Yahoo News Car and Driver's 'Into Cars' Podcast Ep. 2 Explores Acura's Integra Type S
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The second episode of Car and Driver's new podcast Into Cars is centered around the 10Best-winning Acura Integra Type S. Editor-in-chief Tony Quiroga and chief brand and content officer Eddie Alterman take you along as they get behind the wheel and rip through its six-speed manual transmission and contemplate its place in the sports-sedan world.
Closely related to the Honda Civic Type R, the Integra Type S offers a different and more refined experience than the mightiest Civic, which the hosts suggest makes it a better daily driver.
"It really goes its own way," Quiroga stated, joking that the Acura is for people whose hair has migrated from the top of their head to their ears. "As soon as you get into it, you realize it's just a more mature car."
Quiroga and Alterman take the 320-hp Integra Type S for a spin around Car and Driver's home base of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and accelerate through the gears to give podcast listeners a taste of its turbocharged four-cylinder engine. Along with praising the Integra's exhaust tone, the two are impressed by the manual transmission's positive feel and the tuning of the standard adaptive dampers.
"It's immediately apparent it's not the jittery, caffeinated ride of the Civic Type R," remarks Alterman. "It's not about the numbers. It truly returns great driver feel, great chassis feel, great engine sounds."
After they return to the office, Quiroga and Alterman sit down with Acura product planner Jonathon Rivers to find out about the thinking behind the development of the Integra Type S. Rivers touches upon Acura's transition back to performance as well as the automaker's decision to only offer a manual transmission in the Integra Type S.
"We wanted the ultimate driver's car," he explained. "And not that you can't get that with a DCT, but fundamentally what we were trying to do was create a very fun, engaging, and unique product in the marketplace."
"Some enthusiasts are so quick to write off cars if the zero-to-60 is not three seconds," Rivers says. "That's just not what this car is about. I tell people all the time, just get in it and drive it."
On next week's episode of Into Cars, Quiroga and Alterman orchestrate a showdown between gas and electric powertrains, pitting the electric BMW i5 M60 against the six-cylinder BMW 540i xDrive, and talk to BMW product manager John Kelly.
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