BMW R1200 GS vs Honda Prelude

Both cars' complete complaint records, side by side.

Read the totals carefully. NHTSA publishes no sales figures, so the car that sold more collects more complaints regardless of quality. The rows worth weighing are the proportions — the share of complaints that involved harm, and which part dominates.

Measure	BMW R1200 GS	Honda Prelude
Complaints on file	186	463
Model years covered	2004–2018	1981–2001
Worst model year	2005	1997
Best model year	2009	2000
Crashes reported	6	52
Fires reported	3	15
Injuries reported	4	29
Deaths reported	0	2
Most complained-about part	Fuel & Propulsion	Transmission & Drivetrain
Share of complaints involving harm	7%	21.2%

BMW R1200 GS by year

4 46 4 29 23 22 7 1 5 7 14 15 5 4

04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 13 14 15 16 17 18

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Fuel & Propulsion 64 34.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 30 16.1%

Brakes 23 12.4%

Suspension 15 8.1%

Engine & Cooling 14 7.5%

Electrical System 13 7.0%

Body & Structure 8 4.3%

Steering 7 3.8%

Honda Prelude by year

3 1 5 11 12 17 40 34 4 18 26 14 12 9 4 88 86 40 14 25

81 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 106 22.9%

Engine & Cooling 53 11.4%

Electrical System 49 10.6%

Seat Belts 35 7.6%

Steering 33 7.1%

Airbags 26 5.6%

Suspension 25 5.4%

Fuel & Propulsion 25 5.4%