2026 Honda Prelude Coupe Reaching Dealers This Year With Type R Suspension and Brakes
It seemed only a matter of time, but now the Prelude's return is official—and Honda's sharing more.
It’s now officially official: The U.S. is getting the 2026 Honda Prelude—and sooner than you might expect. While the news isn’t a surprise, it had only been strongly hinted at up late in 2024, when Honda confirmed as much. The big news is that hybrid two-door Honda coupe will go on sale this year (late 2025) and will do its best to keep up the performance end suggested by its appearance despite its humble-origins hybrid system shared with the Civic, Accord, and others.
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Shifty Business, and Some Type R Love
Key to this performance feel will be the use of a seemingly Prelude-exclusive (for now) Linear Shift Control, which Honda says will give the coupe “the feel of a conventional drivetrain shifting gears” at wide open throttle. While this sounds utterly banal, it's actually big news given the way Honda’s current hybrid setup works: There is no conventional type of transmission between the drive wheels and the engine, certainly not one that can be "shifted" from gear to gear in the traditional sense. Instead, a large electric motor does most of the motivation, while the gas engine feeds power to it via a smaller motor-generator unit; the engine can be clutched into a single-speed direct-drive gearbox to help assist the drive wheels in certain scenarios where it's deemed more efficient to do so. Thus any "shifting" would be entirely faux, much like the simulated rev dips in the Honda Civic and Accord Hybrid models; it's not yet clear whether Linear Shift Control differs from that programming in any way, though it could by handing over control over those "shift" points to the driver. This also confirms our suspicion that Honda wouldn’t be able to release a true manual or even a DCT version of the Prelude while using its hybrid powertrain.
This “Linear Shift Control” will be joined by a new driving mode called “S Plus Shift,” stylized as “S+ Shift.” Again, according to Honda, this will improve the feel of the 2026 Prelude by maximizing “the efficiency of a high-performance engine and high-output motor, finely controlling engine RPM across all acceleration and deceleration ranges based on driving conditions.” This aggressive feeling is matched to an active sound controller for “powerful auditory feedback” and “responsive meter that engage the senses.”
Honda clued us in to the shifty system during the Honda 0 prototype drives back in October, but at the time it said to expect this auditory system to be released on all-electric Hondas by 2028. It seems like Honda has created a version that can be applied right now to the 2026 Prelude, and we expect a version dedicated to full electrics in the coming years.
That spicy setup is being joined by other Prelude-exclusive hardware, at least relative to the Civic Hybrid on which the coupe is based. Honda has announced ahead of the Prelude's full reveal that the two-door will benefit from some braking and suspension bits from the Civic Type R hot hatch. Specifically, the Prelude gets the Type R's dual-axis front suspension geometry, which is remarkably effective at icing torque steer and other ill effects of big power being routed through the same wheels that also handle steering.
Honda has also set up the Prelude with the Type R's wider front and rear track width dimensions, as well as what it describes as "the suspension" from the Type R—suggestive that perhaps even the Type R's hardware (including adaptive dampers) will be part of the Prelude package, not just the geometry. The Type R also donates its Brembo front brakes to the Prelude. We love how the Type R drives, so if the Prelude can distill that athleticism into a hybridized two-door, all the more power to Honda.
This story was originally published December 2024, but has since been updated to reflect more specific on-sale timing, as well as new information from Honda about the Prelude's suspension and brakes.
Having experience in many forms of the automotive industry, Justin Banner has done more than just write about cars. For more than 15 years, he's had experience working as an automotive service technician—including a stint as a Virginia State Inspector—service advisor, parts sales, and aftermarket parts technical advisor (a fancy way of saying he helped you on the phone when you had trouble fitting your brakes over your aftermarket wheels and the like). Prior to his tenure as a full-time editor, Justin worked as a freelance writer and photographer for various publications and as an automotive content creator on YouTube. He’s also covered multiple forms of motorsports ranging from Formula Drift, drag racing, and time attack, to NASCAR, short course off-roading, and open desert racing. He's best known for breaking down complex technical concepts so a layperson can more easily understand why technologies, repairs, and parts should matter to them. At MotorTrend, Justin is part of the news team covering breaking news and topics while also working as a judge for MotorTrend Of the Year events and other major comparison tests.
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