The Acura Integra Type S: A Car That Got It Right

As I sat behind the wheel of the Acura Integra Type S, I couldn't help but feel impressed with how well this car had been executed. The weight transfer on the brakes was remarkable, and I found myself wondering why everyone else hadn't reverse engineered it yet. The fact that it's a down-up design with an extra crown in the middle of it added to its sophistication, allowing it to soak up bumps like a roller coaster with perfect radius.

The bodywork had been altered compared to the regular Integra, with wider fender flares that I thought looked really cool. There was also more airflow, with 170 percent more air coming through the front grill and managed airflow above and underneath the car to help cool the brakes, engine, and manage lift. The interior of the Type S was where it truly shone, with a really well-done design that I liked when I drove an A-Spec car. It looked upscale compared to the Civic on which it's based, with some knobs carried over from the regular Integra but designed to look more premium.

One of the standout features of the interior was the variety of materials used, with some leather, plastic, and fake metal on display. The vents were similar, but the overall architecture was different, giving the car an air of exclusivity that's hard to ignore. The ports were laid out in a smart place, there was enough storage, and it was all really well thought out. It looked nice, with a mix of materials that gave it a sense of luxury.

The Acura Integra Type S is aimed at people like me - 40 years old, young enough to have fallen in love with the ITR but old enough to need a little more space for small people or dogs in the back. It's an enthusiast car that wears the disguise of a sensible purchase, and it nails it. The downside is the price - this thing starts at $51,000, which is 52.53 if you adjust for inflation. The ITR was about $45,000 when adjusted for inflation, so this is more expensive than that.

However, considering everything that comes with this car, I don't think it's overpriced. In fact, I think it's a steal at the price. There's nothing missing from this car, and in that regard, it's about as perfect as a sports car gets. For $52,000, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better driving experience. If I had to sit in a room with Acura right now and try to think of something they could improve on, I'm stumped.

Overall, the Acura Integra Type S is a car that got it right. It's a combination of space, comfort, speed, inputs, lightweight features, and it's really only an 11-pound difference from the Civic Type R. The fact that it comes with more sound insulation, a better stereo, a power driver's seat, and heated front seats makes it feel like a premium car that's worth every penny.

One of the things I appreciate about this car is its attention to detail. The screen on the dashboard looks similar to the Civic Type R, but it works really quickly and is easy to read. It doesn't come with a native navigation system, though - instead, it relies on Android Auto and CarPlay, which are both faster and more convenient for users like me who are used to using them.

As I drove around in this car, I couldn't help but feel impressed by how well it handled. The combination of space, comfort, speed, inputs, and lightweight features all came together to create a driving experience that's hard to match. If you're looking for a sports car that can also be a daily driver, the Acura Integra Type S is definitely worth considering - even if it does come with a hefty price tag.

But hey, as the saying goes - "if you've never driven a car that was absolutely perfect in every way, then you haven't been driving much." And I have to say, this car comes close. It's about as close as I've seen, and I think it's worth every penny of its $52,000 price tag. So if you're looking for a sports car that checks all the boxes - space, comfort, speed, inputs, lightweight features, and premium interior - then look no further than the Acura Integra Type S.

