Honda's Challenge

Known as the Honda Integra around the world, the Acura Integra has been a popular Japanese automobile since 1985. The line was discontinued in 2007, and it included numerous modifications in the base model during the years it was produced. The Acura headquarters were based out of Sayama, Japan and its compact size and low cost made it very popular with consumers worldwide. Acura offered the Integra as their answer to other automakers comparable models that were released during the 1980s and 1990s. It was also Honda's answer to the Honda Quints replacement.


The first generation of the Integra was released from 1986 through 1989. It was offered as a three door and five door hatchbacks with a 1.6 liter engine that was 4 cylinder, 16 valve. It came in a five speed manual and four speed automatic. In Japan the car was considered a mid-size vehicle, with dimensions at 168.7 inches in length for the three door and 171.5 inches in length for the five door.

Both models were 65.6 inches in width and 50.8 inches high.

During the four years the first generation of the Integra was sold, consumers bought 228,000 units. The car's features were extremely attractive to the consumer, and the fact that it came with two different D16A1 engines made it even more desirable. The engines - known as Blacktop and Brown - were named based on the color or their valves. The Brown engines had less power and torque than the Blacktop engines.


The second generation of the Acura Integra was released from 1990 to 1993. The length of the vehicle was extended out to 172.8 inches for the hatchback model and the new sedan model was 176.6 inches in length. The models released in the 1990 model year were 67.4 inches wide and it was expanded to 67.5 inches wide for the 1991 through 1993 model years.

The height of the vehicle was also raised to 52.2 inches during the second generation release and the engine for the 80s model had a 50 liter capacity.

In 1994 when the third generation of the Integra was released it came with a VTEC system that had an engine capable of 8000 rpm of torque. It included a sun roof and DB2 chassis code. The car became as popular as the Acura RSX and it was voted by Evo magazine as the best front wheel drive vehicle in 2006.





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