Every automotive journalist has a car that they will do anything to get behind the wheel of, even if it's just for one more hour, one more story. Chief among these, for me, is the legendary Acura Integra Type R, widely considered to be the greatest front-wheel-drive car ever built. I got to drive one for two laps around the Long Beach Grand Prix street circuit earlier in my career, and the experience has never left my mind. Since then, I have longed to find myself in an Integra Type R once more.
The only new car that I've ever felt this compelled by—that I would do anything for one more drive in, the one new car I'd buy tomorrow if I hit the lottery—Honda's follow-up project to the Integra Type R: the Integra Type S.
Naturally, when the call came for pitches for Japan Month, this pair of Integras immediately came to mind. These two machines are some of my favorite cars to ever exist; Honda is my favorite manufacturer to ever build a car. What better chance than our very own in-house passion project to explain to the world why these two Hondas are so important to me? And better yet, I could explain just why Honda has always been my favorite manufacturer and why their cars exemplify a motoring joie de vivre that is so rare, especially in the modern era.
Most importantly, of course, pitching this story meant I could get my grubby hands on these cars one more time, and I'd be lying if I said that wasn't a big reason why this video exists. I desperately wanted to drive these two just for a few more hours. Video-making and all it entails is exhausting work, and this was an exceptionally long shoot day. It was, I assure you, 100% worth it.
This is my love letter to two of the greatest cars not just from Japan, but in my book, to ever exist.