Remember to always fight your tickets! Use code TST10 on the Off The Record app available in the Android and iOS store or go to offtherecord.com.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: ennow this is an exciting car the all-new Acura Integra Type S and it's exciting for a few reasons for one it's very closely related to the Honda Civic Type R a car that we all agree is brilliant and nearly Flawless for two the Acura supposedly fixes any flaws we found with the aforementioned Honda by giving the Integra smaller Wheels a better ride and a few more luxury appointments and for three we're excited because we know that you the viewer and the community are more excited about a new affordable exciting sports car than another three hundred thousand dollar 700 horsepower SUV it's a shrinking segment and so when a new car comes out we all get a bit fizzy about it Acura does not want you to think of this car as a very close relative of the Civic Type R in fact the 30-page Integra press release doesn't mention the CTR once instead of talking about the Civic Acura wants you to know where the type S is different from the regular Integra so we're gonna tell you it has 120 more horsepower weighs 150 pounds more is 2.8 inches wider has unique front and rear fasces flared fenders lightweight 19-inch Wheels special Michelin PS4 tires and a spoiler got that good now what we really want to know is what are the differences between this and the Civic Type R and does this car address the problems that we had with the Honda well it makes five more horsepower and five more pound-feet of torque than the Civic it's 31 pounds heavier but it carries around a lot more stuff a power driver's seat with adjustable lumbar heated seats more sound insulation and the banging Els 3D Studio stereo system it's 19-inch wheels are actually lighter than the Civic type R's 20s there are some very huge big differences that Acura pointed out in an email to us for example at half throttle an Integra provides a bit more torque than a Civic Type R and the accurate suspension is one step softer than the Civics when we and let's face it everyone else drove the Civic Type R last year we all found it nearly perfect it is razor sharp super fast for the money and has brilliant inputs but some of those attributes come at a price the Precision you get from that car on the track translates to some harshness on the road the sharpness in the steering on the track translates to some nervousness on the highway that can be tiring on a commute or a long road trip and those race car red seats look great with the deep bolsters but the fact is they're fully manual and lack lumbar support which for everyday use or long driving can hurt your back as both Zach and I experienced during our week with that car so that sets the stage for the Integra Type S Acura would like us to tell you that this is a different car from the Honda developed by a different teams with different goals and it has a different Target customer with that in mind we went to the Canyons to find out for ourselves when I reviewed the Integra a-spec a few years ago I had two real complaints about it it felt slow even though it had a better power to weight ratio than the original ITR the 200 horsepower a-spec felt slow second the tires handled Corners about as well as a baby can juggle they let go the second you tried to have any amount of fun it was like having your mom in the car when you were 16. if you even thought about going a little quickly in a corner no shut down immediately this car seems to have solved both those problems we have a powerful engine we have bespoke Michelin PS4s tires and they all work real well thank you the Integra Type S is fundamentally What Porsche should have done with the 911 GT3 touring and didn't do it has moved one notch down in terms of harshness but with the same fundamental geometries and powertrain as the Civic Type R right so same engine same brakes same chassis more or less same dimensions right but for instance Sport Plus in the Integra Type S is the same as sport in the Civic Type R sport in this is the same as comfort in the Civic Type R and comfort in this is one further soft from that making for a better everyday street car experience first thing that jumps out at me about this car is the weight or lack thereof now while 3 200 pounds is a lot by 1990 standards it is nothing by 2023 standards and going from something like a BMW M2 to this it's almost like a loaded bat warm-up after the M2 this is like swinging a wiffle ball bat it's like driving air now remember Acura wants us to compare this car to the regular Integra not the Civic Type R so let's do that this car's front track is 3.5 inches wider than the regular Integra and the rear track is nearly two inches wider whereas the Civic type R's front track is 3.5 inches wider than the regular Civic not the Integra this car's suspension is also very clever and different than the regular Integra they've redesigned the knuckle so it's extra strong and helps give you that feeling of agility and responsiveness through the steering wheel as you can see here in the slide from their press kit PDF sorry that's that slide is from the Civic type RS PDF here's the Integra one see different colors this car also gets a different sway bar than the regular Integra it's 29 millimeters in the front now whereas the Civic type R's front sway bar is 2.9 centimeters so again totally different cars the 19-inch wheels are a good choice they are both lighter than the 18s that come with the Integra a-spec and the 20s that come with