This is very long, so I'll post the question first:

What's a good car for someone, buying new, not used, who has had Integras for 20 years and wants to continue buying regular (not premium) gas?

I'm new here, and I hope I'm posting in the right place. I have been a VERY SATISFIED Integra owner since March 24, 1987. For all intents and purposes, I have had three Integras in that time period. I actually had four, but one got totalled (not my fault) the third day I had it, and as soon as I had the insurance money, I got an almost identical new one. This was not just a vanity concern: I got rear-ended in a high-speed collision. The other guy's car overturned, but mine protected my passenger and me perfectly. My passenger was unhurt. I was injured slightly because of a vulnerability caused by a prior accident.

I've had my current one since 1998. It has 113,000 miles and runs very well. It's a 4-door, and I have to confess that I always forget the two-letter combination that describes it - probably LS, but possibly RS. It's got automatic transmission. I also have to confess never having learned how to drive a manual transmission car.

I've held onto this car for so long partly because I missed the window of opportunity that ended last year to buy an entry-level Acura that runs on regular gas. (Although that one was a two-door model, that was acceptable to me.) As someone who drives a mile to a public transportation park-and-ride area most work days (but does drive 50 miles round trip to work about once a week), I don't want a luxury car that runs on premium gas for this type of driving. Now, if I drove those 50 daily miles every day (especially since I commute into a neighboring state with lower gas prices), I'd consider the current low-end Acura that requires premium gas.

Even though my car runs great, some of the little things not related to the actual running of the car are starting to fail. I have had some problems with the front driver's side window. Sometimes, after I've opened it, I can't get it to close. It takes me several tries to get this done. (This was my first car with power windows, something I'd never wanted, but I had to get them with this car.) The dealership told me it would be four hundred-something dollars to fix. So far, I'm living with the situation. I'm touching the control in a slightly different place, and the window is working better now.

Now I'm having trouble with the CD player. I get a display of PE-0 or PE-O, which the manual just says is an error. At first, this just happened last winter on cold days with precipitation (snow, freezing rain), and it just happened three times. The first of these three times, the radio also "shorted-out", but the other two times, it worked okay. All three times, several hours later, the CD player was fine.

Over the summer, the CD player had no problems, although when I had the car into the dealer for the window problem and 105,000-mile checkup, I had them look at this. They couldn't find anything. This was July already, and the last time I had had the problem was in March. So I thought that whatever it was, it had cleared up.

We had a very warm fall in this part of the country. The first cold, damp morning we had, the PE-0 showed up again. And since it's gotten cold for good, it's shown up every day, including dry days. I suspect it's temperature-related. The radio has worked okay each time, and the cassette player has also worked well. I've taken to digging out my old cassettes and bringing them with me in case the CD player isn't working, and I can't find anything of interest on the radio.

Most days, I'll get PE-0 when I start out in the morning, but it's fine when I get into my car later in the day, or even after an hour or so of driving. I suspect it's temperature-related and only occurs when the temperature is below a certain point. Also, substituting a different CD will sometimes work. The first day this fall that I had the problem, it rejected the "South Pacific" original cast CD but took the one for "West Side Story". Friday, it rejected the "Grease" soundtrack CD but played the one for "Hello Dolly". (I guess it likes Barbra Streisand more than Olivia Newton John!)

I am very satisfied with my local Acura dealer's service department. I fear that if I go to another brand, I won't have as good of an experience as I have with these people.

 

Welcome to the board.
If you want to stay with Acura - which I'd certainly recommend - take a good long look at the TSX sedan. It the closest in spirit to your 98 Integra sedan.

While the TSX is available with an automatic, you owe it to yourself to buy the 6 speed manual and learn to drive stick. Not only will you enjoy the driving experience more, you'll have much more control over when the transmission shifts and by extension, how much gas you use.

And yes, the TSX requires 91 octane gas or better, but it is powered by a relatively small-displacement (2.4 litre) inline-four.

As far as your cassettes are concerned, I believe Acura still offers an auxillary tape deck for the TSX. The best solution would be to re-record and convert the tapes to MP3 format on a CD.

Lastly, the PE-0 read error you're getting on your Integra's CD deck is caused by condensation forming on the laser pickup. As the unit warms up and the condensation clears, the problem will remedy itself.

Going forward, be aware that this forum is first and foremost a place for diagnosing problems relevant to the Integra.

If you wish to pursue your audio problems, head on over to Audio & Security. If you're interested in learning more about the TSX, we have a dedicated forum for that car as well.

