Test drive Honda Prelude 1996 - 2000 compartment

Honda Prelude

Dogs stop ears and tails. Autofirs stop their standard models. The goal is one to create a special breed. But some act differently they grow it. So Honda Prelude was born
 
5 fingers compressed in a strong fist is Honda Prelude. And the point here is not only that as many as 85.7 horsepower was removed from one liter of the working volume of atmospheric engine. And not only in the fact that in his class he has the best specific mass of only 7.1 kg falls on each horsepower.
We say Honda ... The motor sounds surprisingly musically. With a sharp and intensive acceleration, there is practically no traditional strained roar, even when the tachometer arrow bounces to maximum values. But the most interesting thing happens at 4 and 6 thousand revolutions. As if the machine has another breath, and it continues to break forward with double energy. A very high -speed motor is amazingly elastic. Even over 100 km/h in the highest gear, the energetic pressing of the gas pedal causes immediate and tangible pickup with intense acceleration.
Prelude easily maneuverates in a slow street stream, bypassing, in essence, only two transmissions of the third and occasionally the second. As soon as at least a small clearance between the bums of the neighbors is formed, the car, sometimes even screaming with tires, makes a sharp and quick jerk from the place and literally screwed sideways into the resulting niche
... we mean VTEC. The car owes such properties primarily the main highlight of its motor: a three -stage VTEC. What does an electronic system for changing the height of valves and phases of gas distribution mean. It works briefly like this: at the first stage of two inlet valves, only one is involved in each cylinder; Then, with a sharp press on the gas pedal and increasing the load on the engine, when the number of revolutions reaches 4000, both are turned on at the same time, and on the third stage (6000 rpm), their rise in their rise increases by about 2 mm along with the expansion of the opening period. In addition, at this step, the nozzles are triggered with a hollow, shooting more a mixture per unit of time. At the same time, the exhaust valves open to a large height. Thus, its adequate nutrition, the most optimal conditions for combustion of the working mixture and removal of the exhaust gases are ensured at all operating modes. The next stage is turned on both with a smooth speed set, and with a sharp press on the gas pedal.
The result is a high initial torque and its stable characteristic in the range from 2 to 7 thousand revolutions. Hence the elasticity and dynamics that struck us in a variety of modes. And the other, no less important side of the high economy of the engine, since gasoline is consumed exactly in the quantities in which it is necessary in a particular situation.
Ballet on the asphalt. Prelude's behavior on the road caused the only association: a professional ballerina. Squeezed technology and air lightness. Impeccable passage of turns. A clear and pure execution of all kinds of maneuvers: from sweeping maneuvering between the strips of a multi -row highway at high speed, when you have to constantly go around trucks that love to accommodate on it in a checkerboard pattern, to sharp step to the left, a step to the right in a sluggish urban crowd. This is how the operation of the electronic steering system of the rear wheels 4WS is manifested.
The electronic brains of this system take into account a whole range of factors: the speed of the car, the number of engine speeds, the speed of rotation and the angle of rotation of the steering wheel. The commands from the computer enter a walking electric motor, which runs the rear wheels at an angle from 1.5 to 6 degrees, depending on the situation. At a speed of over 20 km/h, they turn in the direction of movement, and less in the opposite. The second to facilitate parking.
In combination with a rigid independent suspension, very clean handling is provided. A cool turn without urging to skidding Preelude takes about a speed of approximately 15 percent higher than that, which would become critical for the usual front -wheel drive car without stabilization systems. The action of this system was clearly manifested in a situation where it still managed to call this skid: where in the usual situation the feed would have already flown out of the turn, Prelude began to slip through the entire building, evenly, and it was not the slightest labor to catch it and return to the given path .
We foresee the question of the thoughtful reader: what if the cunning electronics will refuse? According to manufacturers, the system has a high reserve of reliability, but in case of a sudden refusal, auto -return is provided in its starting position, after which the rear wheels will work as in a regular machine.
Epilogue about the prologue. Summing up a brief report on acquaintance with one of the representatives of the Honda family, we could say that this car has the right to be called a real sports compartment.
The play of words here is clearly not accidental. Prelude can be called a prologue for the story of an interesting family of sports cars in a coupe and supercars. This car is not designed for the general public. The circle of its consumers, as well as consumers of other similar or more expensive and exclusive cars of this type, is extremely narrow and specific. They are intended for real connoisseurs, independent, consisted, free and modest of selfish people.
Text Andrey Timofeev, photo Alexey Ilyin

 

Source: "Autopilot"