the Civic Type R they are the lightest wheels on this car although there are more powerful cars this car is about Peak Canyon speed south of like a McLaren or something I'm not sure I could get up this road much quicker considering the amount of power going to the front wheels there is a very limited amount of torque steer and that is because there is a very limited amount of slip in the diff the LSD is excellent oh the brake pedal feels really good stays super flat in the corners and you can carry an unbelievable pace over uneven pavement that's something that's really impressive about this car the Civic Type R was a little bit skittish on uneven pavement little bouncy little hoppy this is settled right down clutch engagement's really good pedal placement really good forget about the auto rev matching it's there for the beginners but this thing is so easy to heal toe just turn it off heated front seats power on the driver's side only it's a little cheapy but I get it it's really about the driver and as long as I've got that Lumbar and a seat heater I'm okay this Honda Shifter is just spectacular every time I Row the gears in one of these I just wonder why everyone else hasn't reverse engineered it yet really good weight transfer on those brakes the type S also gets a fully Digital dash which changes a little bit depending on what mode you're in much like BMW M2 yeah I'm not sure if the Civic Type R has a digital dash look at this that is a difficult spot for a car that is a down up with an extra Crown in the middle of it and this soaked it up as if it was a a transition on a roller coaster with a perfect radius so impressive they did change the Bodywork obviously compared to the regular Integra it's wider of course these fender flares I think look really cool there's also a lot more airflow 170 percent more air coming through that front grill and then the air is managed around above and underneath the car to help cool the brakes cool the engine and manage uh lift I really like this interior when I drove the a-spec car I liked that one I thought it looked upscale compared to the Civic on which it's based yes some of the knobs are carried over and look really really similar the overall architecture is the same you know these vents are basically the same but more to the point it's a really well done interior it's comfortable it's ergonomically excellent the ports are laid out in a smart place there's enough storage it's all really well thought out and it looks nice and the variety of materials you have some leather here plastic here fake metal over there it looks upscale it's well done Acura really wants us to believe that this is a totally different car from the Civic Type R which is obviously ridiculous anyone who drives one will tell that underneath it's pretty much the same parts that make up the two cars but it does show the importance of priority and tuning whether you live somewhere with great roads or not so great roads this is a usable car every day man do I like this car I've said before that you can get a Vibe for a car in the first hundred feet and this car sold me in a hundred feet it really did if I went to a dealership and just took a test drive around the block in this car I'd be sold the fact that I'm driving it up here on the mountain though I want one like yesterday I mean the combination of space Comfort speed inputs lightweight but still full of features I mean this has quite a few more features than the Civic Type R it's got more sound insulation it's got a much better stereo it's got the power driver's seat the heated front seats some other little goodies it's only a 31 pound difference and not to brag but between the time I drove the Civic Type R and now I've lost 20 pounds so it's really only an 11 pound difference we have the same screen here the Civic gets it works really quickly it's very easy to read it does not have a native navigation screen but the car comes with Android auto and carplay and I think they know that users are going to opt for those systems versus a native navigation screen I appreciate when a car has a satellite based navigation because it means if I'm out in the middle of nowhere filming or road tripping I can find out where I'm going even if I don't have cell service but when I'm in the car in the city I use carplay I don't use the native navigation system because carplay is just faster and I'm used to it so I understand why they've removed it from these cars this car is aimed right at people like me 40 years old young enough that we fell in love with the ITR but old enough that we need a little bit of space for small people or dogs in the back and we need our Enthusiast car to wear the disguise of a sensible purchase and this Nails it the downside is the price this thing starts at fifty one thousand dollars this is 52.53 if you adjust for inflation the ITR was about 45 Grand so this is more expensive than that that's how cars are priced these days but also this gives you everything I can't think of anything missing from this car and in that regard it's worth it I don't know like if I've ever driven a car that was absolutely perfect in every way certainly for less than a hundred thousand dollars this is about as close as I've seen I have to say if I could sit in a room with Acura right now and and and they would go what should we improve about this car I don't think I have anything I think that for fifty two thousand dollars this is about as perfect as a sports car gets ridiculous it's ridiculous bunny it lived oh and remember always fight your tickets use code