The Prelude Joins My Garage

[km666]

My Prelude is not my only car, given that this forum allows space to talk about other cars I thought I'd go over the two cars the Prelude joins.

BMW 330D E46: Purchased in 2017 this was a car i'd been after for about 2 years having experiencing a fairly tuned version belonging to my best mates sisters fella. I was after an interesting colour, with a manual gearbox and the M sport kit. Having looked at loads, often travelling a fair way to view them, I ended up bidding on my one on eBay. It was Hellrot (hell red, IMO the coolest sounding colour on any car and one of the rarest colours for an E46), a genuine Msport with the Mtech one bodykit in a varient unique to the 330d with the added bonus of the 'purple tag' faster steering rack. I got it for £1100 on 120'000 miles with comprehensive history, a complete toolkit, torch and first aid kit. Its running braided brake lines, Eibach proline springs paired to Bilstein B4 dampers, fast road pads, I changed the oem 18" alloys for 17", added a subwoofer with amp and everything else left as was. Its a lovely drive that belies its 1600kg+ kerbweight. It handles nicely although without the fluidity that double wishbones give the Prelude. However the big advantage is high speed cruising, at 90mph it'll give 48mpg all day long in serene comfort. The plan is to fit a better downpipe and have it remapped for an easy mid 200 power figure and huge torque. However first time around I was ready to get it done I bought a 2.0 Prelude instead, the second time I was ready to pull the trigger on getting the work done I ended up buying a SEAT...

SEAT LEON 2.0 tfsi sport: Basically an FR before they called them the FR, 2006 only. BWA engine. 103'000 miles, loads of history. Paid £1000 with a known issue last July. Fixed the issue and its a typically dull VAG product, but ideal for me as my commute went down from 70 miles a day to 20, the BMW 330d isnt best suited to short trips. Its perky in straight lines but the handing is jobby, electronic steering is utterly lifeless, the brakes are over servoed and it sounds like an american cop car around bends. Probably quick point to point but you end up ragging it everywhere because its a one trick pony. Unfortunately the plan was to sell this as soon as the Prelude got home. The car must have sensed it was due for the chop as the starter motor died the day after I got the Prelude back and its now low priority. I'll always be able to get my money back on it and i'd rather spend money on the Honda than fix the SEAT to sell it on.

I'd recommend a 330D to anybody and intend to keep it alongside the Prelude indefinately.

[Sailor]

Good stuff.