Driving Acura's Entry-Level Small Cars, 20 Years Apart (TSX and new Integra)

        I recently got to drive a loaner 2024 Acura Integra from the Acura dealership that had 439 miles. It was a base model in Majestic Black with Graystone interior. Driving something new for a change compared to a 2005 Acura TSX has really validated my perspectives on how small cars in the U.S. have changed in 20 years.

        What do I mean by this? The TSX feels small and nimble. The pillars are thin, so you can actually see well around you without the need for a backup camera. The steering is tight because it is a sport sedan. I grew up learning how to drive with that tight steering. It feels fast when you accelerate, even though torque isn't a strong number. I read about people's experiences with old Honda Civics, like from the late 1980s and 1990s. It's easy to say that that it's so much better to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow, and the Civic is the epitome of the former, or a Miata. An old Civic is so basic and weighs so little that the driving experience feels much more real and connected to the ground. You can imagine the physics behind such a little car. When you floor it, it feels fast. Being smaller and lighter conserves energy and allows you the sportiness to make sharper turns without losing grip. With a big fat crossover or SUV, there is so much more weight and inertia that any movement you make needs a lot more gas and more time to settle. The TSX has the heart of a Civic because it feels small and nimble as Acura's smallest car. And it has VTEC, which consists of a second set of camshaft lobes that open the cylinder valves larger at a certain RPM so the engine makes more power.

        Well, technically, the 2005 TSX is the seventh generation foreign model Honda Accord, not exactly like a Civic, but it was small for American standards, so Honda gave it to Acura as Acura's entry-level sedan to replace the old Integra sedan. Then, we got our own bigger fatter Honda Accord so that big Americans could feel proud and compensated for. The TSX is quite unique in this regard because it was built to foreign standards and is drop-dead gorgeous. I've seen it labeled as a compact executive car, a size generally between U.S. compact and mid-size, like a Mercedes C-Class. Crazy to think she's 18 years old now (yeah, the 1990s was not 10 years ago, go cry about it).

        The 2024 Integra is so wild. This is not a small car. The wheelbase looked a tiny bit shorter than my brother's Mercedes C450, maybe about the same, but the overhang made the car longer. Perhaps this is the same as comparing the TSX to the C-Class as a compact executive car in 2005. Cars simply grew bigger. But the Civic that the Integra is based on really looks like it grew a lot longer from the previous generation. It looks like it has the length of a Cadillac Deville. So, no, not a small car. When I sat inside and drove it, it felt like I had half a meter of armor wrapped around me, and the hood was so long. The TSX hood curves downward more and you don't see much of it but I could see the long creases on the hood of the Integra protruding out like I was expecting a V8 under the hood. The driving felt so disconnected from the road. The car felt like it was filled with so much beefy stuff, crash protection, and thick pillars that I felt like I was in a slammed full-size pickup truck that happened to be a liftback with a lower roofline. And you need the backup camera because you can't see everything behind you. I didn't like how heavy the Integra was and how disconnected I was to the road, but that seems to be what most modern cars of that size feel like now, especially tall crossovers. Physics dictates that no matter how sporty you make a car, you cannot hide the fact that it is big and heavy and will take more energy to get around. Sorry, I didn't mean to personally attack you, I'm sure you look beautiful. The Integra didn't feel heavy, in fact, it isn't, but it felt really big.

        Enough of my negative boomer talk, let's get into how the Integra drives. I was too used to the tight steering feel in the TSX, so I mostly used sport mode in the Integra. Any other mode made the steering too loose, like the Nissan Sentra I drove during driving lessons at 16. I hated that Sentra. Besides the steering, I once floored it going downhill on an on-ramp and the instructor told me to be careful since there was a car in front of me, but it was about 8 car lengths away and the Sentra still wasn't keeping up with the other car that well. I liked the Corolla and the brand new first-year Camry with 39 miles (or 390, I can't remember) much better. The Toyotas had tighter steering. I don't remember how powerful they felt, but probably not much more than the Sentra. Either way, power was good enough in the Toyotas and I liked them. Anyways, the Integra's performance is very comparable to the TSX, and coming out of a quick turn from standstill generally felt confident. Despite its size, the car was fine and nimble. I would floor it when the light turns green and the Integra just keeps on going. You don't even feel it because it feels so disconnected from the road and because it has a CVT, which feels smoother than gears. You're in a closed environment with thick barriers but you look down at the speedometer and it keeps going up, and the telephone polls keep coming faster. Then you realize you have to brake or else you won't be able to make that turn ahead. Or, maybe you can, but people live on that street, so you better not test Mother Nature. Speaking of the brakes, they are so strong. I kept making my passenger move forward from the momentum. I was not used to it. On the other hand, if I accelerated the same way in the TSX, it would feel so much faster and connected to the road, like an old Civic. Maybe not to that extent, obviously, because the TSX is still a luxury car. You don't feel like you're in a closed environment and you can feel the G's as you floor it no matter how slow it is. My TSX has an automatic transmission because I'm not a real car guy. I don't know what to say about the gear changes, but it seems fine, and no glass transmission issues like in the TL from that era. Anyways, the Integra really feels like a heavily insulated box that is easily capable of serious speed if you are not paying attention, which is easy not to because you don't really feel it. The TSX feels closer to the ethos of an old Civic in comparison, where it feels low and fast and loud where you really feel the G's in any maneuver at a decent speed.

