My Daily Driver: @mikurubaeahina's Honda Prelude

1. How did you come to the decision of buying this car?

I had been daily driving my Supra, with a leaky roof, welded diff, no heat or A/C, leaking PS fluid, etc, for about four months, and I really needed a chance to work on it, but since it was my only working car, I was hesitant to start taking it apart in case I couldn't get it fixed and back together over the course of a weekend. I knew I needed a new daily, so I actually went and looked at getting a brand-new Mazda 6, which I considered to be the "responsible" course of action. The dealer treated me like absolute garbage and hit me with 14% APR despite having extremely good credit, wouldn't tell me the rate (I had to do the math myself), then suddenly dropped it to 7% when I complained, etc. I ended up walking out after four hours at the dealer. At the same time I had been shopping for a 6, my friend from Indiana had listed this car for sale as he was trying to thin out his collection in preparation for a move. I had always wanted a Prelude, I love Y49, and it's a manual, so I decided to book a one-way Spirit flight and drive the car home, all for less than the cost of the down payment on the new Mazda. 

2. What has your ownership experience been like?

Overall, pretty great. It had some wiring issues because, like all classic Hondas, it had the harness shoddily messed with to put a stereo in at some point, but my girlfriend is an EE with good soldering skills and fixed those issues for me, and that was really the biggest problem I've encountered. It's pretty drop dead reliable for the age, gets 27 mpg on 87 octane, is stupidly cheap to insure, and the interior quality on vintage Hondas is absolutely one of the biggest draws for me - it has nearly 160K on the odo and the inside looks basically new still. 

3. What is your fondest memory with this car?

Definitely the initial trip home. https://prime-excel.style/features/2019/4/24/frompreludetoaftermath I wrote a whole thing about it before, but I got to meet a ton of internet friends on the trip, take the car on some really great roads, and most importantly I stepped out of my comfort zone to do it. It felt like personal progress for me. 

4. Why do you love cars?

I am a strong believer that for an enthusiast, a car is a mirror that actually reflects who we believe ourselves to be. I think that owning a car that you know isn't necessarily the smartest daily driver, or a good investment, invariably ends up being a unique window into the personality of the person who made the choice to own it despite those factors. In my case, my Prelude is a reflection of who I would like to be: pragmatic without losing sight of individuality or fun. I get to have a relatively reliable and inexpensive car but I still get to own something that I see maybe one or two others on the road of per year, tops. 

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If you would like to participate, just answer the above four questions and submit one to three photos of your daily driver to milhousevanh at geemail. Thanks and have fun!