The car trundled to an uneasy stop at the Robber’s Roost turn-off, four-ways lit, and angled back towards Berthoud pass’ ribbon of cratered tarmac. Cyclists from the “Ride the Rockies” cycling tour looked on from across the street as we got out to look at the newly flattened tire on one of the most interesting enthusiast automotive launches of 2024, the Acura Integra Type S. Lets back up things up a bit…

This is another new one for us here at SHIFT Colorado; a car with an embargo. In the mountain town of Winter Park we were figuratively tossed the keys to the 2024 Acura Integra Type S as part of a press event assembled by the terrific Rocky Mountain Automotive Press organization, at a journo-event we’ll cover at length in issue 5. 

In the meantime, we wanted to release something on the embargo date (for those who don’t know, an embargo is an official “hold impressions until” date, which allows a manufacturer to have a baseline level of control over the media release of the car). This was a short local jaunt up Berthoud Pass and back, so this doesn’t constitute a full review, but we sure did find a lot to talk about in 20 minutes of driving time. 

As you might imagine, the interior of the Acura Integra Type S is a nice place to sit. The car has deeply bolstered red leather seats, with perforated Alcantara seating surfaces up front. The Type S has full red leather seats in the rear, with similar red accents on the door cards throughout. The materials feel premium, and you can tell that thought was given to human factors and touchpoints throughout the car; everything you interact with is designed to feel good to the touch. 

The front seats feel great, and hold you snugly in place without feeling like they’re too tight for a larger driver. Rear seat leg room and headroom was solid, I could see myself comfortably sitting back there for an extended period of time. 

The A-pillars are slender, and the dash and cowl are low and wide, with a deeply raked windshield. All of the above combine to give the cabin an airy feel. 

An interesting thing about the Integra line is that the car is a 4 door plus liftgate configuration; a “three box” five-door hatchback. C-pillars are larger, as they are on most cars with modern design language, but even combined with the extra horizontal width from the liftgate frame, their rear visibility is solid.

This is the main event for the Integra Type S, unmistakenly. A true enthusiast special, the Integra Type S features the K20C 2.0 liter VTEC Turbo motor, the most powerful stock K-series motor sold in the U.S. The Type S’s K20C makes 5 more horsepower than the Civic Type R’s K20C, making 320 horsepower at 6,500 RPM, and 310 pound-feet of torque. The car makes roughly 1 horsepower per 10.1 pounds of car. 

The motor in the Integra Type S is tuned for throttle response, using an electric wastegate and high flow single scroll turbocharger. The turbo generates boost over a wider range of RPM, which takes away some of the spikiness in throttle response that is inherent with turbo cars. 

In another throwback easter egg, the motor cover features a red rectangular design, another homage to the DC2 Integra Type R’s valve cover. 

The motor has some other neat features for folks who may look to tune or add power after their initial purchase, including a lightweight forged crank, and forged rods out of the box.

It’s not an Acura/Honda without VTEC, and rest easy, enthusiasts; VTEC continues to kick in (yo) even in 2024. For those who may not know, VTEC is a handy and culturally relevant acronym for “Variable Valve Timing and Lift Electronic Control”, a system that adjusts intake and exhaust cam phasing, which changes lift, timing and duration on the valves, effectively offering the same car multiple cam profiles in one motor. Cam profiles are generally a “pick one for your application” type of deal; whats good for low end grunt may not necessarily be the best for high revving motors. VTEC allows the same physical camshaft to cater to both, and is one of the features enthusiasts have loved and rallied around since VTEC’s first introduction in the 1989 Honda Integra XSi worldwide, and 1991 Acura NSX in the United States. 

In a word, superbly. The car is cohesive, its comfortable, but it delivers on high-revving fun up a twisty road. Steve and I took the car from the Vintage hotel in Winter Park, up Berthoud Pass and back (nearly). 

On hitting the start button, the car cracks to life with a nice growl, and settles into an audible idle in Sport+. The shifter throw is perfect, its not notchy enough so as to be annoying, but feels stiff and rewarding when it clicks into place. We pulled out of the hotel’s driveway and onto berthoud, and the car certainly carries its high-revving roots on its shoulders, accelerating to a 6,500 RPM second-to-third shift as the car pulled with a purpose (to the speed limit). 

The motor roars, a sonorous wail that is recognizable as a VTEC motor on song when you put the pedal down. Any time the driving experience of a newer version of a “throwback” car like the Integra can make some kind of connection to its predecessor, its exciting, and the Integra Type S scores a direct hit here. 

I drove the car with the revmatching on, which did not miss a beat as I rowed the car through its gears up Berthoud Pass. The car is stiff, a product of 30 series tires and the adaptive damping on Sport+. Foreshadowingly, Steve and I traded commentary on the car passing over potholes in the pass as we climbed the hill, unable to move around much within the lane due to the Cyclists of Ride the Rockies taking the shoulder of the road. 

The pit in my abdomen deepens. Sidewall damage is not repairable, the tire needs to be replaced. This was Acura’s headline car of the event; What have we done? 

I called the event’s emergency roadside numbers, and got support on the way, while Steve pondered the impact of the pothole and flat on the event, and realized the repercussions the issue would have through the car’s retirement from the day. 

Waiting for the tow truck to come, and doing the responsible journalistic thing: I snapped candid shots of Steve as he did so… it would have been irresponsible not to capture the schadenfreude of the moment. 

Truthfully, it could have happened to anyone. The road on Berthoud Pass is more akin to a war zone, pockmarked with awful potholes. When we teased the image on the Colorado Cars and Coffee Facebook group, a massive outpouring of both interest in the car and similar tales of flats on Berthoud came forth, in two days one of the most active posts the group has received in 2023. 

The support folks arrived quickly to take us away from the wounded Integra. Big thanks to The Drive Shop, one of the press-car wrangling outfits for the event which showed up quickly, stuffed us in the back of a Lexus SUV, offered us water and checked on our welfare on the way back to the Vintage hotel we’d set off from, a few miles down the road. To add to the situation, Acura had brought a representative out to the event as the media handler and product specialist for the Integra Type S, who had been riding right seat with others. Jake from Acura had given us a great presentation about the car the day before, and was enthusiastic telling stories of driving the car around in his home market in California.

In one of the toughest exchanges I’ve had to partake in recently, we got out of the support vehicle and wandered over to deliver the news. 

Jake from Acura was amazing about the situation, asking if we were ok and mentioning he had kind of wondered himself if the tires were going to make it through the drive based on some of the road conditions we had encountered. Jake was tremendously forgiving, and asked if there were any questions he could answer for us on the car in the meantime, and traded contact information with us. 

As we continued the day, driving other vehicles up and down the pass, we’d pass the Integra at Robbers Roost, now a persistent reminder of something we’d prefer to forget until the group left Winter Park. We’ll carry that stigma amongst our journo peers for a long time to come. Such is life, let’s get back to the car. 

The Integra Type S we tested was priced at $55,785 as tested including destination and handling. This represents a roughly $11k premium over its sibling the Civic Type R, as well as other upmarket enthusiast cars like the Golf R, or at parity with offerings like the V6 Supra Manual, the Audi S4, or the BMW M235i, and within a spitting distance of the V8 equipped Lexus IS-500. 

What those don’t all share is the heritage. Sure, the Supra has its cult following, but you are looking at two different form factors at that point. The Integra points to its roots any chance it gets, with details made in homage to the third generation and offers a solid driving experience while being able to comfortably seat 4 adults. Want to tune it? Its a K-series, parts and aftermarket support are already pervasive.