Sometimes, being “the car guy” has unintended consequences. Last Fall (2015), an Internet friend of mine from Seattle lamented to me that she needed to get a new car, because she was having difficulty getting in and out of “a car so low”. I helped her pick out a nice Lexus Certified RX450h, she bought it, and it made her happy.
“But now”, she lamented, “what do I do with my Acura? The dealer essentially didn’t want it in trade, and I don’t want to sell it myself.”I asked her for the details of the Acura. It was a 1990 Integra sedan. She had bought it brand new. It had 113,000 miles, and had never been serviced anywhere but Acura of Bellevue (WA). Best of all, it had a proper manual transmission!
[Dealer-maintained, right down to the battery]
She emailed me a copy of the CarFax. The mileage, service history, and one-owner status was verified, along with an accident-free record. The CarFax also indicated that the 120,000-mile service had already been completed at 103k, because the camshaft seals needed to be replaced, and it only made sense to do the full 120k service at that point.
[Average mileage? 4400 per year!]
A quick Internet search gave me an estimated value of $1800 (although values of a car this old can be hard to pin down). The CarFax report gave the car a +$700 boost for the clean service history.
I opened my big mouth. “Heck, I’ll give you $2500 for it!” The deal was struck. Now all I needed to do was figure out how to get it from Seattle to Las Vegas. Well, I had some vacation time coming, so I bought a one-way plane ticket to Seattle, grabbed a wad of cash from the bank, and was on my way.
My friend picked me up at the airport and we went to a coffee shop (because Seattle) to do business. I gave the car a good once over. It was everything she said it was. To a non-car person, it could have easily passed for an 8-year-old car. The car was all-original, down to the factory cassette deck, with dealer-accessory CD player! The deal was good, money changed hands, and I was on my way.
[Proper transmission, and a dealer-installed CD player!]
As long as I was calling it a vacation, I took my time getting back. I made my way to the Pacific Coast Highway (i.e. US-101) and slowly drifted my way down the coast, stopping for anything I thought was interesting. Having woken up at 4:30 that morning, I was pretty tired, so when I got to Newport, OR, I turned inland to Corvallis and got a room.
I woke the next morning and continued on US-20 from Corvallis to Bend. A beautiful drive through the mountains, and I recommend it. After Bend, things got ugly. Not with the car; it was performing flawlessly, averaging 33mpg. The car was fine – it was the drive that got awful. Oregon, once you get east of the Cascade Range, becomes high desert. Flat as a board, not a speck of evidence of humans, and while the scenery is lovely, after about 30 minutes it starts to get seriously redundant.
A couple of things to note about US-20, east of Bend. First, I’m pretty sure that whoever placed it on the map was using a straightedge. I don’t think I turned the steering wheel more than 2 degrees all afternoon. Secondly, the person who set the 55mph speed limit on that stretch of road had clearly never actually driven it. There is no human settlement, it is straight as an arrow, and one of the least trafficked US Highways I’ve ever driven on.
Just after Burns, OR, I switched to Oregon 78. More dullness with absurdly low speed limits. OR-78 meets up with US-95 somewhere east of the middle of nowhere. I crossed into Nevada, and was faced with another 550 miles of endless high desert plains, punctuated by an occasional mountain pass. I made my way to Winnemucca, NV and found myself a room.
First thing in the morning, I made my way to the Nevada DMV to get legal. I love small-town DMV offices; I was in and out in 20 minutes! The rest of the day was an endless slog home. On the sort of back roads I was driving (NV-305 to US-50 to NV-376 to US-95, if you’re following along at home) one must plan fuel stops carefully – often there is a 100+ mile stretch between gas stations!
I made it home to Las Vegas by nightfall. Unlike Oregon, Nevada has a perfectly sensible 75mph limit on these sorts of roads. Now that I was on my own (legal) plate, and given the lack of any sort of police presence on these sorts of roads, I may, possibly, have exceeded the speed limit by a few MPH. However, don’t quote me on the fact that a 1990 Integra may or may not run just fine at triple-digit speeds, okay?
