If Honda’s new grown-up Civic Type R still screams “boy racer” a little loud for your tastes, Acura has got you covered, or it will from summer 2024.
That’s when the company will launch the Integra Type S, which looks like it’s going to get all of the hot Civic’s good bits, but minus the big wing and cultural baggage. The Type S will still have plenty of attitude though. Official pictures of a disguised car reveal three large center tailpipes, a diffuser, and a deeper front bumper.
Although it has let a couple of media outlets drive a prototype for two laps around an oval in Japan, Acura is being frustratingly vague about the exact technical spec of the 2024 Type S. But the headlines are that it will come exclusively with a six-speed manual transmission, a proper limited-slip differential and “a high-revving 2.0-liter VTEC turbocharged engine” producing over 300 hp (304 PS) that’s blatantly a version of the CTR’s K-series motor.
Exactly how much more over the 300-hp mark it will deliver, we don’t know. The 2023 Civic Type R makes 315 hp (319 PS) in North American trim, so there’s no physical reason why the Integra, which runs on the same platform as the Civic, can’t make the same power. But there might be a corporate reason. The Civic Type R is Honda’s performance flagship, and it might not be happy for an Integra to match its performance, particularly one wearing carrying Type S, rather than Type R, branding.
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Personally, we’re hoping it gets every one of those 315 horses, though even if it only noses past the 300-pony mark it’ll still be making half as much power again as any model in the 2023 Integra lineup. The sole powertrain available right now is the 200 hp (203 PS) 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine that’s also available in the Honda Civic Si.
The Integra starts at $30,800, but you have to option the A-Spec package to access a six-speed manual transmission, which means spending a minimum of $35,800 to get a clutch pedal. The Type S is likely to cost around $10k more than that based on the $43,990 Honda wants for the 2023 Civic Type R, but we’ll have to wait until close to the Integra’s summer 2023 on-sale date to find out for sure.
