The production version of Acura’s new Integra has arrived, and ahead of its release this spring, reviewers have given us a detailed look at the car inside and out.
Overall, very little has changed since we first saw this car in pre-production form. The signature Acura styling, with its hard lines, pentagonal grille, and “chicane” lighting, is all there, and it makes for a very handsome-looking compact. The car also has a liftback trunk, just like the original Integra.
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Inside, while it does borrow a good deal of its design from the Honda Civic it’s based on, it’s much better than the dated interior of the ILX that this car replaces. Some highlights include a standard 10.2-inch digital gauge cluster, a standard 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, or an optional 9-inch infotainment system with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. There are also heated leather seats as standard with 8-way adjustability (12-way with the Technology Package) along with a dealer-installed heated steering wheel option.
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However, as promising as this car is, people are still complaining that it’s based on a Civic. But that’s the thing—it always has been, and the new Civic Si is one of the best performance cars on the market for the price.
The new Integra still has the same stellar chassis and engine as the Civic Si, the latter of which is a rev-happy 1.5L-liter four-cylinder making 200 hp (203 PS / 147 kW) and 192 lb-ft (260 Nm) of torque. Acura also supposedly gave it different tuning to give the car its own character compared to the Civic.
One valid complaint about this new Integra, though, is that the manual is only available on the range-topping A-Spec Technology trim. To make matters worse, if you don’t want to shell out the extra cash for that, or prefer not to row your own gears, you’re stuck with a CVT instead of a proper automatic or a DCT like in the outgoing ILX.
That being said, those who opt for the manual will certainly be rewarded, as that top trim does afford buyers with such perks as auto rev-matching, a limited-slip differential, and adaptive suspension. Just be aware that it will likely run you closer to $40k compared to this car’s base price of around $30k even.