Honda Prelude (BB6) Type S

The fifth-generation Prelude arrived on November 7, 1996, marking a deliberate return to the angular, three-box "Specialty" silhouette that had defined the first three generations before the softer fourth-gen car. Honda pushed the redesigned coupe into the sports-compact segment for the 1997 model year, and used the nameplate to help launch its Japanese retail chain, Honda Verno, before the car reached international markets shortly after.

The Prelude nameplate carried weight inside Honda well before the BB6. It was the first Honda under two liters to get standard power steering, and later generations racked up a string of engineering firsts: optional anti-lock brakes on the second generation in 1983, four-wheel steering on the third generation in 1987, and an early application of VTEC on the fourth generation in 1992. Car and Driver put the Prelude on its annual Ten Best list ten times — 1984 through 1986, then every year from 1992 through 1998.

The BB6 Type SH (the closest USDM equivalent to the JDM Type S) backed that reputation up in print. In a 1997 Car and Driver comparison, the Prelude Type SH beat rear-drive rivals including the BMW 3-Series, Chevrolet Camaro, and Mazda MX-5 Miata, plus front-drive competitors like the Eagle Talon and Ford Contour SVT — the magazine called it "spirited, predictable, and utterly unflappable," even though the ATTS system on the test car wasn't working correctly. In a separate six-car shootout that same year, Car and Driver named a Type SH the best-handling car under $30,000, again ahead of the E36 3-Series and the Miata, based on overall polish rather than raw lap times.

What the Prelude nameplate never built was a serious touring car racing record. Honda's first British Touring Car Championship appearance came at Brands Hatch on July 24, 1988, with a 2-litre Prelude driven by Martin Wray under the Hawes Group Racing banner — and that single outing was the Prelude's only BTCC appearance. When Honda later built factory touring car programs, in the JTCC from 1994 onward and in BTCC through the following decade, it ran Civics and Accords powered by a reversed-head, front-midship version of the H22A — the same engine family fitted to the Prelude Type S, just never campaigned in a Prelude body.

Where the Type S did make its mark was underneath the skin. Its Active Torque Transfer System, first offered on the Prelude Type S from its November 8, 1996 launch, was designed by Koji Shibata, an engineer who joined Honda in 1986 after working at Nissan, where he had developed the HICAS four-wheel-steering system later used on the Nissan GT-R. Honda's motorsport-adjacent legacy with the Prelude, in other words, is a story of transferred engineering talent and drivetrain innovation rather than circuit silverware.

Honda built the Prelude across five generations from 1978 to 2001, with total production commonly cited at approximately 826,082 units before the model was discontinued in favor of no direct successor. Volume fell with almost every new generation as the global coupe market contracted: First generation sold roughly 313,000 units worldwide, with 41,190 sold domestically in Japan; each subsequent generation sold fewer units than the last; and the fifth generation (BB, 1996–2001) was the lowest-selling generation in the model's history, despite offering up to 200 PS (197 hp) in some markets.

That declining trajectory is a large part of why Honda pulled the plug on the Prelude in 2001 without an immediate replacement — and why the BB6 in good condition is considered the rarest Prelude generation to find today.

The Type S trim narrows that pool further. It was sold only in Japan, never officially offered in the US or Europe, and it added Alcantara-style interior trim, embroidered seat lettering, and Active ABS not found on lesser trims. No source has published an exact production figure for the Type S alone; every account describes it only in terms of "small numbers" or "limited numbers" relative to the wider BB-chassis run. General JDM buyer's guides note that the Prelude nameplate overall isn't considered a rare JDM car, but single out the Type S and VTi-R specifically as scarce because they were built in limited numbers for particular markets.

For US enthusiasts, availability has recently changed. All fifth-generation BB-chassis Preludes became eligible for import under the 25-year federal rule as their model years crossed that threshold, with 1996-model BB cars becoming eligible starting in 2021 and later model years following in the years since.