As for the car itself, it is a truly fine car. When it was made, Acura was still a new brand, and I think they were intent on building a car to a higher standard than the ordinary Hondas from which they were derived.
On the other hand, and despite what you may have heard about this generation of Integra, there’s nothing particularly outstanding about driving it. Sure, the DOHC 1.8 (non-VTEC, yo) loves to rev – in fact, because there isn’t much power below 3500 RPM, it pretty much needs to be whipped like a rented mule – and while that has its moments of joy, there is little else to recommend this car.
Me and my big mouth. Including getting the car home, I have about $3000 tied up in it. There seems to be no market whatsoever for bone-stock old Acuras. If I needed a $3000 car, there isn’t any way I could have bought a better car for that money.
But I really have no need for a $3000 car. It mostly sits, but I make sure to drive it every Sunday, just to keep the juices flowing. Registered as a “Classic Vehicle”, and insured for “Pleasure Use Only”, it costs me about $400/year to keep on the road. At that cost, it makes for a handy second car to keep around.
Honda Integra, I dont see all that many of these around anymore the ones I do have been either riced into the ground or just driven to near death and have no value at all, Yours looks quite nice for its age and if maintained will run for a long time.
This puts you into a position where you will be able to help someone (friend, family, co-worker) out in the event they need a good car and assuming the person in need can drive manual shift. It’ll happen, sooner or later. Meanwhile you have a nice ride to use picking up the Sunday paper and bagels.
Only if they want to pay what he has put into it…
Looks like a nice car, especially for its age. It kind of looks like a Honda Accord. Hopefully some of the parts are interchangeable, it would make finding parts easier. Most Hondas/Acuras of that era have rusted into the ground, so you have a rare find. Has it been undercoated?
It won’t, except for small items common to all Honda/Acura cars of the same vintage. It was based on the Civic.
The styling is similar to an Accord only because all Honda/Acura cars back then had a common styling look.
I’ll take a drive through the desert over a drive through the prairies any day. Always enjoyed driving through the Nevada and Arizona. Didn’t know there was desert in Oregon as I’ve never driven through that part of the state. I’ll keep it in mind for a future road trip.
Nice looking car and not a model I’ve seen up here in a long time. But $2,500 is a little high.
Eastern Oregon is generally as dry as Western Oregon is wet. Actually more dry acreage than wet in Washington & Oregon contrary to what most people think. Actually in both Oregon & Washington the Eastern portions of both states have more in common with each other than their Western portions. If we were making up state boundaries today it would make much more sense to make the western portions of Oregon & Washington one state and the eastern portions of both states into another
That would put all the rednecks together in one state. And all the liberals together in another one. Then continue down the east side of the Sierra through California and make one couple thousand mile long state.
My folks had 2 Integras… Previous generation with the pop up lights. Loved those cars. Was the first time I ever drove 200km/h. Real scary. I still remember the moment I changed lanes and the car almost flew off the road. Very hard to find in that condition… Congrats on the choice!
I had a 1995 Integra coupe with a 5 speed and it was absolutely the best car I have owned so far. I bought it in 2005 when I was a junior in high school and I drove that thing as hard as I could for 7 years before the abuse finally caught up with it. They really are spectacular cars, I cant really imagine I will ever own another car that is the same combination of fun, reliable, and practical again.
One thing I noticed was the speedometer says “unleaded fuel only”. Modern cars don’t say that anymore. I guess it goes without saying that you are supposed to use unleaded fuel.
Tetraethyl lead (TEL) fuel ⛽ stopped being sold Stateside in 1996 (CA 4 yrs. earlier). TEL does bad things to catalytic converters, hence the warning.
1996? Really. I don’t remember ever seeing it even in the 80’s…I guess at that point it was still *technically* legal but you had to look pretty hard to find it.