        So what is my take on all this? Besides the performance specifications, these cars aren't very comparable. The Integra is much bigger. It is hard to see out of like a lot of modern cars. These are justified reasons to dislike it. But, at least it has Apple CarPlay and not just a 6 disk CD changer. Let's look at the big picture: modern cars are engineering marvels.  Average Joe's V6 Camry can smoke a Jaguar XKE on the racetrack in any weather 24/7. You would think that a heavily insulated environment where you don't feel the G's isn't exciting, but you can also look at it from the opposite side: a heavily insulated environment just means that it's hard to feel how capable the car is, which can be exciting sometimes? Perhaps if the car was faster than the TSX, but I think they have similar performance unless you get the Integra Type-S. The Integra may be huge, but knowing that it can unexpectedly go faster and corner hard gives the car an understated, almost gentlemanly performance look that can get things done right when it needs to and revert to staying calm and collected during normal driving. That's some class... but at that point, the Integra name would be a strange choice given its more familiar performance-y history, its actual size, as well as the crazy youthful exterior styling. If there is a rival that can do just as good as a gentlemanly muscular sporty car, then we run into problems, and the only thing the Acura's got in that case is Honda reliability... with the Acura price tag.

        I like to joke that the TSX has Integra Type-R DNA. I actually have no idea if anything is shared besides VTEC, but if it did, it would probably be more closely related to the fourth generation Integra only sold as the Acura RSX in the U.S.... confused yet? They did have K-series engines but they are different variations. Honda had a thing back then. FWD and little cars that could go like hell. Well, at least they felt that way. The TSX still has that old feeling of getting down and dirty and feeling fast. Like any machine you operate, the car has to be an extension of yourself when you drive it. I remember the instructor from driving school told us that. You must be confident with your car. With the TSX, I can feel everything about its size and its personal space on the outside like it is my own. The steering is perfectly responsive. It is hard to feel that way about the Integra because it is such a closed box that you can't immediately feel a connection to, and it feels like a land yacht when it's supposed to be small and sporty... it's sporty but certainly not small.

        I really like the TSX's body kit and the wing with integrated third brake light, all OEM. They and the blue headlights make the car look so much better than the default rounded front look without being over styled, and I think with all this, the TSX looks better than the TL of the same generation. You will never hear anyone say this because the TSX is forgotten in Acura's history. The TL and RSX are widely known because they had Type-S variants, but Acura refused to bring the K20 Accord Euro R overseas for the ultimate TSX. 50% of the population will misidentify the TSX as a TL because they don't know what a TSX is. The new Integra is kind of wonky. I guess I could get used to its design, but I really don't like the sloping rear roofline of modern liftbacks. However, in some angles, the Integra pulls it off decently, and I could say the same for cars like the Kia Stinger and Buick Regal with the same body style. The Integra's design still looks long and humongous, but it is acceptable in the modern era.

        I wouldn't be disappointed if I had a new Integra. Sure, it's sporty, but it's the size of the car with the Integra name attached to it that makes things very weird. But, I really, really like the TSX because I can feel everything about it and make it an extension of myself. Something just feels wrong in the Integra when I don't feel as connected to the road in something that is supposed to be a small sporty car, and at this point, I am skeptical of how different a slightly bigger Acura TLX will feel, if anything. I would go for a TLX with the 4-cylinder if it feels any similar in size. Otherwise, driving the Integra was a great experience. Maybe I wasted my life writing all this simply because I just never had enough time to get used to the Integra. After all, I have never really driven a car this new, so I have nothing else to compare it to. The Integra is a different experience than what I'm used to, and I still like it in its own way. Despite modern cars getting bigger and fatter, they are engineering marvels and no one could’ve imagined how far we came in a hundred years. The 2024 Acura Integra is a great example of how you make an enlarged modern small car feel young and fast as heck.