2025 Acura Integra Type S Yearlong Arrival: A “Better” Civic Type R? Does It Even Matter?
The performance-oriented Integra Type S spices up our long-term fleet for the next year.
SUVs, Crossovers, trucks ... even EVs. Because our MotorTrend yearlong review test fleet mostly reflects market realities and consumer buying habits, it’s been somewhat bereft lately of cars aimed more squarely at driving enthusiasts’ souls. Happily, our long-term 2025 BMW M2 is no longer the single dedicated corner carver in MT’s Los Angeles garage, as it’s joined by an Apex Blue Pearl 2025 Acura Integra Type S hatchback.
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If somehow you haven’t paid attention, the Integra returned to Acura’s lineup for the 2023 model year with a 1.5-liter direct-injection turbo I-4 engine making 200 hp and 192 lb-ft of torque delivered to the front wheels by either a continuously variable transmission or a six-speed manual (in Civic Si–based A-Spec trim). The Honda brand offshoot followed up a year later with the real driver’s model, the Civic Type R–derived Integra Type S featuring a 2.0-liter turbo I-4 cranking out a seriously brawny 320 hp and 310 lb-ft delivered to the road through its own-spec close-ratio six-speed manual transmission and a helical limited-slip differential. This gearbox with its precise, short throws is fairly described as one of the best and most enjoyable stick shifts on the market today, at any price point.
Looking Forward to It
The fact of the matter is, we’ve spent a good amount of time driving the Acura Integra Type S, beginning with our First Drive report and continuing to our First Test analysis to our Performance Vehicle of the Year shootout. We’ve walked away impressed every time.
“There’s an instant competency to [this car], and it goads you into driving quickly,” we wrote in our First Drive. “All the controls are perfectly placed and weighted. The steering wheel’s diameter and contours are terrific.”
When we subsequently attached our data-collecting equipment and officially tested an Integra Type S, we wrote: “Yes, this Integra is largely based on the Honda Civic Type R , but what this car does that the ‘CTR’ does not is take a huge step in the direction of driving refinement without taking one bit away from driving enjoyment. It’s also safe to say the 2024 Acura Integra Type S’ styling is more aggressive and attractive without looking like a gimmick.”
Finally, after driving another example of the hatchback during our 2024 Performance Vehicle of the Year program, we concluded: “The Honda connection is undeniable, but the more you drive the Integra Type S, the more the tangible differences become clear. The Acura rides significantly better than the Honda and is appreciably quieter inside. It has more standard features (notably a bangin’ stereo) and a wider spread between its softest and hardest settings. It also looks like a car an adult would drive, for those neither in their 20s nor pretending they are. Yet without a stopwatch, the difference in on-track performance is imperceptible, just as it is on a mountain road.” Senior features editor Kristen Lee noted, “Cross-shopping between a Civic Type R and the Integra Type S is not a value problem. It’s a matter of taste.”
In other words, we anticipate plenty of dynamic and daily-driving fun over the next 12 months.
Personally, and at the risk of being mildly contradictory: As the official MT chaperone overseeing this Integra Type S’ stay with us, I’m intrigued by the proposition of spending serious time in the car for a couple of reasons. Yes, its outstanding and well-documented fun, and performance top the list, but I’m also fascinated to see in the long run if this Integra is genuinely worth the $8,200 starting-price premium over the Civic Type R. Despite the Acura’s on-paper specs and our previous experiences telling us the suspension is slightly softer and the overall car is quieter inside, early returns after initial around-town driving and one road trip have already called the notion into question.
Yes, indeed the Integra Type S may be both of those things, but during one of his first back-seat rides in the car—and fresh out of a go-kart race in a contraption with essentially zero suspension compliance, no less—my 10-year-old proclaimed, “Boy, this car sure is bouncy!” This prompted me to switch back to Comfort mode from Sport. The kid quickly said it felt better, but only just so. (I can’t imagine what he’d have thought about the stiffer Sport+ setting.) And it’s not just the ride; multiple adult front passengers on more than one occasion have asked me to speak louder while engaging in chatter, causing me to question if I’m inadvertently mumbling again or if the car is really that much louder inside than your average hatch, sedan, or coupe.
One thing is certain—and this might be amplified somewhat by Southern California’s long history with and love for “sport compact” cars—the Integra Type S draws more attention than we expected. Within only its first few hundred miles, it drew unsolicited inquiries and compliments from people we encountered in parking lots while executing errands. We’ll leave it to your own proclivities to decide whether this is a satisfying or annoying ownership experience.