ARCO had a special unleaded that was supposed to be specifically for old cars that used leaded at one point during the phase out in CA.
I used to fill up my Valiant with it, but can’t remember the time frame. At one time methanol was the oxygenate in gas in the 90s until it was discovered how easily it could leach into the groundwater.
Killed a couple of towns because of it
Another car I once owned, so now have owned 2 as featured cars. My Integra was also a 4 door, but a 92 with automatic transmission. You are so right that these are very well put together cars. The weakest point, I felt, on mine was the plastics. When I changed a bulb in one of the turn signals, the plastic had gotten so brittle with age that one of the tabs the mountings screws go through had fractured. That, and one of the rear light assemblies had cracked when the rear of the car made contact with….? But the interior? For a 10-12 year old car it still looked very good. And the engine and transmission were still in pretty good shape.
Parts used to be easy to find for these, both “stock” and aftermarket, but about 6 or 7 years ago supplies started to “dry up” as young drivers stopped buying and modifying these types of cars.
I’ve also noticed that truly nice Integras of and generation, along with RSXs, have disappeared in the last year….at least here in northern Florida. If you find an RSX, it has an automatic transmission and/or high mileage along with a high price.
I sold mine because it was hard to get in and out of on a daily basis. But miss the dependability and small size, compared to my current ride….a Crown Victoria.
And I would have jumped on this car too, in the same situation. If you ever want to sell, I’m sure a few folks on here would be interested.
Seems like a fair price considering the low mileage, great condition, one owner, and by the book dealership upkeep. And it’s a stick!
I think you did good. You helped out a friend by buying the car. You also help the car avoid being turned into a big POS with a fart can, spoilers, fake black hood scoop, being lowered and having at least one or two body parts being primered or bondoed.
Plus it is a nice looking car and you may find out it is better to drive then your daily driver. Those Integras are fun to drive.
Around my way a Integra that vintage and that condition would actually go for about $2500-$3000
Congrats on your “new to you” car
I love these cars, and I’m tempted by it myself! I think you’ll find that there is a right person for this, if you decide it’s not for you. I actually prefer the 4-door on these cars. The styling is gorgeous with the low cowl and those super thin pillars. It may be understated, but it’s nothing like any car today or even in the last 15 years. And it even has a stock CD player! It’s a great find….you should pat yourself on the back! And do yourself a favor and take it out on some more twisty roads!
Check out some of the roads in Lake Mead Nat’l (Park or whatever). Go that way up to Valley of Fire State Park – you’ll find neat roads that the Acura and you will enjoy.
These were advertised as four-door pillared hardtops in Japan. Without getting into the argument about the term hardtop, I think they make more sense viewed as four-door “personal cars.” The three-door of this generation is a little too sober for a sports coupe, and if you wanted a family sedan, an Accord (which was around the same price range) made more sense.
Very nice! When she got around to the stick shift, I might have folded under the temptation myself.
I will not tell you that you paid too much. I know that there are guys who find good serviceable cars for $1k, but in my world, $3k seems to be about bottom dollar for something that looks good in and out, and that everything works the way it should, and is ready for a 600 mile trip with no preparation.
Hey man, I’ll buy it from you! I miss my old Integra (hatchback coupe) of the same vintage. You’re right about 20 between Burns and Bend, the speed limit changed last month as did all east of the Cascades. I live in Boise and travel that road often, typical speed is 70-75mph.
What a classic design, simple and unpretentious.
Does this Integra have those damn annoying electric seat belts? That would be a reason for me to give it a pass. I always hated those and was so glad when that bad idea was dropped like a hot potato.
Did these have the B-series engine in them? The B20 in the CRV was great – it wasn’t reluctant to rev to redline when you needed it.
What a find. This is exactly the kind of car (and $3,000 does seem like a very good price) I would have wanted if I had to get a car to take a job six years back. This example is, head and shoulders, far above the pack I looked at, at this price point. Plus, these 2nd-generation Integra 4-doors also still really look great, with their airy greenhouses and compact dimensions.
