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Acura Integra's racing hopes hinge on Honda

The 2023 Integra has mostly failed to create the stir from long-time enthusiasts that Acura had hoped it would. However, all is not lost; Acura could perhaps regain some street cred if they took the Integra racing, like they did with the Integras of the 80s and 90s. Brand head Jon Ikeda wants to take the 'Teg to the track, but it all depends on whether the leadership at the American Honda mothership permits it. "We want to race this thing, but maybe the Honda PR and marketing guys might have different ideas," Ikeda told Road & Track. That's because the Integra is largely a 2022 Civic Si with a hatchback form factor and new sheetmetal. Honda already sells a Civic Type R race car in several tunes for various classes in the TC America touring car series. That was based on previous-generation Civic, but in all likelihood will continue the program with the latest gen. A racing Integra, then, would seem redundant. On the other hand, Acura has been highly active in motorsports, from 24 Hours of Daytona-winning IMSA DPi prototypes to NSX GT3 race cars to Pikes Peak hill-climbers. Even Honda's F1 cars were re-branded with Acura livery at last month's U.S. Grand Prix in Austin. And it's not like the Integra doesn't have a long history in motorsports. The nameplate as competed in various North American series from SCCA Pro Rally to IMSA sedan to the Import Drag Racing Championships. Perhaps the most well-known Acura Integras to race, though, were Peter Cunningham's white and neon orange RealTime Racing Type Rs that dominated the SpeedVision World Challenge championships around Y2K. Ikeda has said before that he wants Acura to be the performance brand of Honda, and a rumored Integra Type S is in the works with a more potent engine, possibly a version of the upcoming Civic Type R's mill. "We're the performance division of Honda," Ikeda emphasized to R&T, "So we're not going to shy away from Honda, you know? We're going to just have a little bit more fun." While an admirable goal, the brand will struggle if it's merely the performance arm of Honda. It has to be about performance cars, period. That was part of Acura's magic in the 90s; it offered products that, while sharing components with Honda, were distinct and had their own personalities. The Integra was Civic-based, but it had noticeably better handling, more power, and unique design.

Honda and Acura expand CPO offerings to include 10-year-old cars

With valuations having gone ballistic, buyers are spending more than ever to purchase used cars at the same time cars with 100,000 miles or more are now considered just mildly used. Effectively, the market is full of folks splashing what was new-car money not long ago on a vehicle that would have been considered all used up. Nevertheless, used car sales, especially manufacturer Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) programs, are booming. Anything that can help a shopper with peace-of-mind about what they're getting would be a boon to the process, which is why Honda and Acura have revamped their CPO program to include a wider range of used cars.  At the bottom, the new HondaTrue Used tier now accepts vehicles up to ten years old, with no mileage limit. This wasn't the case before. The entire vehicle is covered for 100 days or 5,000 miles after purchase, whichever comes first. Used buyers at this tier also benefit from common CPO perks such as roadside assistance, trip interruption reimbursement (if your new-to-you used car breaks down far from home), and one complimentary oil change within the first year or 12,000 miles. As with the other two tiers, this one offers an exchange policy for another Honda CPO vehicle within three days or 300 miles. Above that, HondaTrue Certified accepts Hondas up to five years old. The entire vehicle is covered for one year or 12,000 miles after the original new vehicle warranty expires, and the powertrain-only warranty runs for seven years from the vehicle’s model year or 100,000 miles on the odometer. This one offers a second free oil change within the first year as well. HondaTrue Certified+ is only for vehicles purchased within their new vehicle warranty coverage period — so, under four years old and with less than 48,000 miles. It provides the same powertrain coverage as HondaTrue. Acura says its CPO division has posted five straight years of growth and had a record-breaking 2021, allowing it to take over Audi's spot at #4 for luxury CPO sales. Its Acura Precision CPO now offers an Acura Precision Used tier for its vehicles up to ten years old, with no limit on miles. After purchase, each Acura Precision Used vehicle gets complete and powertrain coverages for up to six months or 7,500 miles.

Acura NSX GT3 non-hybrid racecar on sale soon

Just over a year ago, Acura debuted the NSX GT3, the FIA GT3-spec racecar based on the automaker's latest and greatest. While it took years for the road car to hit the streets, the NSX GT3 was developed in a relatively short amount of time. This year, the car competed in several races under the factory banner, racking up 50,000 miles and two race victories. Today, Honda and Acura announced the NSX GT3 will go on sale for private teams. Think of the NSX GT3 as a stripped out version of the standard NSX sans hybrid system. The 3.5-liter twin-turbo remains, but, since there are no electric motors up front, all the power is sent to the rear wheels through a XTRAC semi-automatic 6-speed sequential transmission. The chassis is built in Ohio right alongside the regular NSX. The same goes for the engines. The block, heads, valve train, crankshaft, pistons, and dry-sump lubrication system are the same specification as the production car. Final assembly is completed in Italy. This past year, the NSX GT3 competed under the Acura banner in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD class and the Pirelli World Challenge GT category. In addition to those series, the car is built to compete in the Blancpain GT Series and 24 Hours Nurburgring in Europe, the Super GT GT300 class in Japan, as well as other GT3-spec race series. Different divisions of Honda will be handling global sales, with HPD responsible for the North American market. US pricing hasn't been announced, but converting the European models start at about $545,000. Now we just want to see a lightened, non-hybrid version of the NSX on the street. Related Video: Featured Gallery Acura NSX GT3 View 11 Photos Image Credit: Honda Motorsports Acura Honda Coupe Racing Vehicles Performance honda nsx acura nsx gt3