Honda enthusiasts have been asking the same question ever since the new Prelude arrived wearing a hybrid badge and boasting just 200 hp (203 PS): Is that enough?

And this week, the internet thought it got its answer when the AeroflowDynamics YouTube channel posted the first zero to 60 mph test of a US-spec car, clocking a glacial 8.28 seconds. Cue panic, disappointment, and Type R fans doing laps of victory around the comments section.

Related: Delusional Honda Dealers Marking Up New Prelude To Over $60,000

But before we break out the pitchforks and accuse Honda of murdering yet another childhood dream, we need to talk about how professional acceleration testing actually works.

This particular video is about as valid as comparisons between this year’s 25 percent-cheaper slimmed-down Walmart Thanksgiving bundle and last year’s pricier, but fuller spread.

How Accurate Are These Tests?

For starters, the driver used the Prelude’s simulated gearshift mode, a novelty setting meant to make the hybrid powertrain feel like it has actual gears. It’s fun, but definitely not as efficient as letting the engine do its own thing, although that means listening to it blare out a tuneless fixed rpm moo like a generator gone haywire.

Proof? A Japanese video using the correct road tester launch technique – build torque against the brake, leave the paddles alone, and let the hybrid system do its thing – recorded 7.2 seconds to a non-GPS-verified 62 mph (100 kmh). That same car and driver had posted a far slower 9.1-second run just a few days earlier, right after it was first delivered.

Granted, that still isn’t Type R territory, but no one who’d seen the power figures expected it to be.

Always Loosen-up Before Exercise

But even that 7.2-second figure has to be taken with a pinch of salt. The US tester had just 66 miles on the odometer while the Japanese Prelude had covered 699 miles (1,125 km) at the time of the second test and it’s well known that cars often go quicker once they’ve loosened up, even if it’s tenths of a second.

While not as critical as it used to be with modern manufacturing precision, many manufacturers still recommend a short break-in period, and adaptive ECUs also tend to sharpen once you’ve put some miles on the car.

It does, however, depend on the model and the manufacturer. As Jason Fenske of Engineering Explained pointed out a few years ago, the second-generation Acura NSX left the factory with its engine already broken in before reaching customers.

What Else Matters?

In a former life I was an Autocar.co.uk road tester and recorded 8-second and 6.5-second zero to 60 mph runs from supposedly identical Seat Leon Cupra Rs, the difference being chalked down to a higher mileage and fuel octane rating on the speedy one.

Other factors pro testers geek out on that we don’t know here include the altitude, road, tire and air temperatures, and wind speed and direction, if any.

But we do know that the two cars were only timed in one direction, rather than averaged from two opposing runs, and they weren’t logged using proper GPS equipment that can accurately determine when the wheels begin to turn and a true speed.

So no, the viral 8.28-second run isn’t the final word, though it is representative of how fast most owners will go. The ultimate number will be lower and only revealed once proper magazine testing is complete.

The 6.2 seconds Car and Driver extracted from a Civic Hybrid sedan that has a very similar curb weight and identical 200 hp hybrid powertrain (bar the virtual shifts) gives us our best guide.

Yes, C&D deducts 0.3 seconds of rollout, but even adjusting for that, the numbers indicate the Prelude has more potential than YouTube’s first impression suggests.

More to a good car than a 0-60 time

Whatever it pulls off in optimum conditions, the Prelude’s 60 mph stats are never going to get anyone excited in an era of 4- and 5-second hot hatches, especially not at $42,000, let alone at the $60K markups we’ve seen from dealers trying to cash in.

But it would be unfair to trash an entire car based on how it handles that one weird yardstick, which tells very little about how a car performs overall. Just ask a Miata owner.

The only right course of action is to test drive a Prelude for yourself and see if those Type-R suspension goodies make up in the corners for it feeling less than Type R-athletic on the straights.

Honda

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