A mid-cycle refresh arrived in 1999, but the core distinction between markets held throughout the run: the JDM Type S used a 220-horsepower 2.2-liter H22A "red-top" engine, so named for its crimson valve cover, a 20-horsepower advantage over the top USDM Prelude of the same era.

Honda's fifth-generation redesign consciously abandoned the rounded, softer look of the fourth-generation car for a more elongated, squared-off shape — a deliberate throwback to the "neat and angular" three-box Specialty styling of the first three Prelude generations. Sixteen-inch alloy wheels became standard equipment for the first time on this generation.

Key dimensions for the Type S, taken from Japanese-market spec sheets: Length 4,520mm; Width 1,750mm; Height 1,315mm; Wheelbase 2,585mm; Front/rear track 1,525mm / 1,515mm; Ground clearance 140mm; Kerb weight 1,310 kg; Fuel tank 60 liters; Weight distribution 63% front / 37% rear.

Reception to the new face was split when it first appeared in magazines. Some longtime Honda enthusiasts reportedly found the design hard to look past, focused on the large "peeled-back eyes" headlight treatment that broke from the sleeker look of the outgoing generation. Time softened that judgment considerably — the fifth-gen Prelude came to be regarded as a genuinely handsome coupe, and Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear went on to call it "one of the best looking Japanese cars ever made."

Inside, the Type S used newly developed synthetic upholstery materials Honda branded "Cabron" and "Excene," designed to read as leather and Alcantara respectively, trimmed with red stitching and offered with embroidered seat lettering as a styling option. Notably, the Type S was one of the few fifth-generation trims (alongside the Xi and some BB9 variants) built without a sunroof, a feature otherwise standard across the rest of the fifth-generation lineup.

Underpinning the shape was Honda's four-wheel double-wishbone suspension, engineered without the tall strut towers a MacPherson-strut layout would require. That kept the hoodline and cowl low, giving the driver better forward visibility over the front end — a practical benefit when parking or threading through tight turns, and a packaging advantage Honda's own engineering team pointed to directly when promoting the redesigned platform.

The Type S ran the 220 PS version of Honda's H22A four-cylinder — a 2.2-liter, DOHC VTEC engine rated at 220ps (162kW) at 7,200 rpm and 22.5kg·m (220.6N·m) of torque at 6,500 rpm, with a 7,500 rpm redline.

Full spec sheet, from Japanese-market databases (chassis codes GF-BB6/E-BB6): Displacement 2,156cc; Bore × stroke 87.0mm × 90.7mm; Compression ratio 11.0:1; Drivetrain FF (front-engine, front-wheel drive), 5-speed manual; Tire size 205/50R16 87V, front and rear; Minimum turning radius 5.7m; Fuel tank 60L.

Honda's engineers pushed the H22A's already-high 10.6:1 compression ratio up to 11.0:1 by redesigning the piston crown, improving combustion burn-off, heat dissipation, and torque delivery across the rev range. VTEC valve timing, lift, and duration were revised as well, with intake valve lift reaching 12.2mm and exhaust lift 11.2mm — figures unusually high for a production engine of that era.

Breathing was reworked to match. The cylinder head and intake port received a manual port-and-polish pass by Honda technicians. The exhaust manifold's internal opening was enlarged while its outer diameter stayed the same; the dual-pipe design switched from oval to fully cylindrical section with 15mm wall lining to cut exhaust interference; the catalytic converter was enlarged; exhaust piping grew from 50.8mm to 57mm; and silencer flow efficiency rose from 97 liters/second to 113 liters/second.

The JDM Type S and the USDM Type SH, despite sharing an engine family, were not mechanically identical. The JDM SiR and SiR-S ran the same high-compression "red-top" H22A rated at 220 PS at 7,200 rpm, while the US Type SH used a USDM-specific H22A4 rated at 195 hp at 7,000 rpm. A European market Type S existed too, running an H22A5 variant tuned to reduced output relative to the JDM spec. On enthusiast forums the gap is often quoted as 220 hp for the Japanese Type S against 200 hp for the Type SH, with the Type S's advantage attributed to higher-compression pistons, different camshafts, and the factory-polished head — despite both trims sharing the same ATTS hardware. One notable running difference between the two: Active ABS was fitted only to the Type S.

