The 2023 Acura Integra A-Spec Lets You Hold Onto Your Youth

Growing up sucks, however the Acura Integra is a automotive that may ease the transition from adolescence into maturity. Few autos hit that candy spot between younger and sporty and previous and comfortable, however an Integra A-Spec with a six-speed guide transmission makes shifting into your extra mature years that a lot simpler.

Full Disclosure: Acura lent me an Integra A-Spec with a full tank of gasoline to do as I happy for every week.

Blending Sportiness and Practicality at a Price

The Integra is unbelievable to drive. It’s gentle on its ft. You can flick it round a nook a bit too quick, and regardless of the very fact it’s a front-wheel drive automotive, it gained’t wash out in a large number of understeer. If you set it in Sport mode, the Integra wakes up much more. However, the adaptive dampers make the suspension a bit bumpy at that time. It doesn’t wreck the expertise by any means, however there’s a greater choice: Individual mode. Basically, you possibly can put each setting in full-kill Sport mode apart from the suspension, which ought to keep in Comfort. This makes the entire expertise simply that little bit higher.

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But even if you’re putzing round city, the Integra offers sufficient pleasure to make each day driving extra enjoyable. A revvy, first rate sounding engine, a lovely-to-use guide transmission and a slick limited-slip differential all work collectively superbly, letting you’ve gotten a very good time on the journey to the grocery retailer.

All of that peppy vitality comes from a sensible little 1.5-liter turbocharged inline-4 that places out 200 horsepower and 192 lb-ft of torque. That could not sound like a lot – and it actually isn’t these days – however the Integra A-Spec by no means as soon as feels sluggish. Power comes on easily, nevertheless it isn’t precisely linear. You can positively inform this little man has a turbocharger strapped on. You get a pleasant little surge off the road, however in a not-very-Honda-way, the facility form of dies up on the high of the rev vary. If you’re prepared to ground your Integra, you possibly can inspire it from a standstill to 60 mph in 7.7 seconds, in response to the automaker.

Despite this sporty vitality, the Integra calms down when that’s what you need. On a protracted drive the place, you simply need some goddamn peace and quiet, the Integra does a masterful job of scooting you together with little or no fuss. This is the place the automotive’s glorious adaptive cruise management and lane-keep help methods are available. And sure, regardless of the very fact this automotive has a guide, it nonetheless has radar cruise that works at speeds above 25 mph. I do know that isn’t unique to the Integra, nevertheless it actually is such a pleasant little deal with. This adaptive cruise system can’t deliver you to an entire cease, however it should completely modulate your velocity on the freeway if you’re following somebody.

I Get Honda’s Manual Now

I’ve lengthy heard the hyperbole surrounding the brilliance of Honda’s guide shifters, however for essentially the most half, I dismissed it. Well, I’m right here to inform you that the Integra’s six-speed is each bit nearly as good as you’ve heard. Every single shift feels mechanical and purposeful. It feels phenomenal. Even the shifter itself is product of steel and leather-based that feels extremely properly made.

Honestly, I can’t think about shopping for an Integra with the repeatedly variable automated transmission. The six-speed guide is so easy, forgiving and simple to function that even a novice stick-shift driver could be quick-shifting very quickly. People typically discuss not getting a guide as a result of they’re caught in visitors so much. Don’t use that as an excuse in the event you’re trying to purchase an Integra. The clutch is gentle and simple to make use of, and the automated rev-matching characteristic (which you’ll flip off) smooths out your downshifts, which is nice.

Lookin’ Good

Looks are clearly subjective, however I don’t actually perceive people who say they don’t like the brand new Integra’s design. One factor’s for certain, the Integra is visually completely different sufficient from its lesser Honda Civic sibling that nobody will ever get the 2 confused.

I simply want the identical factor could possibly be stated from the within. I like the way in which the Integra’s inside appears and feels, nevertheless it’s largely a duplicate of the Civic’s. Despite that, Acura appears to have accomplished sufficient to a minimum of justify the value delta between the Civic Si and an Integra A-Spec. You get issues like a completely digital gauge cluster, heated leather-based seats, a head-up show and a greater stereo.

There’s sufficient leather-based and steel in right here to make you are feeling such as you’re in a automotive that prices greater than the $37,395 (together with $1,195 for vacation spot) automobile you paid for, and who doesn’t love that? Plus, on high of all that entry-level luxurious goodness, you get the better-looking and extra purposeful hatchback physique fashion. Civic Si consumers are caught with a sedan.

Not everybody might be a fan of the Integra’s aggressively crimson inside, however to me it simply works. That’s very true when you think about the slightly subdued exterior coloration. Is it for everybody? Probably not, however it’s definitely consistent with the tone of the automotive: grown up, however nonetheless down for a celebration.

If I had however one criticism with regards to the Integra’s inside, it will be the usage of piano black plastic. I do know it’s the stylish transfer with regards to entry-luxury vehicles proper now, nevertheless it simply will get so icky after only some days of use.

The hatchback physique fashion means you get a ton of bonus cargo room whereas additionally getting the advantage of a smooth, extra curvaceous silhouette. That’s a win-win, in the event you ask me. You’ve bought room for all your folks and their stuff, however the Integra doesn’t look bulbous in any respect.

It’s an Integra, Dammit

Is this Integra the balls-out, vivid yellow, 8,000-rpm Type R monster of your youth? Certainly not. But it isn’t meant to be. There might be one other a kind of coming very quickly, and this Integra greater than lives as much as the promise of its non-Type-R predecessors.

The new Integra is a extra mature automotive than it was earlier than, nevertheless it hasn’t misplaced its sporty edge. It’s a automotive you possibly can develop into, and develop up with.