When the Integra Kind S debuted simply two years in the past, it was met with enthusiasm. It’s the Civic Kind R in Sunday slippers, a much less hardcore, extra road-focused Honda scorching hatchback. The prospect was engaging, although I might argue the current-gen Kind R is much from a hardcore, uncooked expertise. Then, Acura launched pricing and let journalists have a go. Instantly, this new Acura grew to become a $54,000 proposition, much more costly than the already costly $47,000 Kind R, and it got here with fewer efficiency options. 

On your extra cash, you get heated seats which are virtually lifted from the Integra A-Spec, a heads-up show, an ELS Studio 3D stereo, and a slight energy bump over the Kind R. The seats had been apparently reprofiled particularly for the Integra Kind S, however they will solely be described as a downgrade in comparison with the Kind R’s unimaginable seats. Why couldn’t they simply put heating parts within the Kind R’s seats with some leather-based? 

Then, you misplaced the Kind R’s useful gauge cluster readouts for coolant, consumption air, oil strain, and increase, and the extraordinarily cool shift lights. Rubbing that final granule of salt within the Kind S paper minimize is dropping LogR, which shops detailed telemetry throughout monitor periods. I can’t assist however really feel it’s an general downgrade for much more cash.

The market spoke. Kind Rs proceed to be marked up and troublesome to seek out at MSRP, whereas Integra Kind S’ commerce beneath MSRP. Thus, I made a decision to re-explore the Integra Kind S for our latest YouTube video to see if, at real-world price parity, the Integra might actually compete with its stablemate. To search out out, merely sit again and watch.