Hard Choice: '96 Si or '97 Prelude (Suggestions?)
 

I know I'm gonna be asking a biased crowd, but....

I find myslef in a bit of a tough situation. I have the oportunity to get my hands on a 1997 Prelude for a VERY good price, but I have to decide whether it's worth selling my car or not to get it.....

I've had my '96 Si for just over two years now and I've slowly been getting it the way I want it, but now I have a close family friend that is planning on selling her '97 Prelude. It's lady driven (mature woman), bone stock, and has had the majority of its service done at Honda. Here's a little list of things I need to consider:

1996 Civic Si
Black
~278,000 km on car (still in great shape)
~90,000 km on swapped motor (2000 d16y8)
Manual tranny
tinted
drilled rotors
face-off deck
mp3 cd changer
amp
a/m speakers
alarm
cai with K&N
dc sport header
2.5" stailness mandrel cat-back
short shifter
SiR rims
tires
winter rims and tires
less than 1 month old complete body work and paint job (exterior is flawless)
two brand new OEM headlight assemblies

Pros
All the improvements listed above
Cheap on parts and repair
Motor is cheap and easy swap (in case I blow it again...)
Very fuel efficient, can use regular fuel
Stick
Still has room for improvement (ie: boost)

Cons
Will lose all the above
Not as powerful as Prelude

1997 Prelude
Black
~180,000 km on car and motor
Auto with triptronic
lady driven (mature woman)
completely stock
winter tires
stock rims
no tint

Pros
H22 (lots of power)
Lot's of room for personal alterations
Lady driven (very carefully)
Service done at Honda
winter tires

Cons
not as fuel efficient, premium fuel required
auto
more expensive to repair and for parts
need to invest money into aftermarket items (ie: I/H/E)
will want to get a paint job (original paint may be faded)

I REALLY love my Civic, but I've always really liked the Prelude. In fact it was one of my first choices when car shopping, and now I have chance to get one... So that's my bind. Any suggestions? (even other pros/cons)

Thanks!

Auto. nothing more to say

Read up about those tiptronic transmissions Honda put in the lude.
They seem to have a lot of problems....

exactly wat i was going to post. and if the tranny ****s up, they are impossible to rebuild (even for honda themselves) and it is so rare to find a replacement auto prelude tranny.

whats a tiptoinic tranny? O_o..

I love preludes..and, this is a "biased forum"..but...

prelude parts arn't as widely avail as civics...engines, interior and exterior parts, suspension pieces, etc....

you know the history of your civic, the body especially, and the quality of the work done....that for me is a big one personally.

imo - i'd do a clean low km b series (or find a block and do a clean simple internals build, nothing too hectec)...find a nice mild brand name turbo setup, and run 8lbs.

quick, peppy, fresh engine and boost is fun.

the money you'd spend getting that prelude up to spec, you could really breathe new life into your civic. (that, and i love the 96 SI rear and front end combo's....EG style tails, with the EK style front end. sexy...)

well for me, I wouldn't even consider the prelude because it's automatic, but hey, everyone's different.

H22s in those preludes are notorious for burning INSANE amounts of oil. I swaped one last week with under 120k on it that had regular oil changes. It was burning so much oil it went through 4 litres per 1500 km.

Personally id stick with civic. Cheaper on insurance, easier to work on, cheaper on parts. Heck if you want the power just bolt in a b, or if your set on a prelude just swap in an h series

keep the civic. or make the prelude your daily driver and keep the civic as your project car

I was getting tired of my Si until I swapped a b20 + decent suspension and now I'm enjoying it all over again just like when I first got it

Man, with the extra money you will have to spend to upgrade the prelude (not to mention its auto) you could easily swap in a b series into your civic and have comparable performance (probably better cuz the lude is auto) and save money and have a way more fun to drive car. I am in love with my b16 hatch, and i kno b16's aren't the most powerful engines, but id have way more fun makin this car a prelude eater than goin out and buying a prelude. So would most of us, thats why were on the toronto civic club website

u can find a tranny for a lude... thats not too big an issue... and the oil thing is not every lude, though i've heard about it a lot.


it's ur car, so at the end of the day who cares what we think.....
you already know the pro's and con's about both cars, so just make ur desicion based on that