Power, meanwhile, remains the same across the range: 200 hp and 192 lb-ft of torque from a 1.5L turbo 4-cylinder engine shared with the Honda Civic.
A compact this car may be, but Acura does say it has the most rear legroom in its class, more for example than the Audi A3 and BMW 2 Series Grand Coupé. Don’t be fooled into thinking it’s paradise for taller folks, however. That aggressively-sloping roofline makes for restricted headroom. Legroom is fine – I could sit behind the driver’s set adjusted for my 6’3” frame and not have my knees jammed up against the seatback. Still, on longer trips, it’s best to save the back seat for the kids.
Up front, as we’ve come to expect from Honda/Acura products, the driver seating position is spot-on with the chunky steering wheel and stubby shift lever right where you want them and easily reachable. Neat front seat details include an optional 9-inch touch-activated infotainment display - no finicky RDX-style trackpads here –, grilles to hide the HVAC vents and a digital gauge cluster.
That cluster changes depending on which drive mode – Comfort, Normal, Sport – you’ve selected and I found myself swapping modes quite readily on the straight highways and bendy roads in and around Austin.
Power delivery is smooth in all modes, but it becomes more aggressive in Sport mode. Especially, it’s how the chassis adjusts that really shines. There’s that much more of a sensation through the seat as you go over bumps in Sport mode, and noticeably more control as you start to wind it through the bends. It really does turn in to a junior sport sedan in this mode, especially if you’re running the MT.
It's incredibly tightly ratioed in gears 1-4, with 5-6 really only being for highway use. You zip through the first four quickly, never missing a gate, the clutch take-up oh-so perfect. Would a little more power be nice? Yes, I suppose it would, so we shall see what happens if the Type S treatment we’re seeing in other Acura products makes its way here. We also had the chance to sample CVT-equipped cars and even they allowed for some sporty indulgence as the system does well to activate the virtual ratios as you flip the paddles. It’s a CVT that doesn’t feel like one.
So it’s a proper drive. Does the new Integra live up to the myth, the legend of the older car, though? Of course, we can’t comment on how it will eventually be viewed in the canon of the car, but it has quite a lot going for it. Great handling, a great transmission and a surprising amount of kit from the A-Spec package.
Bottom line is Acura is going for it here, and credit to them. Reviving a nameplate as they’ve done – one that exists in a lineup full of alphanumeric codes as model names -- was probably a challenge to get past the pencil pushers but with pre-orders filling up in the US (order books aren’t open in Canada at the time of writing), they’re off to a good start.
We like
An involving drive
Hatchback practicality
Top-drawer clutch and gearlever feel
We like less
Back seat headroom issues
Manual transmission only available on top trim
The competition
Audi A3
BMW 2 Series Grand Coupé
Mercedes-Benz A-Class
