While interior shots of the upcoming Honda Prelude leaked last year as selected Japanese media had a go with a prototype, Honda has finally revealed official shots of the coupe’s cabin as it went on display at the Formula 1 Tokyo Fan Festival before this week’s Japanese Grand Prix.
The leaks confirmed what we all expected; that the dashboard would be heavily influenced by the Honda Civic given that the popular C-segment sedan is the base for the coupe.
It is all very familiar Civic-fare with the biggest difference being the lack of a gear lever. In its place on the raised centre console are instead push-button gear selectors, similar to that seen on the Honda e:N1. Flanking the buttons on the left is a large S+ button and drive mode selector, while the right is taken up by the electronic parking brake.
S+ Shift mode intends to simulate the gearshifts of a manual transmission in the Prelude, which it will not be available with in the traditional sense. Instead, the system electronically limits the e:HEV powertrain’s RPM to give it a “gear ratio”.
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The rest of the Honda Prelude’s interior remains identical to the Civic, such as the 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster and 9.0-inch infotainment touchscreen. Furthermore, the air-conditioning vents retain the mesh cover but do not run the entirety of the dash, instead adopting a hexagon-shape.
Those eagle-eyed petrolheads will notice that the three-spoke steering wheel is identical but with a slightly flatter bottom end and a 12 o’clock notch in the leather. Completing the interior of the Honda Prelude are supportive bucket seats with high shoulders to emphasise the sporty nature of the coupe.
Honda will likely continue to tease more and more of the Prelude with powertrain details likely to be the next snippets of information. What we do know is that the Prelude will be powered by their latest e:HEV hybrid powertrain with both the 1.5-litre and 2.0-litre direct injected engines paired with an electric motor.
Some Civic Type-R bits will also make their way into the Prelude, primarily comprising the torque steer-reducing dual-axis MacPherson struts and adaptive dampers.
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