The Acura Integra Type S Is Coming, And We Got to Drive a Prototype

Before I can see the camouflaged car come around the corner at Honda’s Tochigi proving grounds, I can hear it. Reverberating off the walls is the distinct sound of a turbocharged four-cylinder, but one with way more personality than anything else Honda offers. It’s louder and rowdier, with pops and bangs that rival Hyundai’s antisocial N cars. This wonderful sound is coming from a near-production prototype of the 2024 Acura Integra Type S, a very hot version of Acura’s new sport compact that’s here to assuage your fears about the reborn nameplate.

Full disclosure: Honda flew me out to Japan, put me up in an extraordinarily fancy hotel in Tokyo and used boats, buses and trains to take me to its heritage museum, R&D facilities, and headquarters.

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Since the new Integra was introduced earlier this year, there’s been a cacophony of moaning and hand-wringing — it’s too tame to look at, Acura needs to offer a three-door, the new model is just a warmed-over and more expensive Civic. No matter where you stand on these debates, it’s exhausting. But the biggest complaint has been that there’s no performance version to capture the spirit of the ‘90s Type R. That’s where the new Type S comes in. With the Civic Type R in the family, did you really think Acura wouldn’t make a performance Integra with the same motor? Don’t be ridiculous. Of course this was coming. The Type S is the Integra you’ve been waiting for.

At the prototype drive in Japan, Acura would only give our group of journalists the most basic powertrain information. The Integra Type S will use the same turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-4 as the Civic Type R, with a 6-speed manual as the only transmission and a standard limited-slip differential. Acura says the Type S will have “at least 300 horsepower,” and I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up slightly more powerful than the Civic’s 315 hp and 310 lb-ft of torque.

During development, Acura engineers aimed for “epic” acceleration as a key Type S attribute, so the new Integra variant might end up slightly quicker to 60 mph than the Civic Type R despite weighing more. To that end, Acura is quick to point out that the Integra has a wholly different mission than the Civic: Where the Civic Type R is geared towards track capability, the Integra Type S is focused on street performance and an emotional driving experience.

With just a light black-and-white camo wrap and no fake body panels, I can see nearly all of the design details on the new Integra Type S. It looks properly hot. The redesigned front bumper has much larger air intakes feeding a bigger intercooler, and the new grille has a sweet radial pattern of diamond shapes. Like the Civic, it has three centrally mounted exhaust tips, though the Integra’s are all the same size – and that size is huge. The sculpted diffuser looks like it could actually be functional, and the Type S also has deeper side skirts and a small lip spoiler on the deck lid. While Acura representatives wouldn’t say either way, I hope the Type S will be offered with a large wing as well.