Guys who had posters of Integras on their walls growing up. Guys who have fond memories of turn of the millennium era Integras. Who was this car for, really? And then it dawned on me. It doesn’t quite have the refinement of some of its German counterparts. Right after my drive I was puzzled about who the Type S ($51,995) is aimed at. The new Integra’s styling – while perfectly pleasant and completely serviceable – isn’t one that is going to have people snapping their heads. From 1993 to 2001 Honda made the Integra stand the hell out with its quad headlights. If there’s anything that threw me off about the Type S (and this is really a grouse about the entire Integra line) it’s that the car’s overall design isn’t all that eye grabbing. The interior of the Acura Integra Type S. And I’m sure I’ll change my tune when stuck in stop and go traffic but there is something uniquely satisfying about gunning that engine on a desolate straightaway and slapping the shifter from third to fourth. There was quite a bit of road noise – more than you’d expect for a car at a $50K price point - but it’s hard to notice when revving that lively 2.0-liter. The engine’s redline was at an impressively high 7000 RPM and the tri exhaust tailpipe emitted a pleasant rumble that was not aggressively hey-look-at-me deep nor overly import-tuned whiny. It hugged the twisty roads around Ojai like the R19 Michelin Pilot Sport 4S summer tires were coated in super glue. The clutch is light and responsive and the titanium shift knob gives a pleasant click when thrown. That feeling of wearing the car? Yeah the Type S fits you like a bespoke suit. The first thing that I noticed when I sealed myself in the cockpit is that the new Integra is a lot like the old Integra.
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