we love cars we love our first cars our favorite cars the legends that all too often
live only in our minds and for over two decades the acura integra has been one of those legends
because for the past 20 years more than 20 years there hasn't been an integra
for the united states instead acura gave us an alphabet soup of nameplates the integra became
the rsx to go with the tsx and the tlx and the tl and the rl and all the while we were
clamoring for the return of the car that we lost well now for 2023 it's back the acura integra
now i don't actually envy automakers in this position because sure acura has marketing gold
sitting on the shelf with the integra name i mean bring it back and they are sure to make headlines
hopefully followed by making sales but there's some baggage with integra i mean we have
expectations for this car but before we find out if the integra can live up to those expectations
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online we'll provide you with an offer if you like it you schedule the time to have the car
picked up and then you get paid it couldn't be easier the new integra is a five-door lift back
so they got that right and you'll notice that there's the integra name embossed on the front
left and back here on the rear right corner that's a call back to the third generation car
all new integras feature dark wheels so don't ding them up they don't get the honda civic or
records blunt nose this front end is distinctively accurate and in my opinion a little over styled
the rear end is tall with dual exhausts big single piece tail lights and this decklid spoiler
lift back body styles are convenient but they haven't always proven to be popular the volkswagen
arteon for instance is an amazing vehicle but it hasn't caught on with shoppers granted that might
have to do with the artion's price tag shoppers will likely be willing to pay a little more for
a premium brand like acura than they would for a mass-market brand like volkswagen yet the arteon
costs ten thousand dollars more than this vehicle one downside of the integers tall rear end is
that once you open the lift back you've got a long way to the trunk floor there's 24.3 cubic feet of
cargo space back here and that's a lot more than you'd get in a traditional sedan's trunk but this
liftover height it's going to make getting heavy things in and out a huge hassle and acura says
you can fit a mountain bike back here if you fold those rear seats down i've loaded mountain
bikes into a lot of different cars the liftover height is going to be problematic for that task
inside you can see clear honda civic inspiration the honeycomb style hvac vents that we love on
the civic they're present in the integra but they don't span the length of the dash
i found the hvac controls to be terrific i love the knurled metal and this clickiness to the dials
overall the whole layout is super easy to get comfortable and familiar with
our manual transmission shifter has a delightful vertical feel to it there's no chunky ball on top
and the materials all feel good the steering wheel is thin but it still has a high quality feel now
forward visibility in many modern sedans is frankly crap but the integra is not many sedans
we have a huge windshield and these thin a-pillars all of my sight lines frankly are just terrific
it's really good you can't see much out the back but that's why we have mirrors and cameras right
now the big greenhouse it does let in a lot of light and it's easy to see out of but
that also means it lets in a lot of heat wouldn't be the worst thing in the world
considering how frigid the integra's ac blows
but the ac doesn't blow on my back and this micro suede fiber it traps every little bit of heat
i actually took this car for about a 30 minute spin before heading into the office the other day
and i had to go home after that 30 minutes and change my shirt that's how warm i got i do wish
that we could get ventilated seats in this car and acura is a premium brand so i think that's
a reasonable ask a reasonable expectation maybe you let us know in the comments section below if
you think that that's reasonable that's really my only gripe in terms of look and feel in the
back i have plenty of leg room but not plenty of head room the cushions though oh my goodness
these are soft honestly other than the head room it feels like a lazy boy back here but something
tells me you are not watching this video to hear about the back seat so let's go for a drive
acura fits the integra with a one and a half liter turbo charged four cylinder making 200 horsepower
192 pound-feet of torque sound familiar well that's because it's the same engine
that honda uses in the 2022 civic si and guess what the civic si is terrific
so this is the first turbocharged integra ever it really is a good engine now what you might
not love is that acura sells the integra with a continuously variable transmission yep yeah
i can hear you booing from here thankfully they sent us one with a short throw six-speed manual
rev hang is largely non-existent and the shifts are nice and crisp the integra has automatic rev
matching you can turn it off if you want but it blips the throttle when you push the clutch and
move the shifter to a lower gear before you finish the downshift you get that little throttle blip
and have the perfect gear change the rev matching it's almost instantaneous it really
it makes everyone feel like lewis hamilton heading into a hairpin this car also has
auto stop start and auto break hold honestly it's pretty surreal in a manual transmission
car i mean you come to a stop light you put the car in neutral you take your foot off the clutch
car turns off foot off the brake the auto hold engages you wait until the light turns green
then you just put the clutch in put it in gear and gently get back on the gas there's no drama
there's no fancy footwork required here you're not moving your right foot from the brake to
the gas pedal if you need to teach a teenager how to drive stick this is the car you do it in
it's so simple and fun the brakes are great and the suspension is sporty enough to be fun
but compliant enough that i'm not complaining the steering is delightful it's really quick
really fast and very very precise acura uses an electric variable power steering system that stays
super tight on center but then the further off center you get the faster the steering
ratio gets it's super natural feeling and it makes this feel like a real sports sedan
a wide track and long wheelbase keep the integra feeling planted all the time get
it into the right rev range and it'll hold a line better than most front wheel drive cars
the integra also comes standard with three drive modes comfort normal and sport plus an individual
mode i honestly didn't notice much of a difference between comfort and normal modes but sport mode
definitely adds some weight to the steering and it stiffens up our trim levels available adaptive
damping system so the suspension gets a little tighter we drove the 2022 subaru wrx and we griped
about how all the advanced safety technology was available only with cvt equipped cars
acura gives it to you regardless of transmission not only do we get automatic emergency braking
the thing that apparently doesn't work with one of these but we also get blind spot monitoring
adaptive cruise control traffic sign recognition traffic jam assist and lane keeping assist all as
standard equipment now because we're driving the top trim with the technology package our car has
all the bells and whistles my favorite of which is the els studio 3d audio system it sounds
incredible i love it in all of acura's models and i highly highly recommend it this
9-inch color touchscreen which ironically hosts an infotainment layout that's mostly black and
white well it would be 7 inches in lower trims we have wireless charging wireless apple carplay
wireless android auto and memory settings for our 12 way adjustable driver's seat lower trims
don't get that stuff but they do all get this new 10 and a quarter inch driver information display
and of course everything gets the all-important volume knob and tuning buttons now other than
those things if you like how this looks in here if you want all those bells and
whistles all those features well then consider the acura a 35 grand car not a 31 grand car
with regards to fuel economy the integra delivers 29 mpg in the city 36 on the highway if you have
it equipped with a cvt the bad news is that if you want a manual transmission that city
number drops to 26 and the really bad news is that when i test drove this car through city driving
i couldn't beat 23. that said if you're buying an integra because you loved the old integra
then i suspect fuel economy is not going to deter you from picking that manual transmission the
real trouble is that in order to get the manual transmission you have to buy a top level a spec
trim with the three thousand dollar technology package so the integra is really more of a 35
000 car but even at 35 grand or 37 395 dollars as our test car cost after its 1095 destination fee
even at that price it actually appears to be a pretty good value when compared with acura's
competitive set and that would be the bmw 2 series grand coupe the audi a3 or the mercedes-benz cla
class now if you're willing to look outside of the established luxury segment there are some
competitive vehicles that do cost less than this the mazda 3 for one or the volkswagen jetta gli
or i mean you could always just buy a 2022 honda civic si thank you for watching share
your thoughts with us in the comments section below is acura living up to your expectations
with this new integra as always don't forget to subscribe to the cargurus youtube channel
you can head to cargurus.com to read my full review on this car and we'll see you next time