2024 Acura Integra Type S Review: Stuck Between Sport Compact and Luxury

The best cars in the world cost less than $50,000. There’s so much value, so much fun, and so much excellence outside of mid-engined supercars or powerful rear-wheel-drive sports coupes. The core of automotive enthusiasm today is a car like the 2024 Acura Integra Type S.

When you have your choice of incredible cars that are at the very least near affordable, where does a $51,995 liftback that is mechanically practically identical to the $44,890 Honda Civic Type R land? Well, Acura would love for you to compare it to a compact luxury performance car like an Audi S3, but let’s be real—folks are cross-shopping this with marked-up Civic Type Rs, comparing it to the Toyota GR Corolla and Hyundai Elantra N. Anecdotally, Type S buyers were never looking at an Audi, Benz, or BMW but were looking for a true sport compact, a new generation of Integra Type R.

And therein lies the problem: The Civic Type R is mastered beautifully. Improving upon near-perfection is harder than you think, but Acura really tried. I’m less sure that it succeeded.

The Basics

When I mean mechanically identical, I mean virtually the same. The Integra Type S takes the Type R’s K20C1 engine (weirdly rebranded as K20C8 seemingly as a parts catalog padding exercise), dual-axis front suspension, springs and dampers, sway bars, steering rack, Brembo brakes—you get the idea. Where it’s physically different is a modified exhaust system that removes the front resonator for more sound, and the Integra liftback bodyshell that everything bolts to.

Where Acura made the difference is in calibration and careful choice of Vibe. Nearly every single system has been reprogrammed on the Type S: The adaptive dampers, throttle calibration, and electronic power steering assist are all different, and the engine gets a slightly hotter tune (a little more boost, slightly more timing, and a leaner air/fuel mix) compared to the CTR. The Type S was engineered by a different team of folks, separate from the Civic, and had a different goal. As far as I can tell, that goal was simple: Don’t be a Type R. Be an entry-level luxury sport liftback.

Acura took the rather sober design of the CTR and made the Integra the standout looker of the pair. Those fender flares are not tacked on but actually molded into the panels. Their aggressive look helps visually compress the Type S while communicating the imposing width of the thing. The lack of rear wing balances the aggression (Acura claims the Type S needs no wing to make sufficient downforce), but deploys subtle aerodynamic tricks that the CTR doesn’t use. Air curtains guide air around the turbulent front wheels while extra ducting was added around the intercooler to smooth flow.

I’d say that Acura achieved the FK8 Type R’s mechatronic aggression with proper restraint. But where the Type S immediately and most obviously falls short is in the interior. There is simultaneously more equipment but less substance. Instead of the CTR’s unbelievable seats, the Type S gets generic, hard, and frankly unacceptable thrones for the price or intent. Acura says the seats were specifically developed and enhanced for the Type S, but they don’t offer any form of ass support and certainly don’t provide lateral support for the Type S’ prodigious cornering performance. In almost every direction, they are a downgrade compared to its Honda cousin. At least they’re heated.

It’s an interior space that feels distinctly unspecial whereas the CTR’s cabin is one of the most special, driver-focused spaces money can buy. There are splashes of pizzazz, with the shift knob, shifter surround, and perforated leather steering wheel being particularly nice, but you don’t get the uber-cool shift lights from the CTR nor do you get any kind of performance displays with granular readouts. You do get an ELS Studio stereo that is heavy on bass and thin on treble, some nicely trimmed surfaces, and a head-up display.

But here’s the real problem: It’s basically the interior from the $38,295 Integra A-Spec. No bueno, Acura. This is where luxury lives and dies, and this is what firmly holds the Type S back from entering the country club.

Driving the Acura Integra Type S

Despite the resounding crash of my bottom into its church-pew hard seats, the Integra Type S still has intent in its veins. Its true character is that of a hot hatch with an elegant edge.

Immediately, the shifting experience is a standout. Its light, notchy, short action pairs with a small, contoured knob. Clutch engagement is easy and light, while Acura’s recalibrated throttle mapping is less blippy but more authoritative than the CTR’s. It is a joy to use, with good pedal placement for heel-toe downshifting, and easily the highlight of the car. I was sure Acura spec'd a different shifter assembly for the Type S, but they claim it's just the knob that was changed. Either way, it is Quite Good.

Pleasurable is the word for the powertrain. The engine calibration does feel different to the Type R; fatter powerband, warmer throttle response, and a hell of a lot less fake engine sound. It’s still there, but Acura judged it to perfection, allowing the Type S-specific exhaust to do its job. There’s an incredibly mild burble tune that activates in Sport+ which offers a tasteful pop or two before shutting up and has a deep, barking tone that makes tooling around town a joy. It does get drowned out at higher speeds, unfortunately.

This tasteful judgment continues and is most prominent in the suspension. The Type S is supple in all three of its damping modes (Comfort, Sport, and Sport+), makes use of all of its relatively short travel, and is even more impressive considering it uses the exact same hardware as the rougher-riding CTR. To put it shortly, that car can ride like shit but handles like a psychopath. The Type S gets rid of the uncertainty and always manages bumps well. My butt dyno says Acura retuned the adaptive damper behavior at the very end of suspension travel. Instead of a huge progressive ramp-up in damping like the CTR, the Type S is more linear if not digressive.