All Arounder: A Final Drive and Lingering Thoughts on Our Yearlong-Test Acura Integra Type S

For the past several years as SUVs and EVs have hogged the focus of carmakers and buyers, we’ve correspondingly seen our long-term test-fleet stable lean ever more toward those types of vehicles. If that wasn’t (bad?) enough, car companies that still make enthusiast sports cars and sport sedans are increasingly stingy when it comes to earmarking them for our yearlong review use. So when we do get our hands on something like the 2025 Acura Integra Type S or our recently departed 2025 BMW M2, we pledge to ourselves to not take it for granted.

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But Did We?

Human nature often dictates we become comfortable if not unappreciative to a positive situation when it remains stable day after day, and as our final weeks with the Integra Type R ticked away (speaking for myself as the car’s chaperone and no other MotorTrend editor, anyway), I asked myself if I had fully enjoyed the experience. But as I drove the Acura one day for no reason other than driving it as much as possible before saying goodbye to it, I realized I had indeed done so even if I didn’t always consciously consider the topic.

Like the M2 and despite its primary high-performance mission, the Integra Type S performs routine tasks without protest, so it blends seamlessly into your daily life without cracking you constantly upside the head with its juiced-up personality every time you greet it. In other words, while it can put a big grin on your face and butterflies in your passengers’ stomachs when driven with verve on a fun road or racetrack, it also lets you nearly forget it’s even there when you’re dawdling around in the course of running errands or going shopping.

In fact, the front-drive Integra Type S is even better at taking advantage of this personality duality than the even more aggressive rear-drive M2, the latter claiming a 153-horsepower advantage (plus a $12,000 price premium) and tuning that makes it feel like the more frenetic of the two. Put it this way: The BMW, in my opinion, accepted it when you’re just toodling along but gives a distinct impression of disappointment (should a car could be capable of such a thing) if you don’t drop the hammer, whereas the Acura would like you to do so but doesn’t mind one bit if you don’t.

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To digress, this isn’t an M2 versus Integra Type S comparison story; the above thoughts just happened to run laps in my mind as I questioned if I had at any point become numb to the Acura. Those same ideas then caused to me to realize the situation was in fact the opposite—I could do anything within reason and/or cargo capacity with this car, from leaving an imaginary trail of smoke billowing from the asphalt we’d just torched together, to procuring two weeks’ worth of groceries or home-good supplies. It was all the same to this Integra; I never even had to think about it, perhaps one characteristic aside.

The Type S’ ride quality never troubled me, but a few people who rode in it from time to time weren’t always thrilled with it even with the suspension set to its Comfort mode. They more than once voiced displeasure from both the back seat and the front with the vertical ride frequency despite the damping being tuned a bit less aggressively than it is in the closely related Honda Civic Type R. Yes, the Acura is meant to be more comfortable than its sibling, but don’t think for a second this is more of a luxury can than a performance one. Anyone who buys this car on that premise will have made a big mistake.

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Little Things Equal Big Things

Dial the adjustable parameters—engine, steering, suspension, gauge cluster—to Comfort, and you’re left with a quick but reasonably relaxed sporty cruiser. Swap them all to Sport+, watch the instrument display take on a red theme, and you’re once again aware you’re driving something special. Turn onto a twisting back road or one of our Southern California canyon routes, and you immediately appreciate the clutch’s perfect amount of resistance and intuitive bite point for a car of this power and cornering performance. Same goes for the sharp steering that you admire for not crossing the “too heavy” demarcation line even in its most aggressive resistance tune. None of the driving inputs you interact with is too soft or too stiff, and it all creates a total package that makes even slogging through our daily local Los Angeles traffic debacles an exercise in driving precision. Any car that can do that is notably special.

There are other notable quality-of-life items, like the blind-spot monitor alert lights being integrated into the side-mirror lenses and not in the mirror housing in parallel with the turn-signal repeaters. Some other automakers still haven’t received that memo, to our great irritation; trying to discern quickly if the light that’s illuminated in your peripheral vision just before making a turn is a signal or a blind-spot warning is disconcerting, to say the least.

Then there’s the popping-on-overrun exhaust, one of the world’s most precise clickety-clack shifters (with a nifty fourth- and fifth-gear lockout feature when rolling at low speeds to prevent clumsy shifts into too-high a gear), and a shedload of cargo room with the rear seats folded flat. One glaring annoyance is the time—sometimes up to 20 or 30 seconds or more—it takes the infotainment system to sync to your phone, or at least to my iPhone.

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But Really ...

Despite the Integra Type S being positioned as the more mature option for buyers who think the Civic Type R is too racerish, it’s still all about the drive itself. The design, diameter, and thickness of the steering wheel are all spot-on for aggressive cornering, and the Acura is thrilling when that’s what you’re up to. The car pivots on the brakes on entry, arcs stably and beautifully through turns thanks to strong front-end bite, and nails exists with virtually zero torque steer (other than when putting down the power hard on a cambered or rutted bit of road). Run a bit too hard and deep into a corner, and a quick jab of the brake pedal brings everything under control; the feel through the steering wheel also helps by communicating a lot about how much grip is available and what the front tires are doing.

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It’s an overall sublime driving experience, with no notably bad handling characteristics to speak of, nearly shockingly so for a front-drive car with this much horsepower. It sends a good driver’s confidence sky high, carrying so much speed through corners without spiking your blood pressure thanks to sensational body control through compressions and heaves. In short, the Acura Integra S just sticks.

And now here at the end, it’s really hitting me what a crying shame it is that the car won’t be sticking around our garage for at least another, oh, say, forever.

More on Our Long-Term 2025 Acura Integra Type S:

MotorTrend's 2025 Acura Integra Type S
SERVICE LIFE	13 months/15,378 miles
BASE/AS-TESTED PRICE	$54,095/$54,695
OPTIONS	Apex Blue Pearl paint, $600
EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON; COMB RANGE	21/28/24 mpg; 298 miles
AVERAGE FUEL ECON	23.7 mpg
ENERGY COST PER MILE	$0.23
MAINTENANCE AND WEAR	$0: Car inspected by dealer and Honda for emissions-system and auto rev-match fault codes, rattling rear cargo cover (warranty)
DAMAGES	None
DAYS OUT OF SERVICE/WITHOUT LOANER	7/0
DELIGHTS	Excellent handling, strong acceleration, hatchback practicality
ANNOYANCES	Road noise, parallel parking
RECALLS	None