2023 Integra captures the value and performance that made Acura a hit from the start

AUSTIN, Texas — The 2023 Acura Integra sporty compact hatchback is a delight: attractive, fun to drive and affordable. It’s everything that made Acura a hit when the original Integra helped launch Honda’s luxury brand in 1986.

It’s the kind of car Acura should never have stopped building. It could win the brand a new generation of fans.

Acura was the first Japanese luxury car brand, on the road years before anyone ever heard of Toyota’s Lexus or Nissan’s Infiniti, both of which debuted in 1989.

Acura had modest aspirations compared to Lexus and Infiniti. It debuted with the sporty compact Integra and larger Legend, developed and built with Rover Group under the comically misguided notion that a British company would understand and execute luxury better than a Japanese one.

That was the first of several miscalculations Honda made through a combination of naiveté and arrogance. Unlike Lexus and Infiniti, Acura never launched a direct assault on established European luxury brands. It tried to occupy a tricky middle ground, just north of the mass-market Honda brand, but well short of BMW and Mercedes prices and prestige.

In modern marketing terms, Acura sought to be a “premium” brand, but not full-blown luxury. A Japanese Buick, if you will.

It also abandoned the established and popular Integra and Legend names for a string of anonymous letters. RL, CL, TL, RSX, TLX, TSX. I’d list more, but I’d have to look them up, and the whole point is how forgettable they were.

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So, in the minds of Honda marketing execs, the 2023 Integra constitutes both an hommage and a reset to the early days when Acura’s future seemed unlimited.

It works. In today’s SUV-loving market, the 2023 Integra won’t be the brand’s bestseller, as the ’86 was, but I’ll be amazed if four better cars go on sale this year.

How much?

The 2023 Integra, going on sale in June, shares its platform with the Honda Civic, but every body panel and most interior pieces are new. The Integra is longer and has a stiffer body, which lends itself to better handling. It’s 1.1 inches wider than a Civic.

The Integra is a four-door hatchback with front-wheel drive. A long nose, fastback rear and roofline slightly lower than the Civic sedan give it a dynamic profile. It’s about an inch longer than the Civic sedan and nearly six inches longer than the Civic hatchback, despite riding on the same 107.7-inch wheelbase.