[Carscoops] Honda Can Build A Prelude Type R With A Turbo And A Manual, But It Won’t (Claims it will cost north of $100M to R&D)

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narwhal_breeder@reddit

“We’ve got different cars for different customers. This hybrid powertrain fits this car … and when we planned it as a global vehicle, everything made sense to us.”

Translated: “We disagreed this is what western markets wanted, but we were overruled by Japanese leadership, who think technology for technologies sake is the root of a good sports car, like the NSX”

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hi_im_bored13@reddit

the 2nd gen NSX was mostly an american project though no?

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narwhal_breeder@reddit

It wasn't a blank check with a blank blueprint given to California.

The only major edict was that the NSX had to showcase Honda’s next tech leap, so it became Sport Hybrid SH-AWD, but then engine development was handed off. Japan/Tochigi handled the engine, hybrid system, and transmission.

So the only real input japan had was that the car advance the technologies Honda wanted to publicise, which at the time was SH-AWD and a hybrid system.

IMO - all of the technology Honda was trying to showcase with the OG NSX made the sports car better. I don't think you can say the same thing about the new one.

I spent some time in a non-Type S this year - not enough, but I found the chassis pretty faultless on the road and the powertrain "fine". Definitely curious as to what your Type S is like.

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hi_im_bored13@reddit

The type-s isn't much better, you have a tighter transmission & power comes on slightly stronger, Otherwise its just as flawed as any example from this gen, with a better beak

Still, that hybrid integration is much better than what you'd find in the E-ray or Artura, IMHO, even if it's dynamically far worse overall. Also, fantastic visibility. Thats about it

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narcistic_asshole@reddit

Yea no shit they're not doing that.

I do think it would have been cool if they had made a variant of the combustion engine in the hybrid system that sacrificed a bit of efficiency for a bit more fun. Imagine a high-revving NA engine akin to the older Honda performance engines.

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Nefilim314@reddit

This shit again.

Not every car needs to cater to broad spectrum car enthusiasts. Shit, not even enthusiast cars appeal to all enthusiasts as a monolith.

There is a niche market of buyers out there who just want a comfortable, relatively practical car that looks unique and is kind of fun to drive and they aren’t hung up on min-maxing performance to dollar value. I’m glad those people finally get the model that they want.

If I wanted a Type R with a manual, I would just buy… a Type R. It already exists. You can buy it.

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noSSD4me@reddit

Agree with this: not every single model needs a manual, sporty "hard core" variant" - some models are perfectly fine being... just what they are.

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noSSD4me@reddit

Yeah, if only Honda had a CTR and Si in their line up to borrow a drivetrain from and play with it, wouldn't that be great? Oh wait...

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mgobla@reddit

This is a Civic Coupe, no matter what Honda says.

What actually cost them money was developing the different body for Prelude. They spent all that money on the new body and now they wont make back that money bc they refuse to use the same engine options as for the sedan. Any engine they use in Civic they could easily put into this, it would not cost much money, why would it.

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HawtGarbage918@reddit

Kind of a misleading title here. The whole point of the quotes is that they can't because it would cost too much!

This is like saying "LeBron James Could Dominate the WNBA, But He Won't [claims he doesn't want gender-reassignment surgery]"

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PlutoniumOligarch@reddit

Some YouTuber will do it for less than $10k.

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TaskForceCausality@reddit

Some YouTuber will do it for less than $10k

Honda could too, if they could legally ignore safety regulations and engineering standards.

Also, contrary to the r/cars hive mind, nobody’s clamoring to spend $50,000+ on a FWD Honda coupe. Not even this one.

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diethyl2o@reddit

Genuinely curious because I don’t know: haven’t these been resolved with the Civic Type R? Is the Prelude so different in terms of engineering/platform/chassis?

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Crapitron@reddit

What kind of article is this?

This feels like MacRumors for iPhones, but for cars. Is that what Carscoops is?

Honda could build a Japanese Canyonero with 25 seats and a twin turbo w12 if they wanted. But it won't.

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