#SixSpeed

Traditionalists wept into their VTEC systems when Acura brought back the storied Integra nameplate on a – gasp! – four-door hatchback on the auto show circuit last year. Those people, of course, conveniently forget that’s precisely the body style in which the original Integra was hewn, to say nothing of the relief felt by many to see Acura slowly moving away from the moronic whateverX naming scheme they’ve deployed for two painful decades.

They had a point about performance, however. Acura seems set to right that wrong with an upcoming Integra Type S, packing 300+ HP and a six-speed manual, for the 2024 model year.

Whatever you think about Acura’s usage of the vaunted Integra nameplate, I think most of us can agree it’s leagues better than the alphabet soup to which we’ve been subjected over the past 25 years. All they need to do is trot out the Legend and Vigor names once again and we’ll be in business.

Now the model’s made the rounds after its official launch, Acura is ready to put a price tag on the thing. If you seek a copy of this turbocharged five-door liftback, it’ll set you back no less than $31,895 including destination.

Any of you lot who’ve been claiming to be holding off buying a Supra simply because it doesn’t have a third pedal will need to break out your checkbooks. This morning, Toyota announced what was teased earlier this month: the Supra is getting a bonafide manual transmission.

Well, there’s still one out: It’ll be limited to models powered by the 3.0-liter engine.

TTAC commentator Arthur Dailey writes:

Sajeev,

Over 40+ years of driving, I have traditionally changed cars every 2 years and never kept one for longer than 5 years or 150,000km. However I made my most recent car purchase with the intention of keeping it for 8 years or 200,000km.

With the belief that in modern autos perhaps the most expensive item to repair is the transmission (owning 4 Caravans in the preceding 15 years reinforced this), following the truism that “it is more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow”, and being admittedly George Costanza like in my spending habits I ordered a vehicle with a manual transmission. Yes, a manual Hyundai Sonata.

Brian writes:

Not sure if this would be appropriate “piston slap” fodder or not, but here goes:
Our blossoming family recently expanded to five. My wife and I, and a three year old, a 20 month old and now a 2 month old fill up the house. We occasionally travel with our 75 lb dog. Knowing the Volvo Turbobrick would not handle the cargo/dog/people, and the PT Cruiser remains the most reliable vehicle ever built (even if the timing belt changes are a big pain) we decided to sell the Volvo for something more appropriate, if a lot slower and FWD.

Enter the Freestyle. We routinely get 28 mpg on trips, parts are cheap, we have lots of cubbies for kid’s junk and the car seats fit easily. I purchased a high mileage (150k) example that was a one owner (ish) with all receipts. It was a fleet car for some guy who then bought it when his company was done with it. It had the CVT replaced at 118k miles with a remanufactured transmission from Ford, installed at a dealer.