:cheers:

 

I don't think the type of fuel should be a big consideration when choosing a car. Think of it this way - even if you're driving, say, 15,000 miles a year, that means you're probably buying 600-700 gallons of gas a year. At a difference in price between regular and premium of $.20/gallon, the difference in your fuel cost is $120-140 per year. That's not a big difference, relative to the $20-30K (or more) purchase price of your new car. Get the car that you want, based on your needs, budget, etc. But don't let small details like that drive your decision.

 

Thanks to those who have responded so far. I will explore the TSX option some more, although it still may be out of my price range.

I'm really too lazy to learn to drive a manual transmission car at this stage in my life, even though it will open up to me some knowledge that other folks I know who have or have had these cars have. TheOtherDave(tm), it's not my cassette player that's giving me trouble; it's my CD player. In recent years, I had hardly even used the cassette player because so much of my music is now on CD. A few books I've wanted to read in this time period were only available in local libraries in audio cassette format, rather than as books, so when I checked them out, I played them in the car's cassette player.

In fact, I priced the twenty-oh-eight TSX on Acura's web site. It's a little pricier than what I had hoped to pay now (with a few home appliances needing replacement soon, plus the need/desire to buy an HDTV in the same time period). In the build-a-car section, I left off two things I would have liked to have had - the GPS system and, mainly for playing library books that are only available in cassette format, the cassette player - just to keep the price within a reasonable range for me.

Switching to a manual transmission could possibly save me a few dollars, but I don't want to learn on such a pricey new car. After 37 years of driving only automatic transmission cars, this would be a major change to have to make. (I doubt State Farm would want me to do this either, even at the higher rate I'll now be paying - although the "hit" won't be as bad as it could have been since I've yet to drop collision and comprehensive from my soon-to-be 10-year-old car.)

I've posted about my CD player problems in the Audio & Security forum, where I've gotten a few answers.

 

Civic or Accord?

 

why not go after an RSX. Its still technically an integra in other countries. I've been wanting one for some time now but i have other things to pay for. I'm pretty sure it runs on regular if you really want to stick to that.

You have to think that if the integra has a 13 gallon tank and if premium is .20 more a gallon you pretty much paying a little over 1 dollar and some change more to have premium than 87 octane. I'd just get over the 91 oct thing. Gas is never going to go down in the near future, i'd just get a car you like.

But anyway, check out an RSX. Also you may just need to replace your drivers side window control. You can get one at a junkyard for like 30 bucks. My button was starting to wear out and when i took it out of the door the button was pretty unseated and ready to break off. Drivers window is no longer a prob for me. Hope that helps.

 

Well, the CD player is probably just a general disc read error as we have discussed before, too bad it spit out the lens cleaner....

Sadly you did miss out on the RSX by a year, but to be honest the base RSX was not much to scream about and had little if nothing over it's Civic cousins.

I would highly suggest learning manual and opening your choices to a much wider array of cars. It's really not as hard as it seems, and the more you do it the better you will get at it until it becomes second nature. Much the way you've probably become accustomed to selecting P-R-N-D on your auto shifter.

Anyway- I'd throw the premium vs. regular debate out the window, choosing a car based upon a 5-10% markup on fuel isn't the best way to narrow down your interests IMHO.

Now that all that is out of the way onto the choices that best match the Integra line:

Civic Si, EX, EX-L OR the TSX

The TSX is the most like the GS-R sedan.
The Civic Si is comparable somewhere between the Type-R and GS-R lines
The EX and EX-L are probably the most like the LS/RS/GS/Special edition lines.

Now I'd highly suggest the Si as well as the TSX. I'm not so hot on the EX or EX-L, but they are great on gas and probably exactly what you are looking for (don't worry about the loss of power and gain in weight over your model... the inclusion of another gear probably blurs the differences more than you'd think)

Seeing as the Civic has grown up some, and you had selected the lowest Acura model of the time, the Civic is probably the best choice if you want to continue on with the same type of car. If not I'd say either buy a TSX or wait for it's successor who should be popping it's head out of the ground in the next few months

 

Take a good look at the Civic line, specifically the EX(which I'm sure comes with navigation). I'd say that car fills the void that the Integra/RSX left open more than any other car I can think of.

 

If you're not trying to spend too much money on a new TSX then consider a used one. But I must say that when I had my Integra in the shop for routine service they gave me a loaner TSX I must say that it is a very nice car and if you dont want to learn how to drive stick that it has the option to shft manually in sport mode. Good luck in your decision.