2025 Integra Type S | I really wanted to like it.

[Justpassedu]

Sounds like me with Infiniti. Dealers are why I'll never own another, yet every Nissan dealer I've been to was great. You'd totally expect the opposite. It's why I've had so many Fords. Every dealer by me has treated me right when it came to service and I don't like risking another Infiniti experience.

I have had my fair share of bad Infiniti experiences my self in the past . The mechanics just did not know how to work on turbo cars when they first came out with them . I’m glad that one was a lease .

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[bullitt]

I had an fl5 for about a year and then went to my S, let me tell you if you think the S has quality issues hold on for the R. Both cars are very devoid of any real creature comforts for being as expensive as they are and unless you are nostalgic for either manual transmissions or Honda/acura either car is not really that great, but if they fit the niche for you then they are the bee’s knees.

I don’t want to come across as being a hater for the platform bc I actually do enjoy my S a lot and it’s a wonderful family car. IMHO the s and the r are wildly over priced for what they are. The fwd platform is always a hinderance but Honda/acura do a great job at fixing that but the cost to do so has taken the “budget” weekend racer into a weird space competing with luxury sedans that have way more features and power. Honda/Acura know they have a great fan base and have delivered the minimum amount of product to ensure that continued fan base at the highest price possible.

The type s and type r are special in particular to the nostalgia and legend that is Honda/acura but defending the car on pure merits of performance or features outside of the mantra that it’s the best fwd car ever is pretty difficult. That being said it’s fun to drive and I love manual transmissions so it works for me.

For comparison an ITR was the price of a mustang GT when it came out. The ITS is as well. Everything is up in price, I think it's more that we also have the CTR now and N that put that price/performance in more perspective when in the late 90's most sport compacts were more Si levels of performance in the US making the ITR stand out more. I think the Golf R32 was its closest competition in the US market back then.

 

[bvanlieu]

Dealers are like a box of chocolates....

30y ago when I had my DE5, Lehigh Valley Dealer Acura was great. Small-ish, had single service advisor who *knew* cars, listened to what you were saying, advised and understood. Dare I say, a professional.

Today, current owner group, management etc...puts forth a terrible experience with 'clerks' that push services from a script and would rather be on the 'Gram then listen to the customer.

Sadly, this more common across the board then not.

Fortunately I am still a pretty good wrench, its a Honda product that is reliable, and the car 24K miles into its journey is still a blast to drive. #winning

 

[TwinSkrullDesign]

I agree with a lot of what is being said. The Integra Type-S lacks much in the amenity department for being listed as a $54K vehicle.

Ideally the Type-S should be in the $48K range and the Type-R should be somewhere around that $43K range. That would be in a perfect world, but as long as there are people out there willing to spend thousands over sticker on a Civic Type-R…why change anything.

The MK8 Golf R mops the floor with the Type-S in terms of fit & finish and standard features. From a heated / cooled performance seats to screen and camera quality…etc etc. and it was $48K (paid $45,500) in 2024.

I traded in my CT4V Blackwing on the Type-S (got a sweet deal on trade plus money off the Integra) with the intention of modding the shit out of the Acura, so warranty, rattles, squeaks don’t quite bother me too much…it’s all getting ripped apart at some point.

 

[s219]

Re: quality, I traded my ITS for a CTR at the end of August. Having only a few hundred miles on the CTR, I cannot comment about long term quality yet (or even over the 9 month / 8,000 mile experience I had with the ITS before trading). But in terms of initial quality, the CTR is so much better it boggles my mind that the two cars -- which are so similar on paper -- could be so different in terms of initial quality.

On the interior, I still have the same exact buzz coming from the front seat belt sliders on the B-pillars in the CTR that I had on the ITS (which can be fixed with felt tape) but that is the only thing out of place on the CTR interior. Everything else is tight and solid so far. My ITS had dozens of rattles from day one, and that was extremely disappointing.

On the exterior, the paintwork and fit/finish of the CTR is significantly better. I mentioned before in other threads that the clear coat on my ITS had hundreds of solvent pops and nibs. The orange peel was inconsistent over the body, and in some cases there was coarse orange peel that had it's own finer orange peel! The panel fits were not too bad, but not great either. None of those problems are present on the CTR. The worst issue I ran into when inspecting/detailing the car was excessive rail dust, probably from when the car shipped across the USA.

I don't think modern Hondas/Acuras are remotely as well built as the old-school cars (mid-2000s and earlier) but my experience with the ITS and CTR suggests to me that the CTR build quality coming out of the Yorii-Machi Plant in Saitama Japan is far superior to the ITS build quality coming out of Ohio USA. I've owned other Ohio-built Hondas and Acuras that were great, but if my 2025 ITS is any indication, build quality has taken a serious dive.

The other surprising difference I noticed between the CTR and ITS is road noise. Same tire noise on both cars, but overall broadband road nose is less on the CTR, and there is much less reverberation from the hatch area. I know the Integra is running on a modified Civic sedan platform (and is 5-6" longer than the Civic hatch) so my hypothesis is that some untamed acoustics crept into the platform when it morphed into the Integra hatchback. I would have expected the CTR to be more raw in terms of road noise, but it's actually better.

