We miss the Acura Integra. Hell, we miss a lot of things about Acura... the Legend, the original NSX, and the RSX. But the Acura Integra Type R was one that had a special place in our automotive hearts because it was just so damned good to drive. Plus it was almost timeless in its styling. Somebody just paid a whopping $82,000 for a white 1997 Type R in what we would deem excellent condition. But the price is nuts since you can get a fine example of an original NSX for the same price (or less). We have to admit this thing is pretty sweet, though.
So, what would possess someone to pay this much money for it? Well, a week ago, it was at $70,000, and the price just climbed in what was likely a bidding war. The reasons why it commanded such coin was because it only had 6,000 miles on the odometer, and it had only one owner. Plus, it had all original equipment, nothing was modified, and it had the white wheels and white paint. Just look at the front end (below). There are no rock chips, no blemishes, no wear of any kind. Hell, it might as well be brand new. 6,000 miles driven over 22 years comes to 272.7 miles per year.
Every automotive critic worth his/her salt loved the Integra (even the base car was great). The Integra had anywhere between 140 and 170 horsepower depending on trim level, but the Type R boasted a whopping 195 horses (Car and Driver stated, "the Integra Type R produces more horsepower per liter than a Ferrari F355) from its 1.8-liter turbocharged engine. Back then, that was a lot of power to extract from such a small engine, and the Type R was a great performer.
Even more fun to drive than the regular Acura, the Type R dropped a not insubstantial 140 pounds of "unnecessary" weight by adding lighter components and eliminating things like air conditioning, the sunroof, vanity mirrors, cruise control, the rear wiper and washer, etc. The result was an Integra that handled better and accelerated faster (okay, so 0-60 in 6.6 seconds isn't quick by today's standards). It was only a second slower than the Camaro Z28 from the same year, and that had a V6.
There's no doubt other Type Rs will command more money because of this sale, but we doubt you'll find a version as nice as this and with a single owner, to boot. Though we'd be jonesing to drive this thing all day long, it's probably best for the buyer to keep it in its current condition since the price will probably climb over the next few years. But they don't make them like this anymore. It's a purist's car, and there's nothing to distract like infotainment, Bluetooth, driver aids, etc. $82K kinda seems like a reasonable price to pay for the best kind of time travel.
