Overview & Reviews

Acura is an upscale automaker known for offering cars with impressive levels of luxury, features and performance. It's come a long way in a short time, however, as the history of Acura is relatively brief. Parent company Honda introduced the Acura brand to the U.S. market in 1986 in an effort to create a separate luxury division for its products. At first, it was just a two-car show: the Legend sedan, which was the first true Japanese luxury car sold in America, and the Integra sport coupe and sedan.

Though essentially a marketing creation for the North American market, the Acura brand was immediately successful. Consumers liked the features, performance and upscale image of Acura cars, along with the fact that Acuras were backed by Honda's reputation for reliability and low ownership costs. In 1991, Acura introduced its crown jewel: the all-aluminum NSX sports car, which offered performance close to that of other exotic cars while undercutting them in price.

As Acura's product line grew in the 1990s, however, the company struggled a bit. Some of its products were duds, and it risked alienating loyal customers when it replaced the Legend and Integra names with alphanumeric designations. The company jumped on the hot luxury SUV bandwagon in the mid-'90s with the SLX. Unfortunately, the SLX was just a rebadged version of an Isuzu SUV, and its quality did not match customers' expectations.

For the new millennium, Acura revamped its product range. An all-new SUV called the MDX debuted, sporting numerous family-friendly features, including a third-row seat. The Integra was replaced with the RSX sport coupe, and an all-new entry-level sport sedan called the TSX was introduced after that. A complete redesign of its most popular model, the midsize TL sedan, followed, as did a redesign of its flagship RL luxury sedan.

By mid-decade the NSX was gone, but Acura filled out its model lineup with the street-performance-oriented RDX compact crossover, the TSX wagon and the ZDX, a fastback-styled crossover that placed unique styling over practicality. Today Acura is still trying to find its ideal niche but there's no denying the quality of Acura's vehicles, nor their appealing mix of performance, technology and value.

User Reviews:

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  Would Not Buy It Again - 2006 Acura TSX
  By karina97 - December 14 - 5:32 pm

  I bought my TSX in 2006 and started having problems about a year later. It needed to have major work done on the steering twice. Both times the car was at the dealer for over a week. Just glad it was still under warranty and the dealer gave me a loaner. Also, I have had to replace the brakes more times on my TSX than I have ever had to on any other car. The TSX has a cheap build quality and the paint scratches easily. Also, there is a lot of road noise. On the plus side, the dealer service staff is great.

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  A piece of feces wrapped in gold - 2005 Acura MDX
  By JC in DC - December 3 - 2:00 am

  Its bright and shiny on the outside and completely unreliable on the inside. The transmission failed at 71000 miles - dealer wants $4,000 to repair. Paid $45,592 new for the vehicle and $6465 on repairs since 2005. If we pay for the transmission it will be over $10,000 - more than 22% of the original cost. Bluetooth stopped working at 50,000 miles Engine required $3,278 worth of repairs at 60,000 miles. We use this car as our primary family vehicle - nothing strenuous or abusive. I would never buy a Honda product ever again.

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  2008 base TL - 2008 Acura TL
  By David - November 22 - 2:00 am

  I owned Acura TL 2008 new. Currently, it has 51300 miles and the check engine on. Brought to dealer (Open road acura on route 18 East Brunswick, NJ) they found codes:P0701 and P0704, cleared codes. After 24 h, the light is on again. I bought an OBD device checked with codes: P0300, P0301, P0304, P0306, P0701 and P0704. How could the dealer tech. missed these codes? The car have been at dealer since Nov. 10, 2010 and now Nov. 22, 2010. The car have not been fixed. Dealer told me they contacted Acura tech. but no solution. Acura tech couldnÂ’t solved their on creation?

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  Acura Stinks - 2002 Acura TL
  By Steve - November 21 - 2:00 am

  Be careful of the self dimming mirrors. Bought mine used from a family member with 60000 miles. The mirrors actually have an acid in them. They will leak acid all over your shift lever and the trim (real nice) and melt it. Tranny had the recall done and I am starting to notice problems with it now (currently 68000 original miles). Customer service has got to be the worst in the country. i have had better customer service at a local Sonic drive in. Will never buy another Honda product ever again. The Brakes stink also. The rotors warped and replaced with after market parts and is fone now. Did the work myself and was pretty easy.

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  Rattles galore - 2010 Acura TL
  By Chad - October 22 - 2:00 am

  I couldnt be more dissapointed with the craftmanship of this car. I am having similar issues that a review posted before and neither Honda/Acura would do something about it. I love the car but Acura cannot consider as a luxury brand, quality of fitting is just as bad as it can be. Buy Infiniti, Lexus or BMW. Customer service is just horrible.

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  What a Over Price Car !!!!! - 2010 Acura TSX
  By Over Price Car - October 19 - 2:00 am

  I cant believe any buyer would pay over 30K for a base four-cylinder car with 201 Horsepower? Car is small and under power especially going up mountains. For this price buyer can get 2011 Toyota Camry SE V6 or 2011 Honda Accord V6 EX. Both cars has more power and more room and better looking cars. Need i say anymore????

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  Worst I have qwned - 2009 Acura MDX
  By Terry Gonsalves - October 16 - 2:00 am

  Thud/scraping noise from front wheel when driving from cold.Driver side window rattle. Dealer says that these are the characteristics of the vehicle. Acura Canada not responsive.Why is it only a characteristic after you buy the vehicle. Very poor fuel economy. Worst vehicle I have owned. Definitely a do not buy.

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  Disappoited - 2010 Acura MDX
  By Brent - October 10 - 2:00 am

  The audio system is both good and horrible. The AM radio is the worst I have ever heard on any vehicle, regardless of price. There is no mid-range at all, making it sound as though it is being played through a megaphone. Interestingly enough, when playing the hard drive, or CD, it sound much better.

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  Too many rattles - 2010 Acura TL
  By luisja2000 - October 5 - 2:00 am

  I own a 2010 TL SHAWD & what I can say at this point its to stay away from it. The car has been in the shop for over 45 days because a noise coming from the right and left pillards. It appears it is an structural problem and after having a factory rep in town they decided not to do anything about it. The service manager told me they started having more cars coming in with the same problem and they do not have a clue have to fix it, they were using mine as a platform for future repairs. Buy something else until Acura addresses this if they do because this could affect the integrity of the car in case of an accident plus the noise it is so annoying that you wont enjoy your ride at all.

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  Not what I expected from Acura - 2009 Acura MDX
  By Papa Leo - October 2 - 2:00 am

  13 months into ownership and I have nothing but a trouble with that car. One week into ownership, Air Bag warning came up. It was found that side B-pillar air bag was lose. Another 2 month, car started to pull to the side badly (car had only 3K miles on it), it was found to be misaligned. Another 2 month, gas door wouldnt keep close (replaced under warranty). Another 6 months into ownership and drive side window wouldnt open (window motor bad). My previous 03 Mitsubishi Montero didnt see repair shop for 6 years I owned it (55K miles), only oil changes, tire replacement, and one new set of brakes before drunk driver plunged into me and totaled it. This is my first and the last Acura.