Honda Integra

The Honda Integra (sold in some markets as Acura Integra) is a compact sport coupe made by Honda during the years 1985 to 2007. It is usually a two door front wheel drive car that is able to house four passengers with a four door variant available.

This vehicle debuted in Japan in 1985 as the Honda Quint Integra before going on sale a year later in North America as part of the then-new Acura lineup. Three and five door hatchback and four-door saloon bodies were available, with a 1.6 L DOHC 16-valve four-cylinder engine powering both. The engine was the vehicle's most publicized feature, as DOHC, multi-valve engines were anything but commonplace in entry-level models at the time. In most European countries, only the 5-door liftback was offered, as a replacement for the unsuccessful Honda Quint. Typical for European Integras, is that only the 1.5 liter carburetor engine was available. Except for Britain, Honda did not offer the more powerful 1.6 DOHC fuel injection engine in Europe. We also can mark that the European Integras were cut on equipment, with no trim levels offering power windows or air conditioning. Most likely because a more down market aim.

The Integra was based on the less-sporty Civic, although it featured a small list of key upgrades over its lesser stablemate to help merit a price increase over the CRX Si, which was otherwise the sportiest compact vehicle being offered by Honda/Acura; enlarged 4-wheel disc brakes replaced the small front-disc/rear-drum setup used by the Civic and CRX, suspension calibration was re-worked, better tires were used and a 113 hp DOHC fuel injected 16-valve engine was used in place of the SOHC unit from the CRX Si. Just like the Honda Prelude and the Honda Accord (Honda Accord Aerodeck in Europe) of that period, the Integra featured sleek sporty pop-up headlights. Nearly 228,000 units were sold during the four year run of the first generation model. Most of them in the United States.

The first generation Integras actually came with two different engines. Although they shared the same engine code (D16A1), there were a few differences. The engine differed in the years 1986 to 1987 and 1988 to 1989. The two engines are commonly called the "Browntop" and "Blacktop" due to the color of their valve covers. The "browntop" came in 1986 and 1987 Integras while the "blacktop" came in 1988 and 1989 models. The improvements in the "blacktop" engine included lighter rods, domed pistons for slightly higher compression, and an electric advance distributor (the "browntop" came with a vacuum advance distributor). The overall gain in performance was about 5 hp (3.7 kW) for 118 hp (88.0 kW).

The 1988 and 1989 Integras also got a minor facelift, featuring slightly reshaped indicator lights, an improved climate control system and an update of the instrument clocks. In Europe, the discontinued Integra 5-door Liftback was replaced by the Honda Concerto for the 1990 model year.