Acura has revealed that the new 2024 Acura Integra Type S will be available in 2023. Here are some of my thoughts on the upcoming release.
When looking at Acuras history with sports cars, the Type S line in particular held important value to enthusiasts. My personal belief is that the introduction of the Civic Type R introduced to the United States in 2017 hurt Acura’s Type S line. Many Americans have probably felt something along the lines of since there are no Type R’s in America the Type S line is the next best thing. Guess what happens when the Type R is introduced to the states. It devalues the Type S line. I don’t believe that people will hold Type S and Type R to the same level, even though they very well can be. Type R has been a long awaited thing and the excitement remains high. I think a crucial mistake is not branding the new Integra Type S as the 2024 Integra Type R. Yes, I know Type R is for Honda and Type S is for Acura but there was never an Integra Type S. There was however an Integra Type R. Now that the Type R badging has been brought to the states I think it would help the branding behind the vehicle history. An argument I can think of behind that would be that putting Type R on the new Integra would classify it as a race car. I think Integra wants a high performance daily driver which is more fitting for Type S.
All of that aside, when you look at the car on paper it is great. I am thrilled that they are going with a 6-speed manual transmission as the only option as of right now. The K20C from the CTR is a great engine now that they have improved upon its overheating issues. The interior of the 2023 CTR is fantastic and that would only bring high hopes to what an upscale version would look like. Looks we haven’t seen much of but it does look like a big improvement from the standard Integra. As far as pricing I hope they can keep the price under $50,000. With factory options and dealer markups, if this car hits $60,000 I don’t think it will sell at all. I am near certain that this will be the last manual transmission car from Acura. Which in my mind makes it a special car and something that enthusiasts shouldn’t take for granted. All in all, I am excited to see what else we see about this car. Check out our Behind the Wheel podcast on more thoughts on the 2024 Integra Type S!
-RW
