Honda combines Type-R handling with hybrid efficiency for 2026 Prelude

Text settings Story text Size Small Standard Large Width Standard Wide Links Standard Orange Subscribers only Learn more Minimize to nav At the end of last year, we learned that Honda was bringing back the Prelude. Although Honda has varied the ingredients over the years, the recipe for the Prelude remains the same: a sleek coupe body and some cutting-edge technology under the skin, like four-wheel steering, as rhapsodized by the verbose but usually insightful motoring writer LJK Setright. Today, the new car broke cover ahead of its arrival in showrooms later this fall. It's a handsome shape, though I can't quite get over the resemblance to the Toyota Prius, at least as far as the nose of the car is concerned. Then again, I'm on record as adoring the shape of the current Priusdid you know its windshield is more steeply raked than a Lamborghini Huracan? But from other angles, the Prelude is more unique. The proportions are low and wide, with some details that signal its sportiness and others that suggest a focus on reducing drag and maximizing efficiency. That makes sense when you know what's under the hood. It's the same 2.0 L Atkinson cycle engine and hybrid system from the Honda Civic, which, in the right hands, is capable of up to 50 mpg (4.7 L100 km). *Reporting by Arstechnica.*