My parents got me a 2000 Prelude for my 17th birthday. It was the four speed. Pics here, here, and here. It was such a fun car to drive. It was having tons of issues I was too broke to fix so yeah, I get that. It really was in the shop every few weeks for something new.

My parents urged me to buy something newer so I caved and bought a 2016 HR-V. Which I hated. Partly because I had to give up my Prelude for it, and also because it was so dogshit slow. They used the same 1.8 found in the 8th and 9th gen Civic. It’s a great engine, and it’s a pretty perfect match for the Civic, which weighs 400 pounds less. And I’d know, because my other car is a 9th gen Civic LX. That car actually has a little bit of pick up and go. I love my 9th gen. I think I’d have liked the car more if they used the same 1.5T the put in the '16 Civic.

Anyway, I’d been telling myself I’d get another one for years and the opportunity finally came up for a cheap, rust free, manual Prelude so I sprang on it. I just didn’t think the opportunity would spring up literally two weeks after posting my old car on here lmao

Shame, the head gasket is actually super serviceable in that car.

I have a 96 as well. VTEC. Has a warped head I think. Never had the money to get it fixed properly. So much heat tape holding the exhaust together… Makes me sad.

The longest lasting cars I’ve ever had have been a pair of Suzuki Sidekick Sport and Jeep Liberty SUVs.

I have three of those Jeeps still yet and my son has one of the Sidekicks.

I drove my 1998 sidekick way over a decade. My son is driving it today, over 300k miles. My 2007 Jeep liberty has over 300k miles and still runs. My 2004 Jeep Liberty (one of two) has over 280k miles. One is for parts.

I’m terrible for maintenance and those cars have all chugged along with minimal work.

Blows my mind.

I’ve posted a few pics of it on this community since I bought it about a month ago. It’s a bit rough on the outside. Big dent behind the driver’s door that I hope a shop can tap out. The paint is pretty rough. My money is on it having sat out in the California sun for a long time. All upward facing surfaces are down to the base coat, but it has no rust. It lives in my garage and only comes out when the weather is fair. It stopped raining a while ago so I’ve been able to drive it a lot. It has mechanical issues I want to address first. So once I address those and the money is right (and I do some of the house projects I owe the missus), I’m going to have that dent fixed and the car resprayed in its original red.