Aftermarket suppliers occasionally cite a slightly different figure — one parts vendor lists the Type S at 223 hp rather than the more commonly quoted 217–220 hp / 220 PS — a minor discrepancy that shows up in aftermarket literature rather than Honda's own spec sheets.

Straight-line figures are best documented for the mechanically similar USDM Type SH, given the absence of independently verified Type S test data: 1998 Type SH (198 PS / 195 hp) ran 0–60 mph in 7.1 sec, 0–100 km/h in 7.5 sec, quarter mile in 15.6 sec; 2001 Type SH (203 PS / 200 hp) ran 0–60 mph in 7.1 sec, 0–160 km/h in 18.8 sec, quarter mile in 15.6 sec. A period magazine test of the 1997 Type SH Coupe recorded a 6.9-second 0–60 run, though other contemporary tests (reportedly Motor Trend or Car and Driver) put the same car at 7.1 seconds.

All fifth-generation Preludes, Type S included, stayed naturally aspirated throughout the model's run.

The Type S used the latest evolution of Honda's four-wheel double-wishbone suspension, a layout the company favored for its long wheel travel, low vibration, and precise control of wheel geometry compared with more common strut-type independent setups. The front suspension's roll center sat just 2.2 inches (58mm) above the ground, low enough to minimize suspension-jacking effects and unwanted track-width changes through hard cornering.

Honda's engineers tuned roll centers, track width, wheel offset, caster, and camber together to produce more linear steering feedback, and shaped the front and rear geometry specifically to reduce nose-dive under braking and squat under acceleration. Torque steer, a common complaint on powerful front-drive cars, was addressed mechanically: a double joint on the lower link let engineers set the virtual kingpin axis apart from the actual ball-joint location, cutting the steering-wheel kickback that heavy front-wheel-drive torque usually produces.

Layered on top of that chassis was ATTS — the Active Torque Transfer System first fitted to the Prelude Type S at its November 8, 1996 launch. Unlike a conventional differential that can only send equal torque to both driven wheels, ATTS varies the torque split between the left and right front wheels depending on how the car is turning. Mechanically, it consists of a triple planetary gear assembly fed from the differential, a pair of left/right multi-disc wet clutches, and a hydraulic control unit that manages the clutch engagement.

Journalists who drove the car came away impressed by the combination. One assessment argued that while VTEC got most of the attention, the ATTS system paired with the double-wishbone geometry produced handling "impossibly balanced and precise for a front-drive car" — no understeer despite a nose-heavy weight and power distribution, no torque steer, and no torque reaction of any kind felt through the wheel. Enthusiast forums back this up with more specific detail: in long, high-speed sweepers with generous throttle, ATTS reportedly "hits its stride" to the point that no mechanical limited-slip differential could match it for tightening the cornering line. Not every owner agreed — some considered the system detrimental and wished for a conventional factory LSD instead.

Period road tests were more mixed. Car and Driver praised the car's overall handling in a November 1996 test but questioned whether ATTS's added complexity and roughly 44 pounds of extra weight were worth it. In the magazine's own "best handling under $30,000" comparison the following year, the ATTS system reportedly failed partway through testing — though the car's overall composure didn't appear to suffer for it. Steering itself ran through a control-arm double-wishbone setup with rack-and-pinion steering, with the Type SH receiving a slightly quicker steering rack than lesser trims.

The Prelude name wasn't originally Honda's. It had been trademarked by Toyota, who handed it over to Honda amicably for use on the new coupe. Once adopted, it slotted into a broader pattern of music-themed model names Honda was already using, alongside the Accord.

Enthusiast forums have long repeated a dictionary-based reading of the name — "an introductory performance, action, or event preceding and preparing for the principal or a more important matter," or in the musical sense, "a section or movement introducing the theme or chief subject." That framing is widely circulated among owners, but it isn't tied to any documented statement from Honda itself; no primary-source Honda archive material confirms a "prelude to greater performance" origin story, so it should be treated as long-standing enthusiast interpretation rather than an official company explanation.

