Turin Motor Show 2026: Honda Prelude, Mazda CX-5 and Suzuki S-Cross Go Head to Head Live

What's happening in Turin from September 11 to 13

From September 11 to 13, 2026, downtown Turin hosts the third edition of Italy's biggest open-air car show: no exhibition halls, just a free, walkable route through Piazza Castello, Piazzetta Reale and the lower Giardini Reali, with 47 carmakers on display alongside design studios, suppliers and universities. The schedule is packed: on September 10 the Teatro Regio hosts the bTOb forum on sustainability and the energy transition, September 11 brings the Torino Automotive Design Award, and on Saturday the 12th the Supercar Meeting sets off from the Reggia di Venaria for an afternoon parade through the city centre.

Amid the supercars and concept cars, though, the most useful part for anyone actually deciding what to buy is a far more modest format: Perche Comprarla Live, roughly Why Buy It Live.

The format, and the three cars chosen this year

Perche Comprarla e Perche No is Motor1 Italia's long-running segment that weighs a car's real pros and cons without the marketing gloss. For the 2026 show it becomes a live, interactive session, with the audience joining the debate in person instead of reading it on a screen. The three cars picked for this edition are deliberately far apart in segment and philosophy: the Honda Prelude, a hybrid coupe back after years off the price list; the Mazda CX-5, the segment-defining mid-size SUV now in its third generation; and the Suzuki S-Cross, the compact hybrid SUV with genuine mechanical all-wheel drive. Three different answers to the question every 2026 car shopper actually faces: which compromise really fits how I drive.

Honda Prelude: the hybrid coupe nobody expected back

Orderable in Italy since November 2025 and in dealerships since early 2026, the Prelude returns in a single trim, Advance, priced from 50,900 euros. Under the bonnet sits Honda's e:HEV full-hybrid system, 184 hp (135 kW) and 315 Nm, taking the coupe from 0 to 100 km/h in 8.2 seconds with a 188 km/h top speed; despite the sporty pretensions, official consumption stays at mid-size-sedan levels, 5.2 l/100 km WLTP and 117 g/km of CO2. The quirkiest addition is S+ Shift, which electronically simulates manual gear changes on a car that, mechanically, has no gears to change at all.

Why buy it: it's the only genuine hybrid coupe left on the market under 55,000 euros, it looks like nothing else in a segment that's nearly extinct, and it sips fuel like a mid-size sedan despite the sporty looks.

Why not: the price stays steep for a two-door with a small boot and rear seats that are more symbolic than usable, and the single trim leaves no room between full equipment and full price, you take it as it is, or not at all.

Mazda CX-5: the reference SUV grows up (and grows bigger)

The third-generation CX-5 arrives in Italy with a reworked design, larger dimensions and a longer wheelbase, translating into a 583-litre boot and a cabin that finally matches German rivals for polish. The launch engine is the e-Skyactiv G 2.5 mild hybrid with 24V tech, 141 hp and 238 Nm, paired with a six-speed automatic and either front- or all-wheel drive. Prices run from 35,900 euros (Prime-Line, front-drive) to 47,450 euros (Homura, all-wheel drive), with a launch offer from 32,900 euros on trade-in with Mazda Avantage financing. On the tech side, the screen goes up to 15.6 inches with a Google Gemini-based voice assistant.

Why buy it: an aggressive entry price for the category, genuinely usable space in the cabin and the boot, and infotainment that finally catches up with rivals.

Why not: the petrol-only mild hybrid isn't the most frugal option against Japanese and Korean full-hybrid rivals, and the CX-5's actual full-hybrid version isn't due before 2027, anyone chasing record-low consumption today has to wait, or look elsewhere.

Suzuki S-Cross: the outsider with real all-wheel drive

The 2026 facelift brings two hybrid powertrains to the S-Cross: a 48V mild hybrid built on the 1.4 Boosterjet engine, rated at 110-127 hp, or a 1.5 full hybrid around 114-115 hp, both available with AllGrip Select all-wheel drive, which uses a genuine mechanical driveshaft and four drive modes, Auto, Sport, Snow and Lock. Prices span from 27,990 euros for the manual 1.4 48V front-drive to 36,390 euros for the automatic 1.5 140V all-wheel-drive Starview.

Why buy it: it's the cheapest of the three to get into, and the only one with genuinely mechanical all-wheel drive in a segment where most rivals settle for a rear electric motor badged as AWD.

Why not: less outright power than the other two, a cabin that feels less polished, and a less aspirational badge, something that matters when it's time to sell the car on a few years down the line.

Why these three cars, specifically

Motor1's choice isn't random. The three cars capture three real trends in the Italian market in 2026: the survival of a handful of hybrid coupes in a market that has all but abandoned them, the price war among segment-C SUVs that's pushing carmakers to launch simpler, cheaper mild-hybrid variants before their full-hybrid versions arrive, and the shrinking niche of buyers who still want genuine mechanical all-wheel drive instead of the rear electric motor most hybrid rivals now call AWD. Seeing them side by side, as the audience will on September 11-13, is probably the fastest way to work out where you actually sit as a buyer, before you even open a spec sheet.

Who should actually buy which

If you want a car that makes you smile every morning and can live with two doors and a small boot, the Prelude is the only one of the three that delivers that feeling, at a price that's still reasonable for a hybrid coupe. If you have a family, need space and up-to-date tech, and your budget tops out around 35,000 to 40,000 euros, the new-generation CX-5 is today's most balanced compromise in the segment. If you regularly drive on snow, gravel or mountain roads and your budget is tighter, the S-Cross is the only one of the three offering genuine all-wheel drive under 30,000 euros.

As a quick budget guide:

• Under 30,000 euros, prioritising real all-wheel drive: Suzuki S-Cross.
• Between 35,000 and 40,000 euros, prioritising space and tech: Mazda CX-5.
• Above 50,000 euros, prioritising style and two-door driving pleasure: Honda Prelude.

If your budget says used, not new

Not everyone can stretch to a 2026 price list. Buyers chasing the Prelude's spirit without its price tag can look at a previous-generation hybrid coupe or a used sporty sedan with similar fuel economy; those who want the new CX-5's space without paying full price will find the outgoing second generation still widely available and considerably cheaper on the used market; and anyone after the S-Cross's genuine all-wheel drive at an even lower price can look at earlier versions of the same model, whose mechanicals Suzuki has kept largely unchanged for years. On VendiVoce, searching by make and model remains the fastest way to compare price, mileage and registration year across these used equivalents in one place.

The practical takeaway

The real value of Perche Comprarla Live isn't the show, it's the reminder built into it: buying well in 2026 doesn't mean picking the biggest SUV or the most tech-laden car, it means finding the most honest compromise for how you actually drive. The Prelude, the CX-5 and the S-Cross answer three different needs with three different philosophies, and the right choice depends far more on your daily life than on any spec sheet.

Sources

1. Perche Comprarla Live at the 2026 Turin Motor Show, Motor1 Italia
2. Turin Auto Show 2026: dates, programme and city-centre route, Torino Oggi
3. New Mazda CX-5 2026: pricing and trims, Sky TG24
4. Honda Prelude 2026: the 50,900-euro full-hybrid coupe, Sbircia la Notizia
5. Suzuki S-Cross 2026: the facelift reshaping the hybrid SUV, NotizieIt