Legendary Acura Integra is back, faces stiff competition

Honda’s luxury brand has returned to its sporty roots and brought back its famed entry-level hellion for the compact luxury segment. But a lot has happened since 1989 when Integra debuted. Could Integra ever live up to the expectations?

On adaptive cruise control talking with my wife via the Android Auto app (both alien, sci-fi technology to an ’89 Integra) in northern Michigan, a twisty road loomed. I hung up the phone and hit the brakes hard — negating ACC — then downshifted the manual from 6th to 5th to 3rd.

Each downshift was perfectly executed, thanks to electronic rev matching. I rotated Integra beautifully, then smoothly put down power courtesy of the limited slip differential (no, they never heard of that in ’89, either). Handling, power, tech. The Integra is reborn, yes?

“No, it’s just not the same,” mused my friend Sean, who owned an ‘89 Integra. She loved the popup headlights, airy greenhouse and lightweight 2,400-pound chassis.

The 2023 Integra is based on the Honda Civic

( just like the original) but 1989 was a different Integra/Civic era. Sean’s Integra had an eager 1.6-liter fuel-injected mill that was followed by an 8,000-rpm VTEC engine in 1992. I have an evolution of that engine in my manual 2006 Civic Si, and it’s a blast to row at 6,000 rpm. Packaged in the sexier Integra, it must have felt like a little bit of Honda’s Formula One racer DNA had been injected under the hood.

By contrast, the new 2023 Civic Si boasts a turbocharged 1.5-liter engine that has better low-end torque compared with its ancestor — but lacks its personality. The new Integra gets the Civic Si engine standard, putting out the same 200 horses as the Civic mated to a manual transmission.

The new Integra is accessorized to the gunwales with sounddeadening materials, digital gauges and wireless smartphone apps.

The car also has a shallow greenhouse — the better to show off the big 18-inch satin wheels and sculpted side-and-rocker panel stampings.

Car and Driver magazine’s 1992 archives finds Integra taking on seven other pocket rockets like the VW Corrado in a comparison review.

“The Integra GS-R is not a hard-edged, seriously sporting car — its suspension is tailored for a forgiving ride, and the chassis delivers just 0.79 g of grip,” wrote Car and Driver. “But, in typical Honda fashion, it does nearly everything well at a reasonable ... price.” It came in third overall. I would rate it the same for the 2023 model. Get the hot-looking Integra because it wears better duds than a Civic Si, but it’s no hotter-looking than the sculpted GTI or gorgeous Mazda3 hatches I’ve driven.