In Comfort mode, the ride is soft, the powertrain is quiet, and the engine cuts out whenever possible. Toggle into GT, and the Prelude’s adaptive dampers stiffen up a little, the steering gets weightier, and if you engage S+—which mimics an eight-speed gearbox by changing throttle and regenerative braking maps—the shifts become a little jerkier to provide the driver some feedback.

Sport takes this further; the engine remains running to feed energy into the battery or motors at a moment’s notice, and in S+, the shifts become more deliberately violent (although only a little—we’re not talking sequential crash box or anything), and the powertrain is at its (still not obnoxious) loudest.

It might not be an all-out sports car, but it’s still engaging to drive.

Jonathan Gitlin

It might not be an all-out sports car, but it’s still engaging to drive.