The Acura Integra has lived in the car community as a folk legend. The discontinuation of the name in 2001 in the United States skyrocketed the car’s cool factor among the tuner fanbase to astronomical levels. It’s only fitting that the car company that is resuscitating its performance lineup brought it back. Well, kind of.
The brand-new Integra has been met with some sharp criticism. For car enthusiasts across the globe, the idea of an urban legend sitting on a Civic Si platform doesn’t exactly resonate right. However, Acura is determined to prove to the masses that the Integra is more than just the successor to the killed off ILX, it’s a continuation of the Integra of the past.
In order to push past the stigma of the Integra being another economy car in a crowded moshpit of Corollas and Civics, Acura has to do much more than get Vince Staples in an ad. They have to live up to the name that has created a staple in the car community. The first thing that solidifies the chronology is what most people see as the Integra’s biggest fault, its platform. The Integra is based on the Civic Si platform, Honda’s signature Civic performance car right underneath the Type R. While the majority of enthusiasts see that as Acura cheaping out and butchering the revival of an icon, we see it as a plus. The Integra has always been based on a Civic platform. It was based on it when it came out in 1985 and will continue to do so, signaling that it will continue to be the luxury-oriented version of the Civic Si.
Adding to the throwbacks is the Integra’s optional 6-speed manual transmission which you’ll have to add $5,000 via the A-Spec Technology Package onto the Integra’s $31,895 base MSRP. The lifeblood of the Integra is the 1.5 L turbo 4-cylinder engine that is (obviously) found in the Civic Si that pushes out 200 horsepower and 192 lb-ft of torque with a curb weight just north of 3,000 lbs at 3,062. Skip the manual and you’ll receive the Integra with a CVT which we wouldn’t go for. The CVT feels melancholic and bland, doing just enough to get by in the entry-luxury compact segment. You’d be doing a disservice to the Integra name without the manual, and that’s not something to be proud of.
While the Civic Si holds the basics of the Integra, its lower weight make the Civic a tidbit faster in a straight but the Integra holds all the cards on the racetrack. The Integra feels more refined than its brother in the turns but lacks rigidity and smoothness you’d expect from a performance vehicle. We struggled to maximize the turbo to its full potential in straights, leading to a lousy feeling in the straights. However, the ‘Teggy came alive in the corners. The turbo kept itself spooled throughout the turns leading to a short burst of speed coming out of each cascade. The Integra embedded itself as a comfortable car with sharp turns with sharp steering feel making the Integra feel planted to the asphalt at all times.
Optioned by nature with the manual is the tech package with adaptive dampers, auto rev-matching, and a limited slip differential which do help clean up some of its mistakes on the road but its too messy with an abundance of road noise and a lack of quality materials that its hard to consider this a luxury car from a luxury brand. Posing as a more luxurious Civic is hard to back up with lackluster materials and being slower than the Civic itself. Our question constantly was, how could we explain spending nearly $8,000 more to get the Integra when the Si was in front of our noses?
0-60 gets done in 7 seconds while the Si edges out the Integra by .2 seconds. Despite the deficit in straight line speed, the Acura feels right in more ways than not. The steering feels heavy and just hits the sweet spot for spirited driving. The shifter feels notchy and clicks through each gear buttery smooth. The turbo flutter only adds to the satisfying aura of the car, while Twitter Acura fanboys are crying, this truly feels like an Integra meant to enjoy.
Tacked on to the manual transmission is Acura’s A-Spec treatment. Adding distinguishable visual cues like a spoiler, side skirts, and other exterior additions in order to enhance the appearance of the Integra. The A-Spec package makes the Integra look much sportier and leaner, shaping up to be one of the best looking cars of 2022. On the interior we get a vibe that could be compared with the Civic, right down to their shared honeycomb pattern on the air vents. A digital gauge cluster linked with a 7 inch or a 9 inch infotainment center depending on what you option. We loved the gauge cluster in the Civic, and we’ll rave about it here, the cluster is customizable to a specific tee and shows whatever you could want as a driver.
The verdict stands, the Integra has its fair share of ups and downs. Major flaws being we didn’t like the requirement of the highest trim in order to attain the manual transmission, the lack of premium materials, and the lack of much needed performance features such as the Civic’s summer tires, which instead the Acura wears all-season shoes. We love the Integra’s handling and driving feel, the ability to row our own gears, and the willingness of Acura to return to a sportier lineup. With the demise of the NSX, Acura is now relying more than ever for the Integra and its other performance vehicles to create the culture behind its brand. We can stand by that, the Integra has brought up Acura from the ashes in the past, but the true question is will the Integra sell in an entirely new market?
