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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  Electrical Trouble - 2006 Acura RL
  By Help! - August 27 - 7:13 pm

  Had the car for 1 day drove 200 miles and had to drive it back to the dealer. The dealer has had it for over 2 weeks straight. The headlights do not work properly. They come on during the day when they are not on and they go off at night when they are supposed to be on. The internal lighting also comes on and off as they please and is always blinking a warning light for the adaptive lighting. The dealer has flown parts in but still cannot fix the cars lighting problem. Great car or atleast I thought so just cant drive it.

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  dew outlook - 2004 Acura MDX
  By don - August 25 - 12:15 pm

  Have had a noise in rear wheel bearings or Whatever? since new nothing has happened just noisy. Dealer is great changed wheel bearing no charge twice. Once in peoria and last time in naperville. Its ok for a while then the noise is back. I probably will change to another SUV because of this noise. The Acura is excellant with this exception. don

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  One Real Lemmon... - 2004 Acura TL
  By Roy Fondse - August 24 - 5:51 pm

  from day one I had problems.complained to the dealership and to Acura head office.They never even contacted me, which I found very impolite and not very professional.The least they could have listened to my complaints as to the very poor assembly of my tl!They still have a long way to go to catch up to infiniti.First time last time,get the message Acura!

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  Good Value? Yes. Great Car? Hmmmmm... - 2005 Acura RL
  By Beltway Bandit - August 23 - 11:30 am

  I am a BMW 7-series and Benz S class owner. Also had Escalade previously. The RL looked unique in design and the interiro was impressive at first. Factory refuses to address design flaw...exhaust stains the rear fender and no response provided. Stereo system about the best Ive ever heard in a car...first-class. Like the 6- cylinder performance and road mileage. Tends to rumble in low gear early in the day. Dealer hasnt fixed yet. Lots of interiro rattle from rear window shade. Dealer has not fixed. With MSRP arounds 50 or a little less, a good value. But I dont know I would get another.

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  New MDX - 2007 Acura MDX
  By lsb - August 23 - 4:36 am

  Great style, power, pickup, handling, comfort. Surprised how crips it handles for size of car. Drives smaller than it is. Priced better than competition for same features.

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  Best value for the money paid - 2006 Acura MDX
  By Kelayilg - August 21 - 9:50 pm

  I replaced 2000 3.5RL with a 2006 MDX. I purchased it from John Eagle Acura Houston TX. For a Black on Black Touring model I paid $33,400 (including destination) +title and $50Doc. fee. I am pretty happy with the price and the performance of this beautiful SUV. Kids love the roomy interior with 7 seats. I think this SUV is one of the best value for your money. Smooth car like ride and the sleet look make it one of the best SUVÂ’s out there. So far I am very happy with its performance.

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  2 1/2 Years and Still Fun to Drive - 2004 Acura TL
  By Greg Richter - August 21 - 4:52 am

  Driven over 52,000 miles in the past 2 years. It is still fun to get behind the wheel of this car. For all the features you just cannot beat the value of this car. Love to get in crank up the music and turn on the nav system and hit the highway. Im 65" and feel very confortable in this car. Engine has all the power I need! Couple of small complaints: On my third set of tires, switched to Michlin Pilots. Brakes have never felt right. Seats are tad bit narrow. Wish the back seat would fold down. Over all, you just cannot beat the value of this car. Even my friend that runs a Dodge Dealership, thinks this is the best value of any car on the market today!

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  2001 CL-S Review - 2001 Acura CL
  By txengineer - August 19 - 9:56 pm

  I purchased this car from a co-worker who bought it new. It had 41,000 miles when I purchased it three short years ago. The transmission had been replaced under warranty by the original owner, but not the control computer. After having the computer replaced at 85,000 miles, the second transmission started to have issues. Back to the dealer for another transmission and matched computer. They even threw a set of motor mounts in for free. Now at 135K the tranny is starting to shift ruff. Well see. Otherwise, the car runs great with a bad squeak from the back package tray (solved with a piece of electrical tape wedged between the glass and the 3rd brake light tray.

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  Great Car for Teens and Stylish Women - 1992 Acura Vigor
  By PrettyKlassy - August 19 - 3:43 pm

  This car just seemed to call my name as I was looking my 16 yr old daughter a car. Was purchased with some 140K miles but had some minor problems we didnt discover until we had it for a few months. After replacing the engine (with one that had 90K miles) and a few other fixes, not only did my daughter but I loved driving it. It still looks good,runs well, and for a teenager thats all that really matters.

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  Disappointed - 2002 Acura MDX
  By Hench - August 18 - 8:26 pm

  Waited 6 months, had to bring back at 350 & 1500 mls for noisy front end. It appears its inherent to the X. Wind noise, tail gate slight bend and e-brake doesnt hold without extreme pressure. Im disappointed with the build quality. It wasnt worth the wait. Make sure to take a good test drive if you can. I do love the look, the interior layout and it does cruise very nice on the highway, but at $44K delivered, knowing what I know now, I dont think I would buy again with these problems.