Lude Generation

Bought a Feb 97 copy of Car magazine with a review of the 5th gen, and tested against a Fiat coupe turbo (228bhp) and Nissan 200sx.
The reviewer was really critical of the Lude (an auto, the other 2 were manuals) as it was slower than the other two. They also slated the styling!
The list price of the auto with body kit was £23,495....

Did a check on the DVLA website and that Lude in the article is no longer on the road.

Only off the road in june this year though!

Hope this is not a daft question but I've often wondered about it. When they do these tests, are the cars supplied direct by the manufacturers or do the come from a dealer? As if they are, wouldn't they (the manufacturers) make sure their car is tricked out to the max and perhaps even fiddled with a bit to improve or enhance in certain areas?

They are from the manufacturer, so I found it strange they tested an auto against the other two manual cars.

Cheers Matt, but isn't that a bit dodgy? Wouldn't it be fairer to pluck one at random from a dealer and use that? I know I sound like a conspiracy theorist, but if were a hack writing about a car, I sure wouldn't want the manufacturer 'selecting' the car for me, I'd rather 'choose' my own, then I'd know it was representative of that model.
And as another aside, I'm surprised Car didn't give it 5 stars, as Setright was still alive in 1997, and he adored Honda, didn't he?

Dealers have no interest in lendig their cars out, there is nothing in it for them.
And yes, manufacturers normally ensure press cars are fully loaded with everything and potentially with different ecu maps etc...

Ah,get it, thanks.

Mattbigwood wrote:They are from the manufacturer, so I found it strange they tested an auto against the other two manual cars.

yeah it was an auto but it was their brand new tiptronic box so it was really a representative prelude. Honda have always used the prelude to pioneer all the newest stuff and believe me in tip mode that engine will rev quickly like it has a lightened flywheel the 0-60 is done in full auto not tip.
The only real issue i have with the tip box is the lack of gears if it had more i would be really happy but it was built with a price ceiling.

I worked for Fiat when the 20v turbo coupe came out, we took an order for one in yellow, when it came of the transporter it had a 150 miles on it and all four tyres had very unusual wear pattern's on them. The following week on the front page of Autocar magazine there was a picture of the car completely sideways on an airfield. Luckily, i don't think our customer read Autocar.