
as I only paid £150 for the car in the first place I'd wouldn't be adding any value to the car if I got it fixed.
You don't repair cars to add value!
Any old car could have a host of problems. If you fix your Clio you'll have one that you know is sound and you'll only be £150 out of pocket.
Just because a fix is more than the market value of a car does NOT make it non viable. Market vale is not the true value.
'98 car will be a MkV with folding rear seats rather than the fixed seats with ski hatch in the MkIV, so space is less of an issue.
Make sure the engine doesn't smoke when changing gear at high revs and check that 5th gear engages nicely with no grinding, it's a known fault.
4ws can be disabled if it does go wrong.
Great handling cars with superb engines and gearboxes (when 5th works).
Much better drive than any modern tat; 1.9tdi owners need not apply!
I had one for a brief stint while my situation sounded a bit like yours. Had it about 3 months and put 6k on it so while it's not like I drove it for long it needed nothing in that time other than when someone bent the door mirror back and broke it, I got another off eBay but as said above there aren't as many being scrapped as more common cars. Nice cars for the money and reliable.
Edit: mine was on over 100k with part service history. Cheap enough not to worry.
I wouldn't gamble on changing it for something else, unless you are ready for a change and just using it as an excuse
Well there is that 😀
18 months is a LONG time in a gutless, asthmatic shopping trolley when I've always enjoyed something a bit... livelier. And the insurance is a good bit cheaper on the Prelude too, for some reason - £175 vs £240.
I think the seemingly high cost of sorting the immobiliser is due to it being hardwired to the ECU. From what I can gather I need new keys, new immobiliser and new ECU for it all to work properly. And then someone has to wire it all up. Mechanicals I can fix, but electrics are a mystic art.
From what I remember of Clios the immobiliser issue is a big ticket item that you can't do at home, IIRC it was the death of a few.
Are you sure it has 4WS? The BB6 2.2 VTi is listed as 2WS so shouldn't have any gremlins lurking in that department. Engine-wise the H22 is a common engine (see also Accord Type-R and Euro-R) so spares should be easy enough to come by. I'd say do it, Hondas of that age are generally as reliable as their reputation suggests, if you want proper advice and buying tips I'd suggest heading over to Lude Behaviour: http://www.ludebehaviour.co.uk/
2.2 Vtec is a lovely engine but it wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding at anything under 5,000rpm.
Are you sure it has 4WS? The BB6 2.2 VTi is listed as 2WS
Every UK MkV VTi I have driven has been 4ws.
dirtydog - Member2.2 Vtec is a lovely engine but it wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding at anything under 5,000rpm.
Utter toilet trotted out by people that compare Honda engines to engines with similar power outputs rather than similar capacity.
Unless you can point me in the direction of all the other 2.2l engines that produced 200bhp [b]in the 1980s?[/b]
Every UK MkV VTi I have driven has been 4ws.
According to Wiki (not the most accurate source granted) it was only from '99 onwards that the VTi had 4WS.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Prelude#Fifth_generation_.281997.E2.80.932001.29