2025 Acura Integra Type S Long-Term Verdict: A Big Winner

It’s not lost on us that nearly every time one of our yearlong test vehicles completes its time in our service, at least one MotorTrend staff member makes pretty much the same comment: “Wow, it’s been a year already?” The caveat is that just how quickly the time seemed to evaporate is linked directly to how much we liked the car in question and how much trouble it did or didn’t give us. And if you followed along as we documented our experience with a 2025 Acura Integra Type S, you’ve likely already predicted that it seems as though we took delivery of it just a month or two ago.

Jack of Many Trades, Master of One

As it transpired, our Integra Type S became one of our favorite long-term test subjects, not only for its high-level, hot-hatch dynamic chops that consign torque steer issues to the dumpster (along with its Honda Civic Type R sibling, it’s one of the greatest front-wheel-drive performance cars ever made) but also for its ability to adapt to just about any situation we threw at it. It’s naturally at home on the fun, twisting, and sweeping mountain roads we’re fortunate to have within range of our Los Angeles–area headquarters, and it’s equally useful and amusing as a daily commuter and mundane-errand runner. One big upshot is that its inherent sporty character, from precise steering to equally sharp manual gearshifts to the quick-revving 2.0-liter turbocharged I-4 engine and its aggressive exhaust noises, makes those real-life chores more than just a little less mundane, even when you aren’t in the mood to leave the house.

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Our Integra Type S didn’t just live its entire life with us as a city car, either. As associate editor Alex Leanse said in his report about driving the Acura on a weeklong road trip from L.A. through multiple Southwestern states and home again: “If artificial (or actual) intelligence were prompted to create an ideal road-trip vehicle, the output would look nothing like the Type S. Long-distance cruising calls for space, isolation, and detachment—qualities the Integra lacks. That’s not due to any deficiency by Acura; rather it’s a reflection of what this vehicle is: a focused sports car built into a compact hatchback body. Had something else been available for my trip, I would’ve taken it. But once underway, I adapted to the Integra—and had an unforgettable time.”

That good time included being able to fit his gargantuan 66-centimeter custom frame bike (Leanse stands 6-foot-10) into the cargo hold once he removed its front wheel, showcasing the car’s adaptable utility. Along the way, he got to know quite well the Integra’s nicely performing adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, and stellar ELS audio system (newer Integra’s use Bang & Olufsen hardware, and we find it difficult to imagine it sounds noticeably better)—three things many drivers come to appreciate most during long drives, especially ones made in solitude.

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Complaints? Not Really

Indeed, our gripes were few and far between and made mostly for the record, and the ones Leanse noted from his long-haul journey were the same nits that several folks, mostly passengers who weren’t directly engaged in the driving experience, picked about the car. They included a relatively stiff ride quality (though its suspension damping is a slightly more forgiving than the related Honda Civic Type R’s) and a fair amount of tire, wind, and powertrain noise serving as a constant background soundtrack.

On the other hand, it’s no coincidence the people who drove the car and didn’t just ride along in it typically accepted or looked right past these traits as a fair trade for the Type S’ corner-crushing purpose as an exhilaratingly tactile driver’s car rather than a luxury grand tourer. Sure, Acura marketing positions it as a more mature, rear-wingless, slightly less visually in-your-face alternative to the Honda version, but it maintains a rowdy personality that’s always looking for a party, particularly one that involves quick curves.

Approach a corner, trail brake into it, give the wheel a quick initial snap as you come off the brake pedal, and the chassis rotates predictably into the bend with the rear end willing to dance a bit. And as mentioned, you don’t have to concern yourself much about torque steer when you go hard back onto the throttle. That’s a result of the Type S’ (and Type R’s) dual-axis front-strut suspension geometry, equal-length driveshafts, and helical limited-slip differential. The only time a small amount of torque steer rears its head is when you lay the power down on uneven or rutted tarmac, but it’s easily catchable and disappears in a blink, making it generally a nonissue.

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Reliability and Maintenance

As we documented many months ago, our 2025 Acura Integra Type S was dependable other than two strange fault messages that appeared on the instrument cluster around the 2,000-mile mark. The main one was an indicated emissions system problem that apparently also disabled the car’s automatic rev-matching system for downshifts. A local dealer found no signs of physical trouble and cleared the fault codes under warranty.

Looking for a better answer, we contacted Honda/Acura’s North American HQ in nearby Torrance, California, and agreed to let its technicians take a closer look at the car. Granted, the company doesn’t offer regular owners this service, but we heard from two of them who said they had experienced the same issues; we wanted a definitive answer and potential solution that we could disseminate to the wider Integra community. Alas, Acura couldn’t find anything wrong inside the car and was unable to reproduce the faults. The best it could advise us was to say the trouble might be caused by “repeatedly refilling the tank with just a splash of fuel. Per the owner’s manual (page 623), you should always add a minimum of 1.2 U.S. gallons when refilling, since anything less might not be properly detected by the fuel-level sensor.”

