It was in the predawn light north of Los Angeles when we looked down to see the 1999 Honda Prelude Type SH's odometer click past 1000 miles as we transitioned from Interstate 5 to California's northbound State Route 14. Yet, despite this car having been built 20 years ago, this was no memory. For reasons long forgotten, this Prelude coupe was never sold or abused in a press fleet—something we were about to rectify. Instead, it's been preserved by a list of folks at American Honda, its keys passed from one caretaker to the next for two decades. And we've been granted the opportunity to give it some exercise.

This particular Prelude occasionally is displayed in the company's museum but spends most of its time sitting in a dark Southern California parking garage, waiting for its current handler to bust it out for a Starbucks run or a Sunday drive up the coast. When we fire it up for the first time, its odometer reads just 941 miles. It has to be the lowest-mileage, most perfectly preserved Prelude Type SH on the planet. Aside from a set of newer 16-inch Goodyear Eagle Sport all-season tires mounted at some point along the way, it's original down to its clutch and brake pads.

View Photos Jessica Lynn Walker Car and Driver

Hello, Old Friend

The front-wheel-drive Prelude coupe's fifth and final generation debuted for 1997 and included the Type SH, or Super Handling, model and its then new Active Torque Transfer System (ATTS). Exclusive to the Type SH, ATTS incorporated a hydraulically actuated planetary gearset in its differential and a controller that monitors speed, steering angle, lateral acceleration, and yaw rate sensors to direct more of the engine's torque to the car's outside front tire during cornering. The goal of the setup is to provide more neutral handling, but we weren't so convinced at the time. Although we praised the Honda's handling in a November 1996 road test, the system's value was questioned considering the additional 44 pounds it tacked on to the car. In a 1997 best-handling test for cars under $30,000, the system conked out halfway through our track testing, but the Prelude's performance didn't seem to change. "We pressed on anyway," we wrote, "and quickly discovered that whatever it was we were missing, we weren't missing much." Nevertheless, the Prelude beat out a BMW 318ti and a Mazda Miata to take home the victory.

Two decades later, our doubts remain. On the tight mountain roads north of Malibu, the Prelude strongly understeers when entering corners, and no amount of trail braking seems to help with rotating its rear end. It prefers to corner on the power, but physics are physics, and the Honda's front-to-rear weight balance is terrible. It carries 63.1 percent of its 3035 pounds on its front wheels. Under the hefty hood, its 2.2-liter inline-four is mounted well ahead of its front axle, and the car's 12-volt battery sits just behind its right headlight. The 205/50R-16 Goodyears can only handle so much.

View Photos Jessica Lynn Walker Car and Driver

Revising Our Impressions

In longer, faster sweepers, the Prelude feels easier to place and takes a nice set through bends. Honda didn't fit fancier tires on the Type SH when new, but it did get firmer springs, dampers, and anti-roll bars than the standard Prelude. Around the skidpad, our test car returned a solid 0.88 g of lateral grip, beating the 0.83 g we recorded back in the day. Although there's more body roll than you'll find in modern machines, the Honda's control-arm suspension is tuned exceedingly well, even by today's standards, soaking up midcorner road irregularities without upsetting the car's attitude. The ride is firm but not harsh, and there's far more refinement overall than we expected of a 20-year-old car.

The Prelude feels as if it was assembled with precision. Its panel gaps are tight, and most of its interior is soft to the touch. Its front seats are shaped well enough, but the chaise lounge seating position is dreadful, and the thick velour upholstery is like sitting on bath towels. The Prelude's tight chassis feels impressively solid despite the car's large greenhouse and thin roof pillars. Among the fifth-gen Prelude's body-stiffening measures over its predecessor are a reinforced rear bulkhead, additional crossmembers, and a steering-column support stretching between the A-pillars.