The last oddity I noticed is engine noise. The engine in my ITS often made wheezing/droning/mooing noises at part-throttle and off-throttle conditions. I get zero of that weirdness in the CTR. I don't know if this is related to the engine tune, the exhaust system (CTR exhaust is so quiet it's boring), or synthetic engine noise programming. But the ITS engine often sounded a bit like an appliance and the CTR does not (that said, neither is particularly impressive sounding compared to engines on my other sports cars -- Honda S2K, BMW M2 Comp, Ferrari 328).

There are other surprising differences between the ITS and CTR that I can elaborate on some other time. But bottom line, these cars are much more different than I would have expected based on paper specs, and build quality is one of those areas.

 

[bdisco]

I have to add that the carbon fiber rear wing and mirror caps by Acura are not Porsche quality. Do not recommend.

 

[Justpassedu]

I have to add that the carbon fiber rear wing and mirror caps by Acura are not Porsche quality. Do not recommend.

Complete junk , any after market company will make them better . Mine both started peeling at only 300 miles .

 

[JPx1967]

I've also owned Lexus and AMG cars in the past and as great as they were, none of them were perfect and neither is the Integra Type S. But that's ok because I don't think the perfect car exists. I've always managed to find flaws and things I've hated with just about every car I've owned.
Instead, I try to focus on the things I do enjoy about my ITS and that's driving. I love this car.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

I have to add that the carbon fiber rear wing and mirror caps by Acura are not Porsche quality. Do not recommend.

Mine have been going for over a year without issue. Almost 12k miles with them.

I think the spoiler is good, and I like the fill they have since it's rubbery and kills some hatch vibration/noise. The weave is great and clearly not oversanded.

The mirror caps are garbage in design around the inside and the overall fit. The glue on them is wild though! I backed out of my garage and clipped the edge ever so slightly with the carbon that hangs over (it's not a precise fit), and it ripped the whole painted mirror cover off with the carbon! I hear there are some that are full replacements, but they lose the color poking underneath which I don't like.

 

[RRogers66]

Sir, this car has limited payload capacity. Weight plays a big role here.

The performance metrics, particularly in the handling department, contradict your attempt to downplay the sporty capabilities of this platform.

What I don't understand here is that 90% of your quibbles were obvious before you even bought the car, you knew those items did not exist and were that way if you had test driven the car at all and looked at the spec sheets. And now you eat the highest depreciation expense of the car in the first 6 months to move on. For me I knew it had a small gas tank but I don't use it as a commuter car and sometimes my gas in the tank becomes 3 weeks old. I knew it wasn't the best for rear seat passengers but I knew I rarely have them. If you think the car has a punishing ride in Comfort Mode then you definitely didn't want a sports car of any kind. My wiper blade cleaners work more than adequately, and I think the stereo is great as I was not expecting a Burmeister. As for the blind spot light indicator in the side mirror, I feel like most cars leave those on for quite a while. I hardly ever notice them because I try to be very aware of cars that are next to me and stay out of people's blind spots. One thing I'll give you is the road noise with the OEM tires but a lot of that can be solved with your second set of tires. The rest I think is mostly unfair expectations or a lack of pre-studying the car's features before buying. Now I wonder if you will go buy a slightly more luxurious car with a features you want but then say to yourself, "Man, I wish this car was as fun to drive as that Acura Integra Type S was."

Concur completely. I have a 2024 A Spec 6-speed with intake and exhaust mods. I absolutely love the car and can't think of anything I can get that punches all my tickets anywhere close to the price point. Believe it or not, I went from a 2023 Corvette 2LT to this car. I put less than 6K miles on the Corvette in 2 and 1/2 years. I put that much on the Acura in 6 months. That's how much of a difference that I enjoy the car. Yes, they are two different cars all around, but what good is it if you don't actually "enjoy" other than looking at, or have other people looking at you. I enjoy it for "myself". May move up to the Type S next, but will certainly make a realistic comparison of the ride with long term in mind first. Thanks for your post.

 

[RRogers66]

I've also owned Lexus and AMG cars in the past and as great as they were, none of them were perfect and neither is the Integra Type S. But that's ok because I don't think the perfect car exists. I've always managed to find flaws and things I've hated with just about every car I've owned.
Instead, I try to focus on the things I do enjoy about my ITS and that's driving. I love this car.

I own an A Spec 6 speed manual with modified intake and exhaust. This may sound weird, but the car is so perfect to me, that its kinda boring. What I mean by that, is there is always some quirk with cars that I complain about, but also gives it character. With my A Spec (after making the slight mods) I don't have anything else to complain about (Character) which I guess is what I call the boring factor. Guess boring is not the right word...but don't know what is, except maybe ... almost perfect?

 

[fleadhfan]

I own an A Spec 6 speed manual with modified intake and exhaust. This may sound weird, but the car is so perfect to me, that its kinda boring. What I mean by that, is there is always some quirk with cars that I complain about, but also gives it character. With my A Spec (after making the slight mods) I don't have anything else to complain about (Character) which I guess is what I call the boring factor. Guess boring is not the right word...but don't know what is, except maybe ... almost perfect?

May I ask what intake and exhaust mods you went with? Considering doing the same.

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