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We know from our own meticulously kept fuel log that we never gassed the car in such a manner. (Our smallest top-up was 3.5 gallons.) Regardless, the problems never occurred again and remain a mystery. Speaking of fuel, the Integra averaged a reasonable 23.6 mpg for the year, right in line with its official EPA ratings of 21/28/24 mpg city/highway/combined, at a cost of $0.23 per mile. For comparison, our 2022 Subaru WRX Limited averaged 22.6 mpg, also at a cost of $0.23 per mile, our 2023 Volkswagen Golf returned 29.6 mpg at $0.17, and our 2025 BMW M2 21.9 mpg at $0.24.

The only other problems we encountered were a loose trim clip for the rear hatch cargo cover that caused an annoying rattle (Acura fixed it for us since it already had the car in its possession, but any dealer would’ve done the same under warranty) and some intermittent buzzes coming from the driver’s door panel and somewhere near the overhead eyeglasses holder. Those buzzes developed late enough into our loan that we never got around to trying to isolate and remedy them. A similar noise at high revs seemingly originating in the dashboard but appeared to rectify itself at some point after we first heard it during our initial months with the Integra.

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The infotainment system was at times a minor annoyance we had to live with. Specifically, it was always a crapshoot in terms of how long it would take a phone to connect to it after starting the car. Sometimes it worked almost immediately, and other times it could take up to 30 seconds or more to do so, and here and there it wouldn’t connect at all. The latter situation was resolved most quickly by turning off the car and starting all over again, which is a borderline enraging necessity when you find yourself half a mile down the road before you realize and accept the phone connection has failed.

As for regular maintenance, the Type S needed one routine service at the 10,000-mile mark, which included changing the oil and rotating the tires along with the usual spate of inspections to things like the battery, tires, brakes, and lights. Owners of new Acuras get the first year/12,000 miles worth of scheduled maintenance like this for free, but due to a boring quirk in how the company allocates test cars to publications like ours, the accounting/billing system didn’t recognize MT as the car’s legal owner and therefore charged us $285.26 for the work. Integra drivers in year two of their ownership should expect to pay about the same.

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Once again for comparison accumulating similar mileages, our long-term WRX cost us $456.41 (three oil changes and tire rotation plus a cabin air filter replacement); the Golf GTI $781.84 (oil change and multipoint inspection, tire rotation, four new tires and installation); and the M2 $2,390.66 (three oil changes, differential fluid change, and four new tires). The bulk of both the GTI’s and M2’s service costs were tire-related, whereas the Integra’s original set lasted the car’s entire stay in our garage.

The Thrill Is Gone but Not Soon Forgotten

Literally, as we returned the Integra Type S to Acura after a little more than a year of mostly nothing but fun, engaging, and rewarding driving experiences that are few and far between at this price point and nonexistent in any other front-driver other than its Civic Type R pseudo twin. Which brings us to perhaps the one elephant in the room—one we haven’t touched on in our previous reporting about this car because this was never meant to be a comparison test. But lots of people asked us throughout the year: Is the Integra Type S worth the $7,205 premium over the Honda version?

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For me, no, because other than the better sound system, I’m not bothered by the Civic’s lack of a powered driver’s seat, head-up display, heated front seats (newly available for the 2027 Type R), and rain-sensing wipers, or its 5-horsepower deficit. I’m also not bothered by its more racerish styling, including the conspicuous rear wing, or its bucket sport seats in place of the Acura’s more comfort-oriented chairs. We have, however, encountered several folks out in the world who made it clear the Integra is or would be their choice for these precise reasons. It’s splitting hairs, really, even if those hairs carry a not-insignificant price delta.

Regardless, the underlying platform makes the Acura one of our favorite long-term test cars of all time, and our year with it truly did feel more like a matter of months thanks to its all-around performance and usability, and its nearly perfect rock-solid reliability. We’ll remember the Integra Type S for years to come, as we’re sure is the case for all the other owners out there who have the privilege of continuing to drive theirs for far more than a year.

More on Our Long-Term 2025 Acura Integra Type S

• 2025 Acura Integra Type S Yearlong Arrival: A “Better” Civic Type R? Does It Even Matter?
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• ​Some Early Issues with Our Integra Type S, But Still Plenty of Grins
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• ​The Acura Integra Type S Isn’t a Good Road-Trip Car. It’s Something Even Better.
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• ​Wishing for More Time and HRC’s New Performance Parts For Our Yearlong Review Acura Integra Type S
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• ​Our Yearlong Review 2025 Acura Integra Type S Has Been Mostly Bulletproof, With Two Small Exceptions
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• ​2025 Acura Integra Type S vs. RSX Type-S: Two Generations, Two Very Different Thrills
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• ​All Arounder: A Final Drive and Lingering Thoughts on Our Yearlong-Test 2025 Acura Integra Type S​