The Acura Integra, also known as the Honda Integra, is a very cool machine. It's widely considered one of the best FWD sports cars ever, with brilliant handling and plenty of power for its day. It's related to the Civic but was designed to be both more luxurious and more sporty than its humble hatchback brother.
Today, Integras are highly desirable collector's items, especially in Type R form. But, there's a lot of things that most car fans will have already forgotten about the Integra. After all, production finished in 2006, and since then there's been a flood of great JDM cars. So, let's take a trip down memory lane and remember this amazing sports car.
10 A Veteran Nameplate
The most famous Integras are the '90s models, followed by the early '00s cars. But, the Integra has been around a lot longer than most fans will remember. It actually debuted in 1986 and was one of the launch models for the Acura brand in America.
Production lasted a full 20 years, with the last example rolling off the production line in 2006. Honda originally planned a limited special edition run of 300 cars to mark the end of the model, but demand was so great they ended up making 450 in total.
9 Successful In Motorsport
As well as being great on the road, the Integra had a successful motorsport career too. It was primarily raced as a touring car, featuring in the British Touring Car Championship and the IMSA International Sedan series.
The car racked up wins in nearly every series it entered and won the SCCA World Challenge Touring Car Championship an incredible six times. Even after the death of the road-going model, the race-spec version continued to race internationally until 2010.
8 The FWD Sports Car With A 4WD Option
Integras are famously FWD, which made them very unusual for a sports car. That's because making a powerful FWD car that handles well is an almost impossible task. Still, Honda managed it, which is why the Integra was so highly praised.
What most car fans won't remember is that there was actually a 4WD version offered for a limited amount of time between '93 and '00. Codenamed the DB9 chassis, it wasn't as popular as the FWD drive version and was only sold in a selected number of markets too.
7 An Integra, But Make It A Rover
Rebadged cars are becoming more and more common, as manufacturers seek to capitalize on the reputation of a brand name in a certain market. Back when the Integra was first launched, it was still a fairly common practice, but even so, the Integra ended up being re-branded as some very weird things.
In Australia it was sold as a Rover 416i, Rover being the British company that collapsed in the early 2000s after making a series of outdated and terrible cars. The Integra also got sold as an Isuzu Vertex in the Thai market, where there were already several other re-badged Hondas being sold by the company.
6 Four Generations
Ask an enthusiast to picture an Integra, and they'll likely picture the later models, probably the third or fourth generation. But, it's easy to forget that the two generations before those were great cars too.
They may be less famous, but they're equally fun to drive and come with the same bulletproof Honda reliability. Prices for earlier models are generally cheaper too, so shoppers on the lookout for a bargain should consider an older-model example before opting straight for the most famous versions.
5 A Costly Purchase
Those who have to have a later-model Integra might be surprised at how much they're now worth. Type Rs are especially valuable but other, rarer specs of the car hold value well too.
In fact, Type Rs are now so costly that mint-condition ones can sell for nearly double their retail price when new. Of course, there will be plenty of examples that don't quite cost that much. But, for cheaper ones, it's worth examining the car before buying to check it hasn't been abused by a previous owner.
4 A Crook's Favorite
It turns out that not only was the Integra very popular with owners, but it was also very popular with thieves too. In 2004, it was reported that the sporty Honda was the most stolen car in the United States, with the '99 model year taking first place on the list and the '98 model taking third place.
Even in 2014, it remained high up criminals' lists, being the sixth most stolen according to a tracking service. So, for any owners who want to keep hold of their pride and joy, it's definitely worth taking extra security precautions, as the Integra, unfortunately, seems to be a perennial favorite for theft and robbery.
3 They Sold Like Hotcakes
Not only were Integras popular with hardcore enthusiasts, but they also sold well across the mainstream market too. In the US alone, nearly 740,000 units were sold during the model's production run.
That's excluding units sold in markets like the UK and Japan, where the car saw significant market success too. It means buyers looking to get their hands on one shouldn't find it too difficult, at least if they're not fussy about having to have a top-spec model.
2 Start Of The VTEC
Today, VTEC is very much a key part of Honda's image, and the Integra can trace its lineage right back to the start of this innovative feature. Second-generation Integras were one of the first Hondas to use the technology, which uses variable valve timing to produce an adjustable mix of both power and fuel efficiency.
VTEC was initially introduced as a top-spec-only feature, with cheaper models getting the standard engine. But, thanks to its popularity, VTEC quickly became the go-to among Honda buyers, a title it's retained even today.
1 Movie Star
One of the reasons the later model Integras are so famous (and pricey) is their appearance in several big entertainment franchises. Iconic car movie The Fast and The Furious features two Integras, and an Integra Type R also features in the Initial D anime and manga.
Video games too have also prominently featured the Integra: the Need For Speed series has had the car in several titles, right up to the latest release, 2019's Need For Speed: Heat. It's also appeared in the Forza series, and in Gran Turismo too. All that extra exposure not only immortalizes the car's status but also lets it be discovered and enjoyed by a new generation of car fans.