DILEMMA!!! Options

[jshawn96]

Ok. My first car was a 95 VTECH Honda Prelude and I loved it, but wrecked it. Then I got my 96 Celica ST and have just about finished a $4000 dollar 3sgte engine swap. But I just found a local seller that is selling a 2000 Prelude with 72,000 miles on it for $4000. My dilemma is: Should I sell my newly swapped celica for 6-8 thousand and get the prelude, or keep the celica?

[NaderG]

keep the celi , you have more power than the prelude with the 3sgte under the hood , also i think the 97+( or 96) preludes are ugly , but thas me

[DSToyo]

idk, i like the looks of the newer preludes, and it is a little newer... is it the type sh or whatever? idk what you could sell the celi for either tho.

This post has been edited by DSToyo: Jun 26, 2007 - 2:23 PM

[jjbenzo]

I had bought a two year old Prelude Type SH back in 1999. The car had only 18,000 miles on it. It was the biggest piece of crap I have owned to date. After just one week of owning it the whole bottom end had to be replaced (by Honda) and thereafter the car was in the shop on a monthly basis. I finally sold it back in 2002 with about 42,000 miles on it. The car was junk. I would stick with the Celica if those are your only two options.

[jshawn96]

The only other option i saw was a 2001 IS 300 for $7000. I've driven the prelude before and it handles better than my celica. As for the power its a toss up. My celica has 225 turbo charged and the prelude has 220 stock, but with a turbo could easily hit 260. The IS 300 has some mods done to it and is putting 320hp to the ground, but its more expensive and insurance sucks.

[coldbluesteel]

IS 300 is my vote. 2jzge... enough said.

[coldbluesteel]

No wait I take that back you should not get the IS300, rather you should tell me where it is so I can.

[tomazws]

The only other option i saw was a 2001 IS 300 for $7000. I've driven the prelude before and it handles better than my celica. As for the power its a toss up. My celica has 225 turbo charged and the prelude has 220 stock, but with a turbo could easily hit 260. The IS 300 has some mods done to it and is putting 320hp to the ground, but its more expensive and insurance sucks.

Where the heck did you find all these cheap cars? (What I meant is cars with such awesome price)

[coldbluesteel]

The only other option i saw was a 2001 IS 300 for $7000. I've driven the prelude before and it handles better than my celica. As for the power its a toss up. My celica has 225 turbo charged and the prelude has 220 stock, but with a turbo could easily hit 260. The IS 300 has some mods done to it and is putting 320hp to the ground, but its more expensive and insurance sucks.

Where the heck did you find all these cheap cars? (What I meant is cars with such awesome price)

He's in GA... they don't like foreign cars much there . At least from what I saw on my visits.
I'll probably get hammered for saying something dumb like this.

[tin_foil]

I'd be hesitate to buy that prelude for that cheap. Doesn't sound right. Or is there just something that needs to be done on it that you didn't mention?

Either way my vote is for the celica. If you hadn't done a 3s swap, I'd say the prelude all the way, but now you should just spend money making the celica even more of a beast.

Second option: take out a small loan, and buy the prelude, and keep both cars. That's what I'd do if I found a prelude for that price.

[jjbenzo]

The only other option i saw was a 2001 IS 300 for $7000. I've driven the prelude before and it handles better than my celica. As for the power its a toss up. My celica has 225 turbo charged and the prelude has 220 stock, but with a turbo could easily hit 260. The IS 300 has some mods done to it and is putting 320hp to the ground, but its more expensive and insurance sucks.

The USDM Prelude has the H22 VTEC making only 200 hp, not 220. Its decently quick...stock 0-60 is about 7.2 seconds. Where did you find an IS for only $7000?

[Remy]

I say the celi since you have the swap completed already ?? The prelude SH is ok but when I'm in my friends prelude it feels like I'm rolling in a tank.

[CelicaST_CALI]

id say celica jsut cause its rareness,at least in sac i see preludes left and right and ive on seen 5 6gcs in 8 years.Plus u already put the $ into the celica for the swap.

[jshawn96]

The IS is from a friend of mine and the prelude is from some old lady who's sun moved to Europe and she's stupid and selling it for cheap. It has an intake on it which is why I guesstimate 220. And the price is what is making it tempting.

And coldbluesteel was right. 98% of georgia hates japanese cars but I live in Peachtree City. Its a rich persons little town built for Delta pilots. A few years ago it was on the top ten places to live in the country (Dont ask me why). In PTC you will find brand new BMW 6 series, brand new porsche 911's, brand new mercedes sl 6's. We've got ferrari's and lambo's. PEACHTREE CITY is not a southern town.