tst10 on the off the Record app available in the Android and iOS store or go to offtherecord.com TSTnow this is an exciting car the all-new Acura Integra Type S and it's exciting for a few reasons for one it's very closely related to the Honda Civic Type R a car that we all agree is brilliant and nearly Flawless for two the Acura supposedly fixes any flaws we found with the aforementioned Honda by giving the Integra smaller Wheels a better ride and a few more luxury appointments and for three we're excited because we know that you the viewer and the community are more excited about a new affordable exciting sports car than another three hundred thousand dollar 700 horsepower SUV it's a shrinking segment and so when a new car comes out we all get a bit fizzy about it Acura does not want you to think of this car as a very close relative of the Civic Type R in fact the 30-page Integra press release doesn't mention the CTR once instead of talking about the Civic Acura wants you to know where the type S is different from the regular Integra so we're gonna tell you it has 120 more horsepower weighs 150 pounds more is 2.8 inches wider has unique front and rear fasces flared fenders lightweight 19-inch Wheels special Michelin PS4 tires and a spoiler got that good now what we really want to know is what are the differences between this and the Civic Type R and does this car address the problems that we had with the Honda well it makes five more horsepower and five more pound-feet of torque than the Civic it's 31 pounds heavier but it carries around a lot more stuff a power driver's seat with adjustable lumbar heated seats more sound insulation and the banging Els 3D Studio stereo system it's 19-inch wheels are actually lighter than the Civic type R's 20s there are some very huge big differences that Acura pointed out in an email to us for example at half throttle an Integra provides a bit more torque than a Civic Type R and the accurate suspension is one step softer than the Civics when we and let's face it everyone else drove the Civic Type R last year we all found it nearly perfect it is razor sharp super fast for the money and has brilliant inputs but some of those attributes come at a price the Precision you get from that car on the track translates to some harshness on the road the sharpness in the steering on the track translates to some nervousness on the highway that can be tiring on a commute or a long road trip and those race car red seats look great with the deep bolsters but the fact is they're fully manual and lack lumbar support which for everyday use or long driving can hurt your back as both Zach and I experienced during our week with that car so that sets the stage for the Integra Type S Acura would like us to tell you that this is a different car from the Honda developed by a different teams with different goals and it has a different Target customer with that in mind we went to the Canyons to find out for ourselves when I reviewed the Integra a-spec a few years ago I had two real complaints about it it felt slow even though it had a better power to weight ratio than the original ITR the 200 horsepower a-spec felt slow second the tires handled Corners about as well as a baby can juggle they let go the second you tried to have any amount of fun it was like having your mom in the car when you were 16. if you even thought about going a little quickly in a corner no shut down immediately this car seems to have solved both those problems we have a powerful engine we have bespoke Michelin PS4s tires and they all work real well thank you the Integra Type S is fundamentally What Porsche should have done with the 911 GT3 touring and didn't do it has moved one notch down in terms of harshness but with the same fundamental geometries and powertrain as the Civic Type R right so same engine same brakes same chassis more or less same dimensions right but for instance Sport Plus in the Integra Type S is the same as sport in the Civic Type R sport in this is the same as comfort in the Civic Type R and comfort in this is one further soft from that making for a better everyday street car experience first thing that jumps out at me about this car is the weight or lack thereof now while 3 200 pounds is a lot by 1990 standards it is nothing by 2023 standards and going from something like a BMW M2 to this it's almost like a loaded bat warm-up after the M2 this is like swinging a wiffle ball bat it's like driving air now remember Acura wants us to compare this car to the regular Integra not the Civic Type R so let's do that this car's front track is 3.5 inches wider than the regular Integra and the rear track is nearly two inches wider whereas the Civic type R's front track is 3.5 inches wider than the regular Civic not the Integra this car's suspension is also very clever and different than the regular Integra they've redesigned the knuckle so it's extra strong and helps give you that feeling of agility and responsiveness through the steering wheel as you can see here in the slide from their press kit PDF sorry that's that slide is from the Civic type RS PDF here's the Integra one see different colors this car also gets a different sway bar than the regular Integra it's 29 millimeters in the front now whereas the Civic type R's front sway bar is 2.9 centimeters so again totally different cars the 19-inch wheels are a good choice they are both lighter than the 18s that come with the Integra a-spec and the 20s that come with the Civic Type R they are the lightest wheels on this car although there are more powerful cars this