If all good things must come to an end, like the (petrol-powered) line of Honda Type Rs, everything must also have a start. And to last a quarter of a century, like the aforementioned Type R, the start must have been something truly special. The NSX-R was surely too limited to be the origin of the species – it was a toe in the water for Honda in driver-focused specials. Instead the Integra DC2 could be considered the true start of the red-badged line, and a car that is almost mythical in its existence.
Most were Championship White, some, like the car currently in the MT Yard with Sports Purpose and listed on Bring a Trailer, were Starlight Black. Few were sold in the UK, just 500 from a worldwide run of 30,000, and fewer still will have only 12,000 on the clock, like the one that closes on Friday at 6pm. Most of the 30,000 were built for the Japanese Domestic Market or sold as Acuras Stateside, making this genuine UK car a rare opportunity.
The Integra is without doubt the purest of the whole Type R line and is closest to the Senna-inspired NSX of a few years earlier. The cabin is minimalist but comfortably focused on going quickly: the shallow Recaro buckets perfectly present the thin steering wheel, which frames the simple, crisp dials. It is night and day to the bulky, claustrophobic interiors of the Civics that drew the curtain down on the Type R in 2025. The Integra’s trick is in its deftness, feeling far lighter even than its featherweight 1100kg. It feels forever on its toes and the brilliant chassis is to thank, feeling far more entertaining than the brutally stiff later Type Rs.
Being a V-TEC, the car lives for higher revs, and begs you to hold gears longer and longer – peak power of 187bhp doesn’t arrive until a whopping 8000rpm. Forget that its horsepower is almost half the output of the Ultimate Edition Civic of 2026 – bigger is not always better.
This might all sound a bit much, but never has a bad word been uttered about the DC2 Integra Type R. The Integra that replaced it, the DC5, never came to the UK in Type R guise, and that only reinforced the legend of the DC2.
Before finding its first owner in 1999, this particular DC2 spent a couple of thousand miles as a demonstrator for Hendy Lennox in Devon, a place full of great roads to take a Type R. The current owner has driven just 100 of the 12,000, and it received a host of major service parts in 2023. The seat bolsters look barely brushed and a new set of Yokos were installed so recently that the stickers haven't even worn off yet.
Nineties heroes don't come any cleaner.
Bidding on the 1999 Honda Integra Type R closes at 6pm on Friday 22 May.
