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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  I love it! - 2010 Acura TSX
  By Bucdom - August 13 - 9:36 pm

  I just traded in my 2004 Acura TL for a 2010 TSX. I love this car! The few things I didnt like about the old TL model have been corrected. These are little things like the positioning of the navi display and the ease of use of menu functions on the radio, navigation, and A/C. I am just amazed how all the things on my TL that I thought could be improved, have been. Even the glove box is better. This is a great car if you want a comfortable car with a lot of high-tech features. I chose the 2.4 L and it seems to have plenty of power for my purposes. I have read about noise problems and power problems and I really have not noticed any such problems in my car.

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  Great car! - 2009 Acura TSX
  By KC_TSX - August 13 - 8:40 pm

  I have owned this car for 15 months. It is a great car. Decent power w/ 4cyl. Very confident handling and ride. Comfortable and great style and features. Much less expensive than the entry level Euro cars I drove and priced. Performance equal to the competition for less money! Decent Gas mileage. Have avg 23 miles combined since new. Love the car. Occasionally wish I had the 6 but much more $$. Great car, great price, fun to drive. Super reliable!

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  Follow-up to my previous Follow-up - 2010 Acura RDX
  By Follow-up...again... - August 13 - 6:21 pm

  Ive driven it for a year and I LOVE it. I wondered if I would miss my bigger SUV after the "new car" was gone, but I dont. This is a great car. Fun to drive, sporty, and easy to fit into any parking place. MPG could be better, but on the highway I do a little better than 21 MPG so no complaints. The Navi is superior to competitors systems for ex, dont have to be in park to enter a new destination, etc. With seats folded down, I can fit anything I have needed to carry. MPG is the ONLY draw-back. I think a 4 cylinder should do better (even if it drives better than a V6) but thats just me. I just wanted to assure readers that the car is worth the money. Id buy it again!

• 

  Great Cat - 2005 Acura RL
  By paul4sure - August 13 - 10:56 am

  Great car, had it for 2 years and no problems at all. I was looking at Lexus, as i had Es300 for 6 years when i went to school, but wanted something more sporty. G35x was another possibility, but it was too small for me. Car is very reliable and comfortable for long rides. This is the car you can take for skiing trip in the winter and feel safe during any weather. Its 5 years old now, but i still get compliments how nice it looks. Mine is blue metal, tinted. I drove my roommates Mercedes E550 many times, and RL is very similar to E550. It doesnt have as much toque but picks up speed as quickly as E550. Its a keeper for the comfort, AWD and BOSE system sounds great with XM by the way.

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  5K Miles and never looked back! A JOY! - 2010 Acura TL
  By RSL - August 13 - 10:12 am

  With 5 months and 5K miles under my belt, the car is everything you come expect from Acura. A trip to Las Vegas yielded 24.6 MPG! This car maneuvered its way around a bad traffic accident happening right before my eyes thanks to superb handling. A work of art in the design department that grows on you the more you look at it and all the technology one would love to have and needs to have! 5 Star safety rating and super Acura service that adds up to a car I have come to love to drive!

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  2004 MDX reliable after 100,000 - 2004 Acura MDX
  By Terry - August 12 - 1:34 pm

  I have had my car for 4 years and reached 100,000 miles on it and still a great car to drive and dependable. Only changing the oil and brake pads. No problems with maintenance. This car is amazing while in town or traveling on vacation on the highway. Its an All Weather car also. Forget Toyota or Nissan, Acura has definitely made a quality car to last a long time.

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  Perfect 7 seats SUV except some issues - 2010 Acura MDX
  By jrdonta - August 11 - 5:38 pm

  The SUV is perfect so far except the following issues 1. Car pulled the the right (dealer fixed and said it is steering not wheel alignment) 2. After dealer claimed fixing pulling to the right issue, the car still pulls to to right or left depends on different roads. 3. When I reset trip A mileage average, the trip B mileage average is reset also. 4. Accidentally, I turn of VSA then the car does not pull right or left any more ( VSA system issue? ) 5. The plastic bolt holding cooling pad under the hood are losing after 1 week.

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  Awesome All-Around - AAA! - 2010 Acura TL
  By zooly - August 10 - 8:20 am

  Very fun car to drive - was looking at the Audi S4, as well. But with all the options that I liked, was pushing $60K. With the rebates & 1.9% financing, car was over $20K less! Tech package, AWD, HD, just awesome. My only complaint are the seats for now - they are very soft (Milano, I believe), but the sides are too tight around the sides of my back. Starting to break in -- hopefully that will be ok. If driven normally, can avg 32-35 mpg on the hwy!

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  Transmissions - 2002 Acura MDX
  By Tom - August 9 - 4:13 pm

  Stay away from this vehicle. Buyer beware. I had my tranny replaced at the dealer after numerous issues, in fact I had to take it to a different dealer who said yes after 109KM it needs a new tranny. Now I need another 139 KM it died. I called Acura? Honda Canada only to be told too bad it is past warranty (which it is). I repeatedly told them that there have been major issues with this model and specific problem to which the reply was. No there hasnt! Please Google 2002 acura mdx transmission issues before you make a major mistake.

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  Nice car, terrible transmission - 2002 Acura TL
  By Ralow - August 9 - 2:41 pm

  All the transmission issues you hear about the TLs are very real. I bought mine as a 1 owner trade with 109K. I did all the research and found that the transmission had the recall done and it was serviced at the local Acura dealer. So I went ahead and bought it thinking it might be OK. WRONG. Had to replace the transmission 3 weeks after I bought it & Acura wasnt willing to help out AT ALL even though it was only a few miles over the recall warranty. Needless to say, I ended up paying $4000 extra for a new tranny. The replacement is under warranty for 3 yrs/36,000 but I will likely never buy another used Acura again. Too much hassle and no reliability. Acuras reputation is tarnished IMO.