I don’t like the past. Period. The good old days doesn’t work on me, because I understood that our psychological biases plays trick on my mind to say things are better in the past. Even if the past is “better”… Can we really go back to the past? And if we can condition things to be like in the past, I go back to my first point, was it really?

Anyway, Honda Prelude.

The Prelude name lies dormant for about 20 odd years, and out of nowhere, it suddenly makes a return, with a Prelude concept that envision Honda electrified future. I thought that the Prelude concept is pure electric and I was dead wrong… Turns out it’s a hybrid. The media is hyping that the new hybrid Prelude will feature a manual, but that’s where things get weird…

Let me tell you one secret if you’re driving Honda hybrid with e:HEV badge… You’re driving an electric car…

Well not an electric car per se, but this is the thing I admire about Honda engineering prowess. Honda engineers understood that the pain point for electric car is its battery as current battery tech degradation to Honda engineers is still unacceptable. However while other automakers making EV left and right, Honda engineers have to put their foot in making something EV related or else experience wise they will be left behind, and that’s where they focus on the other equation of an EV… The electric motor.

Honda electric motor application on its hybrid system have been around since 2014. What Honda engineers developed through the year which in its 4th generation today (2024) is making the whole unit smaller, more compact and more powerful. At its current generation, Honda electric motor is now producing 181 horsepower (US) across Civic, Accord, and CR-V hybrid with a total output power combined with the gasoline burning engine at around 200 horsepower (US). As Honda hybrid today is a series-parallel hybrid, it’s basically an electric car up to highway cruising speed where the gas burning engine take over and the electric motor went idle.

As an electric car (first), there’s no such thing as gear, because electric motor torque is constant all through the rev range unlike internal combustion engine. The gears on internal combustion engine exists because at certain point of the engine revolution, its power drops so shorter gears are there to pick up the power on the lower speed and longer gears at the tail end to maximise efficiency by allowing the wheels to spin faster than the engine revolution at faster speed.

The idea of having a manual gear on an electric car is stu… Wait, Hyundai does what with the Ioniq N?

Anyway… So Hyundai gave its performance EV a “manual” mode, which basically mimics an internal combustion engine with a selectable fixed gear. While I do understand the feel, but the purpose is self defeating. The point of electric motor is to provide consistent power delivery without any delay or response. Automakers raced to adopt dual clutch transmission to minimize torque dip when changing gears in the past, even Honda applied a patent for triple clutch gearbox in 2016 to further reduce torque dip.

With the rumors that Honda Prelude will bring back spirited driving, I assume some kind of selectable gearing mechanics will be implemented on the Prelude, simulated and everything in between. Even though I don’t like the concept of simulated gearing, marketing wise this is actually an expected strategy. Those who enjoy driving will most likely are older who experience times when performance cars drive like the old times, inefficiency and everything.

I’m still scratching my head about where the Prelude will be positioned as. Sure the Accord and Civic coupe is no more, so it’s basically a slot in replacement for the model, but this only means that the Prelude is basically made for US market. I don’t see the Europeans with their fancy public transit system and connected railways across Europe suddenly develops a taste for a space inefficient two door coupe sports car…

Well, godspeed Honda! Let’s see what kind of magic you can do with the next Prelude… Also, how about that hybrid for developing country….