5. Honda Prelude
The fifth generation Honda Prelude was also the last generation of this iconic sports car. Honda built it between 1996 and 2001. It featured a restrained, yet charming boxy styling. It has aged gracefully after more than 20 years since it first came out. It was available with a wide palette of engines, optional four-wheel steering and two transmission types, a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic.
This Accord-based coupe was driveable, but only with the manual. If you didn’t know how to drive a manual shift or didn’t want to bother with three pedals, you could find yourself with a big problem. This is because they failed to build the automatic transmission to the expected standards. It also required meticulous maintenance.
Some manual transmission Preludes caused problems when shifting into fifth gear. But, more commonly it was the automatic transmission models that had trouble. Coming from a Japanese car, this flaw is borderline unacceptable. So if you want to buy a fifth-generation Prelude, choose the manual transmission. It is easy to learn to use one.
Or you could be extremely careful when buying an automatic. To avoid expensive bills and general frustration, make sure you find a well-maintained model, even if it means it costs more than the average.