What We Got
Some of their attention was no doubt drawn by Acura’s aforementioned Apex Blue Pearl paintjob, a classy hue the company specifies as a “Premium” addition that appeals to us much more than the Civic Type R’s available Boost Blue Pearl. In fact, because of how Acura equips and sells every Integra Type S as essentially fully loaded off the factory floor, the eye-catching color is the only option ($600; Lunar Silver Metallic is the lone standard color offered) added to our test car, giving it an out-the-door MSRP of $54,695.
Paired with the interior’s two-tone Ebony/Orchid coloring (essentially black and cream/off-white), the Integra’s complete appearance is sharp and clean, though we do wish Acura gave the option of choosing interior colors independently from the body’s paint color rather than tying the two together. If it did so, we would have elected to spice this one up a bit by choosing Ebony/Red or Ebony/Red/Orchid, which come on cars painted Majestic Black Pearl and Platinum White Pearl, respectively.
Regardless, we expect this year with the 2025 Acura Integra Type S to be a spicy affair from start to finish. Speaking of starting, we’ve only just begun—despite Acura not specifying a required break-in period for the engine, our mechanical sympathy meant we took it easy on the car during its first 1,000 miles on the road. Now that it’s covered that much ground, we’re ready to rip to the 2.0-liter’s 7,000-rpm redline every day as often as possible. We’ll report back soon, with the expectation we’ll do so with big smiles on our faces.
I’m not sure if this is bizarre, amusing, interesting, or none of those, but I remember picking up the inaugural issue of Automobile from the magazine rack at a Meijer grocery store in metro Detroit. At 9 years old in 1986, I was already a devoted consumer of car magazines, and this new one with the funky font on the cover caught my eye immediately. Longtime Automobile editor and present-day contributor Michael Jordan despises this story, but I once used his original review of Ferrari’s F40 as source material for a fifth-grade research project. I still have the handwritten report on a shelf at home. Sometimes I text MJ pictures of it — just to brighten his day. I’ve always been a car fan, but I never had any grand dreams, schemes, or plans of making it onto this publication’s masthead. I did earn a journalism degree from Michigan State University but at the time never planned to use it for its intended purpose. Law school made more sense to me for some reason. And then, thankfully, it didn’t. I blame two dates for this: May 1 and May 29, 1994. The former was the day Formula 1 star Ayrton Senna died. As a kid, I’d seen him race years earlier on the streets of Detroit, and though I didn’t follow F1 especially closely, the news of his demise shocked me. It’s the only story I remember following in the ensuing weeks, which just happened to lead right into the latter date. By pure chance, I had earlier accepted a friend’s invitation to accompany him and his father to the Indy 500. You’ve probably heard people say nothing prepares you for the sight of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, especially in real life on race day, with more than 250,000 spectators on the ground. It sounds like clichéd hyperbole, but it’s true. And along with my renewed interest in F1 in the wake of Senna’s death, that first encounter with Indy ignited a passion for motorsports I never expected to find. Without charting the entire course here, the upshot is that it led me to a brief stint working at a racing school, and then to Autoweek, where I worked as a full-time staffer for 13 years, the majority of them as motorsports editor. I was also a tester and reviewer of road cars, a fleet manager, and just about everything in between that is commonplace at automotive enthusiast outlets. Eventually, my work there led me to Automobile in early 2015 — almost 29 years to the day that I first picked up that funky new car mag as my mom checked-off her grocery list. What else do you probably not want to know? I — along with three other people, I’m told frequently — am an avid NBA fan, evidenced by a disturbingly large number of Nikes taking up almost all of my closet space. I enjoy racing/driving video games and simulators, though for me they’ll never replace the real thing. Road cars are cool, race cars are better. I’ve seen the original “Point Break” at least 147 times start to finish. I’ve seen “Top Gun” even more. The millennials on our staff think my favorite decade is the ’80s. They’re wrong. It’s the ’90s. I always have too many books to read and no time to do so. Despite the present histrionics, I do not believe fully autonomous cars will dominate our roads any time soon, probably not for decades. I used to think anyone who didn’t drive a manual transmission wasn’t a real driver, but I was wrong. I wish I could disinvent social media, or at least somehow ensure it is used only for good. And I appreciate being part of Automobile’s proud history, enjoying the ride alongside all of you.
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