It’s no secret the upcoming 2023 Acura Integra will share a lot with its platform-mate, the 11th-generation Honda Civic. Our expectations for the Integra-Civic crossover were confirmed and exceeded at Daytona International Speedway during the Rolex 24-hour endurance race this past weekend. Acura had brought an Integra to the race to show off, and unlike previous display cars that we’d seen before, this time the hatchback’s interior was visible. And it’s very, very familiar…
We snapped as many pics of the Integra’s cabin as we could through its (unopened) windows, and Car and Driver also published some photos of the same Integra’s interior gleaned from social media. Those photos were taken later than ours, by which point the dashboard coverings seen here had been removed, revealing even more of the cabin in its naked Honda Civic-like glory. Based on those images and our own, the Civic connections are clear.
We can make out a horizontal central air vent with lattice-like mesh treatment that looks a lot like the full-width ventilation setup in the Civic, albeit narrower and not running the width of the dashboard. The Acura appears to share the joystick-like air flow adjusters used by the Civic.
The rest of the dash appears to have a glossy plastic finish, surrounded by swoopy arcs of a softer looking material. Like the Civic, the Integra sports a tablet-like touchscreen that protrudes from the dash. Fortunately, it also has volume knobs like the Civic. The center stack has a button for toggling auto start/stop and auto hold. There’s also a lever for the electronic parking brake. A lot of this switchgear appears to be pulled right out of the Civic (pictured below for reference).
The leather-wrapped steering wheel bears Acura’s A-Spec sub brand, suggesting that this prototype vehicle is trimmed with a sporty appearance package that is available across the entire Acura lineup. That said, the steering wheel looks just like the Civic’s, albeit with more silvery trim applied to it. Ditto the door handles, armrests, and even the trio of climate control knobs below the touchscreen.
This 2023 Acura Integra prototype wears white leather or leatherette seats with black trim and contrast stitching. Our eyes were drawn immediately to the manual transmission shifter, which has a silver tip and a leather or leatherette wrap around the middle of the knob—almost exactly like the piece used by the new Honda Civic Si, which also is expected to donate its 200-hp-ish turbocharged 1.5-liter I-4 engine and six-speed manual transmission to the Integra.
Much of the front seat area’s materials carry into the rear, which are also wrapped in white leather or leatherette. There’s a flip-down center armrest. The doors have white padding and armrests as well. We didn’t spot any rear ventilation but there are dual USB C ports for up to three backseat passengers.
The 2023 Integra will arrive in Spring 2022, positioned as the entry point to the Acura brand. Based on what we know and have seen so far, we expect it will effectively be a more luxurious Civic Si, which is a good thing based on our first test of Honda’s sporty sedan. Oh, and it’ll be a hatchback—a body style offered on the Civic generally but not on the Si specifically, though the spicy hot new Civic Type R performance model will be hatchback-only, as it was before.
Pricing for the premium Acura hatchback will start in the $30,000 ballpark, which should undercut much of the competition, though that’s still on the high end of the Civic lineup’s price ladder. Whether buyers will look past the Civic connection remains to be seen, but we should mention that the latest Civic’s interior is quite good, delivering stylish looks and high quality, even at conventional compact car prices.
Keyword: 2023 Acura Integra Interior Shows Off Its (Honda) Civic Virtues