Prelude to the Prelude: Honda Previews Upcoming Hybrid Coupe’s Proven Suspension

With the resurrected Prelude set to arrive before the end of 2025, Honda is trickling out its new performance coupe’s bona fides — and they are convincing: The model-year 2026 hybrid sports coupe will ride on the full suspension found under the track-rat Civic Type R.

Related: Honda Bringing Prelude Back to U.S. as Hybrid

That includes the Type R’s wide front and rear stance, Brembo front brakes, and clever dual-axis front suspension introduced on the 2017 Civic Type R that helps minimize torque steer. As the Prelude will be powered by the two-motor hybrid system employed in the Civic, there should be around the same 232 pounds-feet of torque to contend with here as in the Civic hybrid.

In the Civic, the hybrid powertrain also puts out a system total of 200 horsepower. That matches the output from the turbocharged Civic Si, but the hybrid’s electric motors help it to crank out 40 pounds-feet more than the Si. It should also make the new hybrid significantly quicker than the last-generation Prelude, which went out of production around the turn of the millennium.

Equipped with its optional four-speed automatic transmission, that car coaxed 195 hp — but a meager 156 pounds-feet of torque — from a high-revving 2.2-liter four-cylinder engine. And while cars have grown heavier over the last two-and-a-half decades, the 2026 Civic hybrid is just over 200 pounds heavier than the last Prelude. Its expertly honed suspension should help the new Prelude preserve the brilliant handling its predecessor was known for, too.

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