2024 Acura Integra Type S Tested: Same Punch, More Polish

07/11/23 UPDATE: This review has been updated with instrumented test results.

We’re on record as being huge fans of the Honda Civic Type R. The Type R helped put the Civic on our 10Best list. It also topped the Toyota GR Corolla and the Volkswagen Golf R in our “Hatchbacks That Go GRRR” comparo, and by no small margin. And who among us could forget its standout performance at the most recent Lightning Lap, wherein it became the event’s all-time fastest front-driver and the first of that species to break the three-minute mark?

As quick and rewarding as the Type R is on circuit and canyon road alike, it’s not perfect. The 2024 Acura Integra Type S, on the other hand, just might be. It retains all the performance-driving goodness of the Type R but neatly rounds off many of its daily-driving rough edges. Its main drawback is the $51,995 base price, which outpaces the 2023 Type R by $7105. The figure makes more sense when you realize that Acura sees its competition as the Audi S3, the BMW M235i xDrive Gran Coupe, and the Mercedes-AMG CLA35—but those cars are all-wheel drive and, crucially, lack a manual-gearbox option.

Shared Elements

Chucking the new Integra Type S between the guardrails along Highway 39 in California, we immediately see that this machine has the same sharp steering, deft handling, and colossal grip as its shoutier Honda sibling. The Acura’s turbocharged 2.0-liter engine has been recalibrated to deliver 320 horsepower and a smidge more part-throttle midrange torque. Reaching peak horsepower requires 93 octane, and on the local 91-octane California brew, we can’t point to any difference—which is no bad thing. The Integra still pulls mightily out of corners, with the Type R’s helical limited-slip front differential and clever dual-axis strut front suspension absolving the Type S powertrain of any of the usual high-horsepower front-wheel-drive sins.

Acura recalibrated the turbocharged 2.0-liter engine to deliver 320 horsepower and a smidge more part-throttle midrange torque. Reaching peak horsepower requires 93 octane, and with it, the Type S reels in 60 mph in 5.1 seconds and the quarter-mile in 13.7 seconds at 105 mph. Both times are a couple tenths behind a Civic Type R tested on the same Michigan pavement.

Meanwhile, the presumptive German rivals, with their all-wheel-drive traction, launch control, and automatic transmissions, accelerate quicker, reaching 60 mph in 4.2 to 4.4 seconds. Look to them if you favor drag racing. Thanks, but we’ll gladly take the Integra, with its lighter 3212-pound weight (361 to 413 pounds less) and mandatory manual gearbox.

The six-speed shifter feels as surgical as ever, but Acura has made one change we fully support. The Type R’s metal shift knob, which can get hot enough to cauterize fingerprints in summer or freeze-burn them in winter, has been replaced with a tactilely satisfying leather-sleeved upgrade. The shift diagram is still engraved metal, so you could brand your palm if you shift like an ape. Determined masochists can opt for a dealer-installed all-metal titanium substitute, and now it’s equally possible for wounded Type R owners to visit an Acura parts counter for relief.

Much of the Type S’s dynamic goodness derives from the shared platform using the same floorpan, firewall, and suspension hard points. The suspension itself and the adaptive dampers are also identical from a hardware standpoint. All the various links and bushings are shared, and the springs and anti-roll-bar specs are samesies too. In addition, you get the same 265/30ZR-19 Michelin Pilot Sport 4S summer tires and boffo brakes featuring four-pot Brembo front calipers and two-piece ventilated rotors. After all of this, it should go without saying that both cars share a 107.7-inch wheelbase and broad front and rear track widths of 64.0 and 63.5 inches, respectively. And their braking distances are equally stellar, with the Type S needing just 153 to stop from 70 mph and 305 feet from 100 mph.

Key Differences

But there are differences, and they account for much of the edge smoothing we hinted at earlier. For those who wondered what a Type R with a few dozen extra pounds of sound insulation would be like, the Integra Type S provides an answer. The Integra has more floor and firewall insulation than the Civic. The overall weight difference between the two cars is 29 pounds, according to our scales, but that’s not merely insulation. The Integra body is made up of different stampings and has better strength and noise-attenuating characteristics.

What’s more, the software controlling the adaptive dampers has been tweaked. An Acura suspension-development engineer tells us the Integra is programmed with less rebound damping, and it feels like it. In fact, Sport+ might now be the ticket at Lightning Lap, something our man Tony Quiroga opted against when he set the quick time in the Type R. The electric-power-steering assist maps have also been retuned, and while response is still razor sharp in all three drive modes, Comfort’s effort levels are now a tad lighter than we prefer.

The combined effect of all of this is a more fluid and settled daily driver. The Type S feels far less chained down over the roughest bits of tarmac, with dampers able to catch their breath and return to center. And despite the identical footwear, less tire noise finds your ears. Sport and Sport+ are not out of the question on broken pavement, although the Comfort damper setting is still plenty compelling—so long as you customize the Individual mode to dial up the steering effort.

We measured 1.02 g’s on the skidpad, which equals what the Type R garnered on the same asphalt. This outpaces the German rivals’ 0.91 to 0.98 g, but the relaxed rebound damping (and the loss of the Type R’s +R mode and fully defeatable stability-control settings) makes it feel a touch different.

Part of the Plan

Chief engineer Masashi Iwai laid bare the philosophical differences between the two cars, and his explanation snaps everything we’d seen and felt into focus. Essentially, Honda conceived the Type R with time-attack events and track days in mind. It’s meant to kick ass at Lightning Lap; R is for Racetrack. Acura optimized the Integra Type S, on the other hand, around the idea of sporty street driving. The alliteration isn’t as tidy, but S is for Street Sports, or something.

Given that vision, other Type S differences start to make sense. Compared with the Type R, it flies under the radar (gun), with a small lip spoiler instead of a stand-up wing (the carbon extension on our sample car is a $950 dealer-installed option) and more cleanly integrated (but no less voluminous) air intakes for the radiators, intercooler, and brake cooling ductwork.

Inside, the perforated seats are slightly less aggressive but no less grippy, but they do lose their shoulder-harness holes. The driver gets a 12-way power-adjustable seat, and both front chairs are heated. They sit slightly higher too, and while the resulting minor reduction in front headroom might be less helmet-friendly for very tall drivers, there’s still plenty of it. What’s more, red with black isn’t the sole interior theme—Ebony and Orchid with black are available too.

On top of that, the LogR data logger is absent, but the Type S does get a standard 16-speaker ELS Studio 3D audio system that sounds fantastic. But that’s not the only good noise, because the Type S has a modified exhaust that lacks the Type R’s front resonator. The result is a deeper and less kazoo-like tone that’s quieter in the Comfort engine mode, but one that growls, spits, and pops in Sport+ in a rowdier way the Type R can’t match. The reason? Honda’s Type R is sold across the globe, and some markets get touchy about such things. Acura’s Type S is exclusively for North America. At highway speeds, the interior of the Type S seems quieter, but the reduction in some of the Type R’s objectionable areas—specifically, tires thwacking over bumps and small road debris resonating off the underside—didn’t show up in our sound-level test, where the Integra registered an identical 73 decibels at 70 mph on the same test surface.

The Honda Civic Type R is an absolute blast, and we love it to death. But the new Acura Integra Type S gives the same thrills to nearly the same degree in a more grown-up package that we could live with for the long haul.