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Next Acura Integra Could Finally Become the Car It Should Have Been.

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Acura very slightly refreshed the Integra for 2026. Nothing anyone will ever notice. A new Civic is due at the end of this year, or early next year, and a redesigned Acura Integra could switch to the brand-new Civic platform as well.

The new Integra was a really good idea. Unfortunately, except for a completelly differnt design and a standard hatchback, it doesn’t offer much more than a loaded Honda Civic, for quite a bit more. It does look fine, but not that fantastic either. A new generation based on the next generation Honda Civic could be a huge improvement. Acura designers still did a pretty good job with what they were given to start with, the current Honda Civic hatchback. Which is, in my opinion, one of the very worst looking Civic ever. 

With a brand new platform, a next generation Acura Integra could be pretty attractive. It woukld of coures incorporate design cues from the new Acura Nexera Vision Concept. It could basically be a toned down 4 door production version of the concept. And still look 100 times more intersting than the current model. And this time around, it really would need to offer a Hybrid powertrain as standard. One with more power than the Civic. The new platform will laso offer AWD. Probably as an option on the Civic. But probably standard on the new Crosstour. Something that should really be standard on the next Integra as well.

Honda really needs to learn from the huge mistake they just made with the Prelude. A car that is over $8000 more than the Civic hybrid Touring it is based on. With less standard feature and the exact same power. A new Integra really needs to offer more than a loaded Civic. It also needs to get its own interior. 

Some journalists have already driven test mules of the next Civic and have said these prototypes are already lower than the current Accord. This means a lower sportier design would fit a next-generation Integra very well.

I know Honda is desperate for cash these days (who isn;t…) but going cheap on the Integra or Prelude doesn’t even make any sense. Sales of the compact Acura sedan have come down to about 20,000 units last year. A modern, good looking, sportier and slightly upscale Acura sedan should be much more popular than this. 

The illustrations above show what a sportier Acura Integra AWD Hybrid Type S could look like. As well as the more mainstream regular Integra model. (3rd image)

Conversation 7 comments

  1. Honda really disappointed. They slapped classic names from their past (Prelude and Integra) onto a Civic and hardly made any other changes. They just increased the prices a lot more. This isn’t working out well for them.

  2. Yeah, The integra interior is a cost-cutting exercise. Too obvious even for non car enthusiasts.

  4. Honda is making another huge mistake. The prior Civic (and Accord) had already lowered the seating’s hip-point, making them lower. The Thin Light Wise mantra is doing that again, thinking aerodynamics is the key to better fuel economy. It won’t be if fewer people buy them. This is part of why sedan sales have collapsed. They keep getting lower, less headroom and longer, and then they cheap out on the interiors because they have to be cheaper when fewer people are willing to sacrifice those things. Its circular thinking. The best selling Integra (1994-2001) wasn’t lower than what’s out there now, and it was sporty by nature of the sweeping design, the engineering (like DWB front suspension and suspension tuning) and the interior’s clear sport direction. Do I think this is better than the current design? Yes, but lower is not better. The Integra’s pinnacle was also liveable as an ‘only vehicle’ for a large number of people.

  5. If Honda wants to sell Integras, then they need to incentivize the potential audience (normie crossover buyers) to actually consider them as a plausible alternative. If they aren’t going to at least offer some of the same optional features found in other Acura models (and that you can’t get in a Civic) especially in a market dominated by CUV sales, then nobody is going to care and it will just continue to be ignored in favor of the RDX.

    They were on the right track by making it a liftback to give it a practical use case (like Tesla S, Audi A5, Prius, heck even the new Dodge Charger has one now) but they still need to make it a more compelling option than the Civic by offering buyers the option to purchase features seen on other Acura models.

    Ventilated seats, acoustic laminated window glass, better sound insulation, more unique interior with upscale materials, a more contemporary dashboard and console, power adjustable passenger seat, heated steering wheel, and a hybrid option with decent torque output and better fuel efficiency.

    I’ll also go ahead and say it even if it’s cringe, but they’d probably grab attention if they offered their SH-AWD on a higher trim line Integra, with the same rear-torque vectoring system from the RDX. So many manufacturers are offering some kind of AWD method even on bread and butter cars. Their closest competitors (Mazda3, Golf R, the next gen Corolla, even some Kias) are doing it. Imagine Acura actually competing with their competition!

    Honda needs to offer all the same stuff everyone else is offering, or even what they’re offering on the other models within their own lineup. Otherwise the Integra is going nowhere.

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