When Honda Cars Philippines launched the Civic RS e:HEV at just a smidge under P2 million, I initially thought the price was a bit steep. Until I drove it, and I found myself defending it, because it’s a darn good car—it was our Car of the Year in 2025, after all. For the Civic Hybrid’s target market, the SRP is justifiable.
Then came the HR-V RS e:HEV, which was almost as expensive as the hybrid Civic. That one was hard to stand behind, because the turbocharged HR-V was already a bit on the pricey side to begin with. But then the updated CR-V arrived, and that just felt like a bit too much. At this point, what’s the “target market,” anyway?
We didn’t say a word about the prices—at least not yet, especially since we hadn’t driven the new CR-V. What if it was that good that it’s worth P3 million? We let it be at first. But then here comes the all-new Honda Prelude...and we just can’t stay quiet anymore.
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Three million, four hundred ninety-eight thousand Philippine pesos. P3.498 million. Let that sink in. To the people who were complaining about the leaked prices of the Toyota Urban Cruiser, get a load of this.
I’m not even going to sugarcoat it—it’s disappointing. I’m a Honda fan through and through, and I was stoked when I first laid eyes on the Prelude prototype back in 2023. A two-door sporty coupe from Honda? It’s no sports car, it’s no halo, and it’s no next-gen Type R, but it’s something we hadn’t seen from the brand in a while. It was set to be one of the most exciting cars from Honda in this decade.
I’ve seen it multiple times up close. I’ve sat in it. I’ve heard Top Gear Philippines executive editor Sharleen Banzon rave about it after she drove it. I love driving the Civic—hybrid or otherwise—and I can imagine the Prelude will give an elevated version of that Civic driving experience. For all its faults, Honda’s engineering prowess is still evident in all of its cars, and it’s still at the top of its game in this regard. I had all the reasons in the world to look forward to the Prelude.
But that P3.498 million price tag is just too much. For that amount, you can already get a Toyota GR Yaris. Add a little more, and you can even snatch the GR Corolla. They’re more powerful, dare I say equally as practical as a daily driver (if not more), and offer better performance overall. I know neither of the hot hatches is an apples-to-apples comparison with the Prelude, but with Honda’s steep pricing, it basically is.
Back then, I said that in my opinion, the Prelude shouldn’t be priced anywhere above P3 million. That was the ceiling price. I figured somewhere around P2.8 million would be a good spot, a little lower would be really solid. Unfortunately, we’ve come to this. I don’t know if the 2026 CR-V’s sticker price affected this, and maybe the Prelude just couldn’t undercut the hybrid crossover. In any case, all I know is that I feel like Honda keeps shooting itself in the foot.
Don’t just take my ranting for it. This was what Sharleen had to say: “I’ve driven it and it’s a really well-built, well-engineered car that brings everything we love about Honda’s driving dynamics into the electrified era. But I can’t justify that pricing.”
I love Honda, and I love its cars, but this ain’t it. This just ain’t it, chief.