What is documented is the car's role as a technology showcase for Honda. As a coupe loosely derived from the Accord platform, the Prelude was the first Honda to feature a moonroof, a feature that stayed standard equipment (barring the Type S and a few other exceptions) throughout the model's production run.

Honda's own more recent commentary, offered around the 2026 revival of the Prelude name, sheds some light on how the company thinks about the badge internally. Designers working on the new model said they hadn't set out with the specific intention of reviving the Prelude nameplate — they were developing a new sports model suited to modern tastes, and "Prelude" simply fit, tied more to being in step with current technology and values than to recreating a car from the past. Honda's chief engineer has spoken about the name carrying long-standing internal meaning tied to innovation and forward-looking product planning from earlier eras of the company.

Public auction data on classic.com tracks fifth-generation Prelude sales across all trims and markets: the highest recorded sale was $60,000 for a 2001 Honda Prelude Type SH, sold June 17, 2024; the lowest recorded sale was $2,250 for a 1997 Honda Prelude 2.2 VTi, sold March 9, 2022; and the average sale price across the fifth generation was $14,697.

The record sale is worth detailing on its own. The $60,000 car was a 2001 Type SH finished in Nighthawk Black Pearl with just 4,900 miles on the odometer since new — a near-showroom-condition example of a model that carried a factory MSRP of $26,450 when new. That result is for the USDM Type SH rather than the JDM Type S, but it illustrates how far low-mileage, well-documented fifth-generation Preludes have climbed above their original window sticker prices as the generation has aged out of daily-driver status and into collector territory.

No comparable large-sample auction dataset exists specifically for JDM Type S cars sold through Japanese auction houses or US grey-market importers, reflecting both their rarity and their only-recent import eligibility in markets like the US.

Honda ended Prelude production in 2001 with the fourth-generation Integra effectively absorbing its market position in Japan, and the brand went without a Prelude for roughly two and a half decades. Honda has since revived the name for a new model, with designers explicitly framing the choice as forward-looking rather than a retro exercise — a modern sports model that earned the name "Prelude" because it fit the car's character, not because Honda set out to remake a specific past generation.

For owners of the original BB6, the restoration and import scene has been shaped heavily by eligibility timing. Since 1996-model BB-chassis cars began crossing the 25-year import threshold into the US starting in 2021, and later model years have followed in sequence since, a wave of JDM Type S examples has begun entering markets where they were never previously sold new. That has fed a growing US-based restoration and parts-sourcing community working with cars whose scarcity was, until recently, mostly a Japan-only concern. Between limited original production numbers, Type S-specific parts like Active ABS components and Cabron/Excene interior trim, and the car's status as the platform that introduced ATTS, the BB6 Type S remains a comparatively rare find even within the wider, nearly 826,000-unit Prelude production history.

The Honda Prelude BB6 Type S was the top naturally aspirated trim of Honda's fifth-generation Prelude, sold exclusively in Japan from November 1996 through 2001. It paired a 220 PS H22A "red-top" 2.2-liter engine with Honda's ATTS torque-vectoring system, first introduced on this exact car, plus Active ABS and Alcantara-style Cabron/Excene interior trim not found on export models like the USDM Type SH. The fifth generation was also the lowest-selling in Prelude history, and the Type S trim's exact production numbers remain undocumented beyond qualitative "limited numbers" language, making clean examples scarce today. Its four-wheel double-wishbone suspension and low front roll center earned praise from period testers, who ranked it above rivals like the BMW 3-Series and Mazda Miata on handling polish, even as some criticized the ATTS system's added weight and occasional reliability issues. Auction results for the fifth generation range from $2,250 to a $60,000 record set by a low-mileage Type SH in 2024. With 1996-model BB-chassis cars now clearing the US 25-year import threshold, the JDM-only Type S is reaching new markets and a new generation of restorers for the first time since its original Japanese launch.