NEW HONDA PRELUDE DRIVEN

FIRST VERDICT We take to the track in Honda's reborn coup é after its star turn at Goodwood

- Alastair Crooks

HONDA Prelude is a name we haven't seen on a new car in the UK since 2001. However, unlike some other companies that have resurrected famous badges on cars that are very different to the original, Honda is largely sticking to a trusted formula. The new Prelude is a two-door coup é - like its predecessors.

We expect to see the Prelude arrive in the first half of 2026, joining a rather depleted coup é market that includes the BMW 2 Series and little else. But don't let the sleek, sporty design and a platform shared with the Civic make you think that this is some sort of replacement for the hot Civic Type R, which is bowing out this year with the recently announced Ultimate Edition (see Page 9).

To find out just what it is, while the new Prelude was drawing the crowds at Goodwood's Festival of Speed, we managed to sneak away to Thruxton circuit in Hampshire to drive the very same car that had been taking on the Goodwood hillclimb 24 hours before.

The car we were driving was a pre-production model, but we were assured it was 99 per cent reflective of the car that'll be available in Honda showrooms next year.

The company has been particularly secretive about the new Prelude's technical makeup, but during our track session we did find out a bit more - firstly about the powertrain. It's based on the same setup as in the latest Civic hatchback - a 2.0-litre Atkinson-cycle petrol engine with hybrid assistance - albeit with some notable tweaks.