Then the car had its national debut. The world shook as thousands of Honda/Acura fans did a collective facepalm. We were at Buttonwillow testing for Global Time Attack and the only thing the entire paddock could talk about is how badly Honda/Acura messed up the Integra. The universal opinion was some people at Acura needed to be fired. Many people were in dismay, not a single person we were around liked it one bit. Everyone was incredulous on how much the mark was missed and how obvious what the right car should have been to the customer base. In fact, there was more conversation on how bad the new car was than the goings-on at the race!
We mean, is this an Accord or maybe a Civic variant? A Toyota Camry? How could this be the new Acura sports coupe? We think perhaps that someone in Acura Product Planning thought they could get an ILX or whatever, throw a rear hatch on, and with minimum investment come out with a new model.
The car is pretty uninspiring. We were hoping for a high output, high revving NA K24. Since that might be hard with today’s emissions standards, we were expecting a detuned K20C1 with an anticipated hotter version for an upcoming Type R. Instead we are getting a 1.5-liter econobox motor, probably a L15B7 or something. Facepalm with a double yawn. Probably the only things right for the enthusiast on the new car are a six-speed manual and a limited-slip differential. The car pictured also appears to have big 4 piston front brakes.
Honda/Acura you need to see what this car’s potential buyer’s response is to the new Integra, we have never seen such a group of disappointed and even angry enthusiasts that could have been people waving money to get one.
Hopefully, the shape will grow on us and Acura will at least put the K20C1 in there soon, perhaps for a Type R version. Maybe with more power, fans will forgive the looks, kind of like what happened with the FK8. We probably can’t hope for a smaller 3 door coupe. Unfortunately, this car will probably sell poorly and it will be an example of why hot hatches don’t sell and we will never get another one from any manufacture. We hope the folks at Acura are seeing how this car is being fried all over social media by what was once potential customers and next time build what the people want.
13 comments
The Elantra N will devastate this car for the same money
Oh my goodness people, let’s give it a chance at least! So much negativity in the car community anymore…. Just because it doesn’t look like a modern take on a 3rd gen Integra type-R, doesn’t mean it can’t be an affordable and fun car to drive – that’s what the Integra always was. A fun, cheap, economy car. I seem to remember that there were always 4dr Integra’s too.
Sure there were a couple special trims like the type-R, but that wasn’t the entirety of the Integra. We idolize the higher trims of the old models from our youth and hold them in higher regards than Ferraris, failing to recognize that they there were still compact economy cars and hot hatches. Even though we love the old Integra, it isn’t fair to hate the new one before driving it because it’s not an STi killer.
I’m a Honda fan myself, and love the 2dr Integra’s, but let’s realize that new 2dr cars are going away, they don’t sell. Manuals are rare now, a lot of cars in general are going away. The eclipse is now an SUV, the Corolla is getting a crossover… Let’s try to be positive, and gracious that Acura is even attempting the Integra, with a manual available that is still a car and not an SUV. Probably fun to drive and a turbo 1.5 can give plenty of kick for… an economy car.
you have the audacity to call yourself a Honda fan 2 paragraphs after uttering “give it a chance”? No, don’t give it a chance! Let Honda/Acura know that a name means something. If they’re gonna call a car an Integra, give us something that at least vaguely lives up to the name.
This isn’t Acura “attempting” an Integra, this is “hey lets build a crappy parts bin special and give it a name with history and built it up with a nostalgia driven advertising campaign to try and get sales”. If you’re gonna try and play the nostalgia card you gotta make the car at least vaguely relatable to the past cars.
This! “hey lets build a crappy parts bin special and give it a name with history and built it up with a nostalgia driven advertising campaign to try and get sales”
You want a high revving fwd sports car for atound 35k? Just buy a DC2 Type R.
Amen!
Japanese automakers on a whole have given up. Toyota threw in the towel (Yaris GR aside) with their engines, farming it out to Subaru or BMW. Nissan/Infiniti are only interested in the Leaf and the GTR, the Q50 got a 2nd gen Cube 0 feedback steering rack and the new Z….well I’ll just disappointingly gesture at the whole car. Hell Nissan waited 15 years to redesign the Frontier for the US market, they had the NP300 body styling released internationally for a few years now, which is MILES more attractive and would have set them apart from the crowd, but they chose to release a Colorado/Tacoma photocopy. It seems if you want a decent sports car you have to go American or German now.
I know people are complaining about “coupe”…but I’m old enough to remember the earlier Integra having 4 doors.
Also…as much as we’d like it…not every new car will be some type of throwback model. I think sometimes you need to temper expectations.
It’s still possible Honda can redeem themselves with some sort of Integra R….
The old 4 door sold really poorly and they are super rare.
Man, there are at least 3 of us who actually like the car. It could have been a ZDX crossover like the Eclipse or Mustang Mach-E.
The Civic coupe of recent years sold so well that its now extinct. A higher trim level with the 2.0 turbo motor will suit me just fine.
Being a rebadged, even larger Civic Hatchback is one thing, but the severe lack of interesting tech is another. Honda used to be rather innovative, but this doesn’t even make use of stuff they first brought to market in the 80s and 90s, and has nothing new or cool at all.
No torque vectoring diff, no 4-wheel steering, no interesting hybrid tech, no “Advanced VTEC”, no fancy suspension, nothing different on the interior, really nothing that invites a second look, at all.
Just another lame econobox with no identity, because all Acuras need to look the same for muh brand awareness, it can’t cost anything to make, and corporate would really rather just make another SUV instead.
I totally agree with this article. Only automotive enthusiast would care if the Integra name was resurrected. If The Integra name was used, the vehicle would have to be a light weight 2 door hatchback with a NA K24A2 engine and 6 speed transmission with LSD. The type S would have the CTR drive train… No enthusiast wants an overweight Crosstour sedan hunchback! The renderings from designer Jordan Rubinstein-Towler are the ones every automotive enthusiast wants ( you showed two renderings but never credited him). Acura/ Honda could easily offset the costs for a 2 door hatchback If they used the previous two door Civic coupe OR if they designed it with upcoming HRV chassis to share cost/ parts…
The design team and top Management at Acura are morally bankrupt because they mislead all of the automotive enthusiasts!!
Wait a minute, Acura actually have a coupe prototype running around on public roads? And here I thought those coupe renderings were just created for fun with no basis to reality. Honda became quite brain damaged ever since the start of the 21st century though, so blatantly obvious bad decisions by them aren’t exactly new news. IMO I’d just go and buy the new 2nd gen BRZ/GR86 if you’re not biased towards or against any particular car manufacturer. European market has pretty much given up on Hondas, same goes for Australia, but the best one is back in Japan Suzuki sold more car than Honda did in 2021, yeah even the Japanese have gradually given up on their near and dear Honda.