Plus I'm from newport beach in cali originally so I LIKE ME MY IMPORTS

[tomazws]

The IS is from a friend of mine and the prelude is from some old lady who's sun moved to Europe and she's stupid and selling it for cheap. It has an intake on it which is why I guesstimate 220. And the price is what is making it tempting.

And coldbluesteel was right. 98% of georgia hates japanese cars but I live in Peachtree City. Its a rich persons little town built for Delta pilots. A few years ago it was on the top ten places to live in the country (Dont ask me why). In PTC you will find brand new BMW 6 series, brand new porsche 911's, brand new mercedes sl 6's. We've got ferrari's and lambo's. PEACHTREE CITY is not a southern town.

Plus I'm from newport beach in cali originally so I LIKE ME MY IMPORTS

Since they're so cheap, just buy it, don't like it? sell it for higher!

[jason]

keep the celica, take the emblems off, get projectors and keep it from being ricey and try and make i elegant then, you'll deff fit in with nicer cars then as opposed to a honda.... but try n get the prelude as well.. from my experiences.... there are honda parts & cars... then there are prelude's and their parts.... not the most reliable, "mod" tolerable cars out there, they rank up there with dsms in my mind

[coldbluesteel]

The IS is from a friend of mine and the prelude is from some old lady who's sun moved to Europe and she's stupid and selling it for cheap. It has an intake on it which is why I guesstimate 220. And the price is what is making it tempting.

And coldbluesteel was right. 98% of georgia hates japanese cars but I live in Peachtree City. Its a rich persons little town built for Delta pilots. A few years ago it was on the top ten places to live in the country (Dont ask me why). In PTC you will find brand new BMW 6 series, brand new porsche 911's, brand new mercedes sl 6's. We've got ferrari's and lambo's. PEACHTREE CITY is not a southern town.

Plus I'm from newport beach in cali originally so I LIKE ME MY IMPORTS

Told ya...
Just kiddin. You will find Euro's mostly as far as your foreign cars in the south. I get hated on here in NC with both my Toys... especially when I make theirs look bad.

But seriously keep the Celica, they are beautiful and when done right will be right at home with all the Euro's you mentioned. I wouldn't ever want to part with mine.

Oh yeah, how do I speak to this friend of yours?

This post has been edited by coldbluesteel: Jun 26, 2007 - 10:00 PM

[jshawn96]

So you want the IS? Well here's the deal. I have the money to get all three but I'm saving up for the 08/09 supra that might be coming out. I have too many options. I'll probably end up buying the prelude, selling it for more and then buy the IS (if I can do that all in a month). And when the supra comes out, sell my celica and the IS and buy that bad boy.

[coldbluesteel]

So you want the IS? Well here's the deal. I have the money to get all three but I'm saving up for the 08/09 supra that might be coming out. I have too many options. I'll probably end up buying the prelude, selling it for more and then buy the IS (if I can do that all in a month). And when the supra comes out, sell my celica and the IS and buy that bad boy.

So... did you get the IS?

[celicaST]

The IS is from a friend of mine and the prelude is from some old lady who's sun moved to Europe and she's stupid and selling it for cheap. It has an intake on it which is why I guesstimate 220. And the price is what is making it tempting.

And coldbluesteel was right. 98% of georgia hates japanese cars but I live in Peachtree City. Its a rich persons little town built for Delta pilots. A few years ago it was on the top ten places to live in the country (Dont ask me why). In PTC you will find brand new BMW 6 series, brand new porsche 911's, brand new mercedes sl 6's. We've got ferrari's and lambo's. PEACHTREE CITY is not a southern town.

Plus I'm from newport beach in cali originally so I LIKE ME MY IMPORTS

whoa small world, i used to live there. golf carts ftw! great place, but now i live in fort collins, colorado, which was voted #1 place to live in the us

[goferris]

i say get the IS300 and change it over to the altezza. if i could have found an IS for that cheap i would def own one over the celi. don't get me wrong i do love my car but the IS is quicker and it's RWD.
how many miles are on it?

[jshawn96]

i say get the IS300 and change it over to the altezza. if i could have found an IS for that cheap i would def own one over the celi. don't get me wrong i do love my car but the IS is quicker and it's RWD.
how many miles are on it?

46000. And I bought the prelude already

[goferris]

hell for that price i would travel there to pick it up. here an IS300 with only 46000 miles would sell for upwards of 20k. i wish i could get that car.

[m0dd3d1]

Do you have any pics of your car?

[thecanyon2k4]

I had bought a two year old Prelude Type SH back in 1999. The car had only 18,000 miles on it. It was the biggest piece of crap I have owned to date. After just one week of owning it the whole bottom end had to be replaced (by Honda) and thereafter the car was in the shop on a monthly basis. I finally sold it back in 2002 with about 42,000 miles on it. The car was junk. I would stick with the Celica if those are your only two options.

