Car enthusiasts really are impossible to please, aren't we? We live now in a time of reboots and revivals, of old names with staying power dragged out of retirement to be paraded around in the hopes of cashing in on nostalgia. This can often feel like a record label digging up some aging, bedraggled old rockstar for a "reunion tour" because the royalties just aren't cutting it anymore, and often the resulting run of concerts is underwhelming at best and draws far smaller crowds than Johnny Wash'dup and the Has-Beens used to. The lead singer can't hit the high notes anymore, the guitarist can't shred because of his arthritis, the bass player is terminally high and the drummer's fallen off his stool one too many times.

After the band stumbles off-stage, the audience leaves in huff as an air of confusion and disappointment settles in. The mystique these fans once held of their heroes is shattered by the unshakeable visions of terrible beer-gut dancing and creaky vocals. And if you thought music fans were bad for this, car enthusiasts are infinitely worse.

Because cars aren't humans, they can't necessarily age and decay the same way humans do. Thus, if you were to drive a clean '90s Integra Type-R in the current year, you wouldn't be met by the car equivalent of a haggard old drunk who can't remember this morning's breakfast. You'd be taken right back to the days when that car was new and glorious and cool. An experience like this keeps the mystique of the old names alive, which can make it all the more difficult for us to wrap our heads around the automotive equivalent of a reunion tour – a badge revival.

The problem comes when the manufacturers bring these old names back from the dead and adorn them to brand-new models, some having nothing to do with their namesakes. The Dodge Dart comes immediately to mind. It so often comes across as a cynical marketing exercise that some makes steer clear of the practice entirely, and so do a lot of potential customers. Car buyers can have such powerful preconceived notions in our heads of what a car with a certain name 'should' be, without considering what it 'could' be in a different era.

Related: 10 Things To Know Before Buying The 2022 Acura ILX

Nostalgic Auto Nameplates: Expectation VS Reality

Acura Integra VS Honda Civic Si
Via NetCarShow

This brings us to the latest badge revival to flood your subscription feeds with reviews: the 2023 Acura Integra. A revival people had been asking for since the RSX came off the market, the new Integra carries the immense weight of its name on its shoulders. But it shouldn't have to, because the Integra wasn't always the rip-roaring, high-revving front-wheel drive scalpel we remember from the Type R and GSR.

From the very beginning, the Integra was, for all intents and purposes, a tarted-up Honda Civic in the same way a Lexus ES 350 is a tarted-up Toyota Camry. Give it slightly deviant body styling, some nicer materials on the interior and sell it under a "premium" badge; this recipe has worked to the favor of Honda and Toyota (and most other brands who give it a try) for decades. With the latest Integra they've hardly dared to change it.

In fact, they've drawn the liftback rear hatch design directly from the very first generation of Integra and have even launched the new car exclusively as a five-door, just like the Integra from 1985. Also like the original Integra, this new one hasn't yet shown its true sporting intentions. The A-spec trim is the most aggressive package available for now, and reviewers have described it as a rounded-off, more civilized Civic Si. The latest Si isn't exactly a heavy hitter in the horsepower corner, and the Integra carries over its 1.5-liter, direct-injected and turbocharged inline-4 producing just 200 hp.

200 is not a huge number, compared to the latest crop of proper hot hatches and sedans, like the Toyota GR Corolla or the Hyundai Elantra N, both of which make in excess of 275 ponies. However, the new Integra is, like its forebears, a reasonably lightweight vehicle weighing less than 3,100 pounds. This helps it to feel sprightly, if not outright fast.

While it may be plenty sprightly, early consensus from reviews seems to suggest that the A-spec 2023 Integra is not a sport sedan in the traditional sense. It is quieter than the Si, softer too. It has a bigger trunk, more space in the back and less pumped-in engine noise. It is a more refined car, a real competitor to entry-level luxury from Germany and Korea, but it's not the Type-R throwback that diehard enthusiasts have been craving.

At least, not yet.

RELATED: Everything We Love About The New Acura Integra (And 1 Thing We Hate)

Acura Is Learning From The Past

1990 Acura Integra
Via: Acura

It took an entire generation of car for Acura to tap into the performance potential in the Integra platform with the GSR, and then another generation for it to be cemented as a legend in the shape of the third-gen Type-R. Before all those cars, the Integra was little more than a tarted-up Civic with a liftback and that is exactly the kind of Integra that Acura has brought back. This new car is the starting point - and a very good one at that - for what could lead to a new Type-R or Type-S with whatever high-horsepower four-pot monstrosity that Honda develops for the new hot Civics.

But more than that it's a sign that big companies do sometimes listen to us. They do sometimes consider that there's a real base of enthusiasts out there who are ready to buy new cars and who are looking for something that isn't a shapeless mass with wheels, something even a little bit evocative. This new Integra might not have a 9,000 RPM redline like 'Teggys of old, but it is as good a spiritual successor to the original car that you could reasonably expect in the modern context of Honda products. It's a nicer Civic, and that shouldn't sound like such a bad thing.

Also, not only does it have a manual transmission, but Acura say they prioritized the development of this manual gearbox to be as delightful and mechanical as the shifters from Integras past. That's more than can be said of basically all its competitors. None of the premium Germans offer a stick, and you can only get one in a Mazda if you forgo a turbocharged engine. If you consider a VW Golf GTI or Jetta GLI to be an "entry-level luxury car," then that's the only competitor to the Integra that also comes with three pedals. And unlike current Volkswagens, the Integra has a real volume knob.

Meet the new Integra, same as the old, old Integra.