Acura Integra Prototype revealed with five doors
The Integra is back! Honda’s luxury brand Acura has revived its iconic nameplate – but it’s a five-door, and it’s not coming to Australia.
Honda’s American luxury division Acura has revealed a near-production prototype version of its new compact car, reviving one of Japan’s most iconic front-wheel-drive nameplates: the 2022 Acura Integra.
Excluding the Chinese-market Honda Integra – which is little more than a rebadged Civic – the new Acura Integra revives a nameplate last seen in Australia (and globally) in 2006, on the fourth (now fifth) generation of a car that traces its origins back to 1986.
However, old-school Integra fans keen on a coupe will be disappointed to hear that the new model is a five-door liftback – a body style less niche and more popular with actual buyers – with no two-door model on the horizon.
Like many of the generations preceding it, the new Acura Integra shares its platform with the latest, Australia-bound Honda Civic – but unlike past Integras that wore completely-unique sheetmetal compared to Civics of the time, the new Integra’s proportions appear to be largely copied over from its Honda sibling.
While the car pictured here is badged a ‘Prototype’, past Honda form suggests it will look nearly identical to the production Integra due in US showrooms next year, blending sharp lines and LED lights with retro-inspired cues and a five-door shape.
Finished in Indy Yellow Pearl paint borrowed from the NSX supercar, design highlights of the Integra Prototype include ‘INTEGRA’ script embossed into the front and rear bumpers, slim LED headlight and tail-lights (with Acura’s ‘chicane’ signature), and surfacing not dissimilar to the larger Acura TLX sedan.
Filling the arches are 19-inch alloy wheels, hiding “oversized” Brembo brakes with Indy Yellow calipers – the colour also paying tribute to the Phoenix Yellow of the third-generation Integra.
Tellingly, Acura hasn’t confirmed dimensions for the new Integra – suggesting it’s closer in footprint to its Civic sibling than its maker wants to admit.
A look at the new Acura Integra’s interior isn’t provided, though expect a mix between the Civic’s 12-inch digital instrument cluster and 9.0-inch touchscreen, and the unique infotainment system and dashboard design of the TLX.
Few details of the Integra’s engine range have been released, bar confirmation it will be powered by a “high-output” 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder VTEC engine, paired to an “available” six-speed manual transmission and a limited-slip front differential.
It’s expected to be the same engine as the new US-market Civic Si, where it develops 149kW and 260Nm – 4kW down compared to the model it replaces, and 5kW less (but 66Nm more) than the fourth-generation Honda Integra Type S sold in Australia in 2006.
A high-performance Type S version is expected to be on the way, which – given the base Integra will match the Civic Si on performance – will likely borrow the 200kW-plus 2.0-litre turbo four-cylinder from a variety of Honda models, including the next-generation Civic Type R.
The production 2023 Acura Integra will launch in the US in the first half of 2022, with a starting price of appoximately US$30,000 (AU$41,200) – on par with its Civic Si twin’s US$28,315 (AU$38,880) price.
However, with production set to occur in Marysville, Ohio, the new Integra will be an Acura-only, left-hand-drive vehicle, and won’t come to Australia.
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