1987 Acura Integra LS review from North America

Not much really. The only two things that have "gone out" on the car were the driver CV joint and the left front brake line while I was driving. I was mashing on the brakes to see what the "skid limit" was and ended up blowing out one of the front brake lines. Not necessarily unexpected given a 18 year old car at the time.

The brake lines were replaced by myself for $90 in parts plus time, and the cv joint boot was replaced once, then the whole CV joint recently for $60 plus labour. Really cheap!

Paint on hood and trunk faded badly. Sprayed the hood with a couple of cans of clear coat and it brought the colour back. Not a professional job, but looks better than the faded paint.

Rust above both rear wheel wells. Fixed it up with bondo and paint. Looks fine if you don't really stare at it. There is rust probably eating away at the under side of the doors, but I ignore it. All integras seem to be made of metal as thin as tin foil around those areas.

Leaks somewhere when it rains, there was a puddle behind the driver seat. Ended up cutting the carpet and drilling a hole in the floor pan to drain. I suspect a clogged sunroof drain or something, but I haven't found it yet.

Rear brakes have a bad habit of seizing. If you get work done on your brakes it's important that they use obscene amounts of brake grease on all the glide bins and the piston of the caliper to prevent seizing. Someone told me that they tend to seize if they sit around for awhile.

Door handle broke $40 part from auto wrecker.

Weird pulsation from body or wheel at speed.

Great city car that doesn't cost much to fix.

Most of the work I've done myself. Changing the brake pads are a lot easier than I expected, although I left the CV joint to someone else. A couple of pits in the windshield, but that's OK.

Starts every day with absolutely no problems. In the winter time the heat comes on really quickly, although the heat gauge never seems to rise past the 1/3 mark (1/2 is normal I think)

It doesn't like the bumpy roads very much as little bits start to rattle here and there, but I sort of expect that for a car that is nearly 19 years old. The shocks or struts are probably worn, but it would be too much work to replace them, the front ones seem easier than the back, but I'd rather live with the ride than mess with seized bolts or pay a mechanic $600 to fix them. In fact, I'd rather not mess with them, because if I set up a turn properly, I can corner with the best of them with what seems like absolutely zero body roll. When I do it right on the perfect pavement, it's an amazing feeling. No jarring motions, just a great carve. The little squeal from the tires are fun too!

The car rides 100% fine up to about 80-90k. Above 100, the wind noise is distracting, and the engine is a little buzzy.

Gas mileage is excellent for a car with 320k I get about 7-8l/100k. Better than a brand new Corolla, but not as good as an echo, however, there is no depreciation with this car.

There are days when I curse this car and wonder if I should get something more impressive, but there are more days where I think that I have the cheapest, funnest car that barely costs anything to repair and barely requires any work. Needs on average about $200 a year in odds and ends, including oil changes.

It has a computer that messes with the fuel injection and that's it. Nothing else to worry about. I don't even know if there's such thing as a check engine light on this thing.

I was considering getting a jetta, because it's trendy, but after seeing all the blue frowny faces, I'll reconsider. The 87 integras have all smiles and I"m one of them.