View Photos Jessica Lynn Walker Car and Driver

We once called the Prelude's chassis unflappable and said that it had Formula 1–like steering. Today, the Honda's helm feels slower than we'd like, and its 15.6:1 ratio means you have to shuffle the wheel in your hands when navigating tight mountain roads. That said, the Prelude's steering is so precise and its feedback so organic that it should be used as a reference for steering engineers all over the world. The Prelude's brakes also are extremely communicative and easy to modulate, although our test car's 195-foot stop from 70 mph is significantly longer than what we've previously recorded for the Type SH.

Sound and Fury

Honda gave the Prelude a light refresh in 1999, which included a new exhaust header and revised valve timing that bumped the output of the "big block" 2.2-liter H22A4 four from 195 to 200 horsepower when paired with a five-speed manual, the only transmission available for the Type SH. The gearbox is geared extremely short to keep the four-banger on boil. While there's not much grunt to be found below 2500 rpm, there's meat in the engine's midrange, and the Prelude can reach 60 mph in second gear. Things start happening above 3500 rpm. The engine feels as if it's hard-mounted to the chassis, and you can adjust the Prelude's cornering line with small throttle adjustments. With the engine spinning at 4100 revs at a 80-mph cruise, passing maneuvers on the highway rarely require a downshift.

View Photos Jessica Lynn Walker Car and Driver

When you want real power, however, you have to rev the big four-cylinder past 5250 rpm, when Honda's VTEC variable valve timing and lift system finally kicks in and switches to its higher-lift cam profile to unleash the engine's full 158 lb-ft of torque. Horsepower peaks at 7000 rpm and redline is at 7400, but the engine will spin up to its 8000-rpm fuel cutoff if you keep your foot in it. Worked hard, the Prelude can feel like a poor man's first-generation NSX, and it sounds like one, too. But the old Prelude, despite its VTEC drama, is not as quick as it feels. At the test track, a 5000-rpm launch elicits a bit of wheelspin, and the Type SH will bolt to 60 mph in 7.0 seconds and cover the quarter-mile in 15.5 seconds at 90 mph. Those times are roughly the same as what we recorded 20 years ago, yet about a half-second slower than a 2019 Honda Civic Si's with its modern turbocharged engine that doesn't need to work nearly as hard to deliver full thrust.

The fifth-gen Prelude, along with other Hondas from around the turn of the century, are cars that helped solidify the brand's reputation for advanced engineering, performance, and quality. They dominated our comparison tests back in the day, and many made our 10Best Cars list multiple times. After a week behind the wheel of this new 20-year-old Prelude Type SH, it's easy to understand why. No, it isn't up to today's standards, but in many ways it set the standards of its time. Hey, Honda, what other cool old cars do you have hidden away in dark corners?

Specifications Specifications 1999 Honda Prelude Type SH VEHICLE TYPE

front-engine, front-wheel-drive, 4-passenger, 2-door coupe BASE PRICE (1999)

$26,365 ENGINE TYPE

DOHC inline-4, aluminum block and head, port fuel injection Displacement

132 cu in, 2157 cc

Power

200 hp @ 7000 rpm

Torque

156 lb-ft @ 5250 rpm TRANSMISSION

5-speed manual CHASSIS

Suspension (F/R): multilink/multilink

Brakes (F/R): 11.1-in vented disc/10.2-in disc

Tires: Goodyear Eagle Sport All-Season, 205/50R-16 87V M+S DIMENSIONS

Wheelbase: 101.8 in

Length: 178.0 in

Width: 69.0 in

Height: 51.8 in

Passenger volume: 81 cu ft

Cargo volume: 9 cu ft

Curb weight: 3035 lb C/D

TEST RESULTS

Zero to 60 mph: 7.0 sec

Zero to 100 mph: 19.7 sec

Zero to 120 mph: 36.3 sec

Rolling start, 5–60 mph: 7.6 sec

Top gear, 30–50 mph: 9.1 sec

Top gear, 50–70 mph: 9.4 sec

Standing ¼-mile: 15.5 sec @ 90 mph

Top speed (drag limited, C/D est): 140 mph

Braking, 70–0 mph: 195 ft

Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.88 g EPA FUEL ECONOMY

Combined/city/highway: 21/20/24 mpg DOWNLOAD TEST SHEET Expand Collapse

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