car is about Peak Canyon speed south of like a McLaren or something I'm not sure I could get up this road much quicker considering the amount of power going to the front wheels there is a very limited amount of torque steer and that is because there is a very limited amount of slip in the diff the LSD is excellent oh the brake pedal feels really good stays super flat in the corners and you can carry an unbelievable pace over uneven pavement that's something that's really impressive about this car the Civic Type R was a little bit skittish on uneven pavement little bouncy little hoppy this is settled right down clutch engagement's really good pedal placement really good forget about the auto rev matching it's there for the beginners but this thing is so easy to heal toe just turn it off heated front seats power on the driver's side only it's a little cheapy but I get it it's really about the driver and as long as I've got that Lumbar and a seat heater I'm okay this Honda Shifter is just spectacular every time I Row the gears in one of these I just wonder why everyone else hasn't reverse engineered it yet really good weight transfer on those brakes the type S also gets a fully Digital dash which changes a little bit depending on what mode you're in much like BMW M2 yeah I'm not sure if the Civic Type R has a digital dash look at this that is a difficult spot for a car that is a down up with an extra Crown in the middle of it and this soaked it up as if it was a a transition on a roller coaster with a perfect radius so impressive they did change the Bodywork obviously compared to the regular Integra it's wider of course these fender flares I think look really cool there's also a lot more airflow 170 percent more air coming through that front grill and then the air is managed around above and underneath the car to help cool the brakes cool the engine and manage uh lift I really like this interior when I drove the a-spec car I liked that one I thought it looked upscale compared to the Civic on which it's based yes some of the knobs are carried over and look really really similar the overall architecture is the same you know these vents are basically the same but more to the point it's a really well done interior it's comfortable it's ergonomically excellent the ports are laid out in a smart place there's enough storage it's all really well thought out and it looks nice and the variety of materials you have some leather here plastic here fake metal over there it looks upscale it's well done Acura really wants us to believe that this is a totally different car from the Civic Type R which is obviously ridiculous anyone who drives one will tell that underneath it's pretty much the same parts that make up the two cars but it does show the importance of priority and tuning whether you live somewhere with great roads or not so great roads this is a usable car every day man do I like this car I've said before that you can get a Vibe for a car in the first hundred feet and this car sold me in a hundred feet it really did if I went to a dealership and just took a test drive around the block in this car I'd be sold the fact that I'm driving it up here on the mountain though I want one like yesterday I mean the combination of space Comfort speed inputs lightweight but still full of features I mean this has quite a few more features than the Civic Type R it's got more sound insulation it's got a much better stereo it's got the power driver's seat the heated front seats some other little goodies it's only a 31 pound difference and not to brag but between the time I drove the Civic Type R and now I've lost 20 pounds so it's really only an 11 pound difference we have the same screen here the Civic gets it works really quickly it's very easy to read it does not have a native navigation screen but the car comes with Android auto and carplay and I think they know that users are going to opt for those systems versus a native navigation screen I appreciate when a car has a satellite based navigation because it means if I'm out in the middle of nowhere filming or road tripping I can find out where I'm going even if I don't have cell service but when I'm in the car in the city I use carplay I don't use the native navigation system because carplay is just faster and I'm used to it so I understand why they've removed it from these cars this car is aimed right at people like me 40 years old young enough that we fell in love with the ITR but old enough that we need a little bit of space for small people or dogs in the back and we need our Enthusiast car to wear the disguise of a sensible purchase and this Nails it the downside is the price this thing starts at fifty one thousand dollars this is 52.53 if you adjust for inflation the ITR was about 45 Grand so this is more expensive than that that's how cars are priced these days but also this gives you everything I can't think of anything missing from this car and in that regard it's worth it I don't know like if I've ever driven a car that was absolutely perfect in every way certainly for less than a hundred thousand dollars this is about as close as I've seen I have to say if I could sit in a room with Acura right now and and and they would go what should we improve about this car I don't think I have anything I think that for fifty two thousand dollars this is about as perfect as a sports car gets ridiculous it's ridiculous bunny it lived oh and remember always fight your tickets use code tst10 on the off the Record app available in the Android and iOS store or go to offtherecord.com TST\n"