Honda — perpetual motion machine

(tempting fate, I know!)

Just got the Huge Friendly Giant back from its MoT ( = annual roadworthiness test) which it passed without a hitch, with well over 101,000 miles on the clock.  (As the man at Elite Motors said:  ‘It’s a Honda… if it fails, it’ll be on something silly like a light bulb.’)

This is just to express my admiration to Honda for making such a beautifully engineered and reliable machine.  When I bought this Prelude two years ago, I was worried about its high mileage:  ‘What do you call high mileage?’ said a friend. ‘83,000 miles.’  ‘My Honda’s done 140,000 and it NEVER goes wrong!’  (Famous last words… eventually hers lost its brakes and shunted the car in front.  But she had already decided she’d like a new one by then anyway.)

 

For its 100,000th birthday I treated it to a service and a new pair of chrome exhaust trims (the previous ones having, er, mysteriously disappeared).

Of course there are things about it that aren’t ideal:  nose too long, hates speed bumps, not much room inside (though I can almost get the contra across the back seat!), the four-wheel steering makes reverse parking even more of a nightmare than it usually is… But it will go all day without complaining, as fast or slow as I like (I’ve never consciously pushed it — God knows how fast it would actually go:  I’ve seen 110), round any corner at any speed, fuel consumption not too appalling on motorways at least…  Everything about it is designed with the driver in mind.  Blessings on Mr Honda, the VTEC engine and its Formula 1 pedigree.

If the legendary L J K Setright thought it the only car worth driving, and Hondas the best cars in the world, that’s good enough for me.  It may not be as beautiful as its shark-nosed predecessor, or the one before that (with the pop-up headlamps — the one I had before);  when it was first introduced it was derided as ‘ugly’, but time has given it a classic handsomeness at least.

Shame that, since the passing of Mr Honda, the company is run by marketing men.  They couldn’t think what the Prelude was for, so they axed it.  Come on, Honda, bring it back!  There must be a market for a car that is sporty without being flashy or expensive, agile without being cramped, reliable without being boring…

I love Citroens too, but they break my heart (and my bank balance).  Meanwhile, here’s to the next 100,000 (with fingers crossed)…

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Tags: Citroen, Honda, Prelude, Setright

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