1996 Acura Integra LS review from North America

Power antenna didn't work when I got it. It would go up, but not down. I just disconnected the power to the motor. It still picks up fine though.

The radiator was slowly leaking from around the top tank when I got it. The construction of the radiators is very cheap. Honda uses plastic tanks that are basically just glued and clipped onto the core. They will invariably leak. A replacement only cost me $140 and two hours of my time though.

The cam seal was leaking when I bought it, and I haven't bothered to replace it. It's a very slow leak. I can't figure out what possessed Honda to machine the heads with a big hole in them and then plug it up with a plastic cap.

Blower motor resistor pod burned up at 137,000 miles. I was left with only blower settings 3 & 4 on my climate control. I pulled it and fixed it myself.

Clutch master cylinder blew its seal at 140,000. The new one was $80, and it took me about 30 minutes to replace. Unfortunately it was leaking for some time before I lost my pedal, so the carpeting beneath the push rod is now soaked with hydraulic fluid.

All of the problems I listed are very common issues with this car and engine. Still I would say this car is very reliable. At the kind of mileage I have, that sort of stuff is inevitable with any car. Things are always going to wear out and break.

The engine is bulletproof. She'll pull to redline on a daily basis without a whimper. And even now at ~150,000 I hardly burn a drop of oil.

Power is kind of low from the non-vtec b-series engines, but she's got enough to get out of her own way. She'll wind up to 120+ MPH pretty easily. Just don't try to pass anyone beneath 3,500 RPM! If you want to get into the realm of real performance, I'd recommend the GSR or Type R trim of this car.

When I first got the car, it had a LOT of road noise which I just thought was due to the light construction, but it turns out it was my tires. I don't think Integras like Nittos. I put Yokohama AS430s on each corner, and now she's quiet as a mouse.

Handling is about as good as you can get with a FWD car. There's very little dive and understeer. You could probably almost fool yourself into believing it's RWD with the right suspension modifications. There is a lot of body roll though. But again this could easily be alleviated with the right modifications. There are actually a lot of RWD cars that this Integra will walk away from in the twisties. I have a friend with an '00 LS1 Z28, and he can't keep up with me as long as we're turning. But of course once the road straightens out, he hands me my butt on a platter. :-P.