Must have been a lemon from the factory...the prelude is a cornerstone in the honda line-up and are built very well...even though the A/T is dreadful.

I would keep the celica as you will NEVER have to worry about a thief stealing your car, and as far I know, the 3s-ge (197hp with variable valve timing, correct?) would be the equivelance to the prelude H22, and the gte being the equivelance to a turbo h22...so you'll be able to match hp wise, even though the prelude is heavier ( it weighs at about 3800 lbs).

[trdproven]

The only other option i saw was a 2001 IS 300 for $7000. I've driven the prelude before and it handles better than my celica. As for the power its a toss up. My celica has 225 turbo charged and the prelude has 220 stock, but with a turbo could easily hit 260. The IS 300 has some mods done to it and is putting 320hp to the ground, but its more expensive and insurance sucks.

Where the heck did you find all these cheap cars? (What I meant is cars with such awesome price)

He's in GA... they don't like foreign cars much there . At least from what I saw on my visits.
I'll probably get hammered for saying something dumb like this.

True, I heard about this from someone.

[FortuneCookie]

I had bought a two year old Prelude Type SH back in 1999. The car had only 18,000 miles on it. It was the biggest piece of crap I have owned to date. After just one week of owning it the whole bottom end had to be replaced (by Honda) and thereafter the car was in the shop on a monthly basis. I finally sold it back in 2002 with about 42,000 miles on it. The car was junk. I would stick with the Celica if those are your only two options.

Must have been a lemon from the factory...the prelude is a cornerstone in the honda line-up and are built very well...even though the A/T is dreadful.

I would keep the celica as you will NEVER have to worry about a thief stealing your car, and as far I know, the 3s-ge (197hp with variable valve timing, correct?) would be the equivelance to the prelude H22, and the gte being the equivelance to a turbo h22...so you'll be able to match hp wise, even though the prelude is heavier ( it weighs at about 3800 lbs).

Almost true. I HAVE a manual Prelude H22. 4th Gen (92-97) "H22" Preludes have 195bhp stock. 5th Gen (98-02) Preludes comes with S and SH versions both equipped with H22. Only difference is S comes 200bhp and SH comes 210bph stock due to compression and are way different than the 4th Gen Prelude's H22, thus not being feasible engine swap (I would explain but too much to explain. Go look it up and you'll understand why the swap isn't feasible to the 4th Gen H22). That 220hp statement earlier is bull. The H22 build is really good for N/A build due to very high compression. Turbo is a different story for the H22. They are 'very' quick cars for their weight. And no, they do not weigh 3800lbs. If they did, they would be extremely slow. My Prelude weighs 2790lb and that's a 4th Gen Prelude. 5th Gen Preludes weigh 100lb more.

Our Celicas weigh 2450lb-2600lb depending on your chassis (ST, GT, GTS, GTFOUR). If I'd go to something similar to the Prelude's buildup, I'd go after the BEAMs engine 3S-GE VVTi. You will have lighter weigh car than the Prelude and also as much horsepower as the SH Preludes (210bhp). As for the Prelude's handling, it does not handle as well as my Celica. It's easier to "STEER" no doubt, but the Prelude (due to it's weight) always seems to weight shift alot while trying to handle curves and will eventually oversteer. I have yet to upgrade the suspension and see how it does. But without a doubt, the Celica handles way better when it comes to gripping curves.

But since you have a 3SGTE swapped in, you might as well keep it. There are way more things to do when doing a Turbo'd H22. That's why not alot of people have it. And not many have reached past 400hp. The 3SGTE as EVERYONE knows is probably one of the best turbo'd 4cyl out there today and they have very good potential of reaching 500hp+. Alot of people has proven that esp with the MR2s.

This post has been edited by FortuneCookie: Aug 6, 2007 - 6:53 PM

[jshawn96]

The IS is from a friend of mine and the prelude is from some old lady who's sun moved to Europe and she's stupid and selling it for cheap. It has an intake on it which is why I guesstimate 220. And the price is what is making it tempting.

And coldbluesteel was right. 98% of georgia hates japanese cars but I live in Peachtree City. Its a rich persons little town built for Delta pilots. A few years ago it was on the top ten places to live in the country (Dont ask me why). In PTC you will find brand new BMW 6 series, brand new porsche 911's, brand new mercedes sl 6's. We've got ferrari's and lambo's. PEACHTREE CITY is not a southern town.

Plus I'm from newport beach in cali originally so I LIKE ME MY IMPORTS

whoa small world, i used to live there. golf carts ftw! great place, but now i live in fort collins, colorado, which was voted #1 place to live in the us

Thats funny cause we are the only two towns in the US on the top ten list.... at least last time I checked