Aha…. There it is, I found a picture of my 1988 Integra that I bought in 2003… Nice little car.
The guy who sold me the car said the sun roof was leaking and he taped it.
The real problem was the drain holes were pluged. After 15 min of “hard” work the sun roof was working fine again.
Eggsalad: from a financial (rational) point of view it almost never makes sense to have a second car around. It’s just a second pile of potential issues that eats up money.
However, if you are a petrol head and you get some enjoyment out of the second car you do have the perfect excuse. With that in mind you could have chosen worse. The best part is that you have created a memory from the first moment you took the seat. Now all that’s left to do is driving around and parking it curbside next to 70’s malaise buckets so someone unsuspecting will take a picture and post it in the cohort.
Agreed Wolfgang. And a great point, but don’t think you’d find many on here who wouldn’t sign up for the extra money draw.
Never thought for a second that I’d give up my 63 Valiant when I got a newer “nice” car.
This from someone that has inherited Depression Era DNA running through my veins.
Financial prudence in all areas, including car purchases, but still thinking about that 60 Comet or 60-63 Rambler American as a third vehicle
Sweet car, and nice story. These are getting a bit scarce, and you have a very fine one.
Yes, Eastern Oregon is wide open, and the speed limits are absurd. But you have to do what you did on the way back: tempt the radar gods. It’s fantastic territory to cruise at triple digit speeds, which takes care of the boredom.
Enjoy your Integra.
Thanks for all of your wonderful responses! A few thoughts…
@Bruce in TN: Yes, it has motorized shoulder belts. Yes, they are annoying, but it’s just part of the character of the car.
@Marc: Research tells me it’s a B18A1.
@everyone else… was it a bargain? Maybe, maybe not. Life isn’t always about getting a bargain. Sometimes it’s about doing the right thing, or helping out a friend, or saving a really nice car from an ugly fate. Regardless, I can probably keep the car until it no longer gives me pleasure and (since I don’t drive it a lot of miles) sell it for within $1000 of what I have in to it. Hopefully, to someone who appreciates it for what it is.
Nice Integra; they’re getting hard to find these days due to the two R’s of Japanese cars: Rust and Ricing. I still see one every now and again, almost always a sedan, as some seem to have escaped the wannabe racers who have destroyed almost all of the coupes.
A friend in high school had an Integra of this generation, I believe a ’91. I was seriously jealous, as such things were well out of my price range at the time. Teal coupe/hatchback with a sunroof. Never drove it, but as a passenger a few times, I developed one distinct impression–the back seat was not made for full-sized adults. Maybe that isn’t the case in the sedan.
Was thinking about this car just today, wasn’t this same car posted on the Grassroots Motorsports website? I came VERY close a couple of times answering the ad for a lowish mileage 25 year old car.
BTW, as my previous comment noted, I had one of these once….but with an automatic transmission. If you think these are a bit….gutless below 3500 rpm, try one with automatic. It feels like you have a large/heavy anchor attached to the rear bumper whenever you start from a dead stop.
Yes, Howard, I’m on GRM, and have discussed this car there as well.
This is now a 27 year old car. It still looks modern enough, and drives as well (or better) than an MY17 vehicle.
A 27 year old car in 1990 would have been a ’63. What was built in 1963 that was *anything* near like that ’90 Integra?
My Uncle had one of these. I saw it in 2005. He said it was the best car he’d ever had. Same color and everything.
I’m not a big Honda fan, but I’d have no problem with an old Acura. A friend of mine bought a 2001 TSX coupe a few years ago to replace his rusted out ’89 Prelude. He replaced the tires and brakes himself, and it passed the Ontario safety and emissions test with no problems and over 200,000 km at the time. It’s his daily driver, and it’s never left him stranded in the time he’s owned it. Great cars.
Are you by chance Eggsalad on another site?